Linux Mint-Compatible Current Production Laptops

[FenderGuy]

My older ASUS laptop, loaded with Linux Mint 18.3 Cinnamon, recently went bye-bye. ☹

What I loved about my ASUS laptop was being able to install Linux Mint 17 (and all iterations up to Mint 18.3) directly from the CD, and having everything work, right out of the box - audio, video, wireless networking/printing!

I have already seen - and read, this article:
https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2324

Many of the recommended laptops are no longer in production, and I want to buy new. I also have VERY BASIC NEEDS: web browsing and libre office suite, AND, my preference is to hit the ground running, without having to search for, download, and install drivers.

So...

Which laptops can I buy new, now, and get network connectivity out-of-the-box, for +/- $500?

Thanks, guys! I really appreciate your time, recommendations and support!

[redlined]

besides kernel support for modern hardware, the option to install 3rd party drivers during OS install and running updates for all packages post-install is as good as it gets out of the box as far as I know. A good test (but far from perfect) is run through all the things you want and like to do while in LM19.1 live session, you might even be able to convince a floor manager to allow you to reboot a demo/display model from your USB stick and run it through some paces (I've heard of funnier things permitted by such

This listing may be helpful otherwise:
https://certification.ubuntu.com/certification/desktop/

as well searching distros for such lists, like arch provides:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Category:Laptops

also searching computer manufacturers websites may produce some similar results (the days of "Built for Windows 98/2k/XP/Vista/8/10" is rapidly coming to an end (imho), that desktop dominance death has been writing on the wall for a solid decade. They know this and manufacturers will meet demand, regardless M$ incentives to kowtow to them.

Another thought I had was looking at the computer manufacturers that are rolling Linux preinstalled and comparing hardware then finding a more affordable option. Dell is certainly leading the charge on certified for Ubuntu 18.04
some pretty dang expensive, but....
Purism https://puri.sm/
System76 https://system76.com/
https://www.linuxcertified.com
https://zareason.com/Laptops/
https://www.entroware.com/store/apollo
https://junocomputers.com/
https://starlabs.systems/pages/star-lite-ubuntu
https://minifree.org/

note, I have no affiliation nor experience with any of the above, there is no order of preference to the above list of links, I have however recently fallen head over heels for purism and system76 stuff (the latter since they are my home state and looking way too pretty to be real, lol

oh yes, then there is minis!
check this for affordable:
https://linuxmint.com/store_mintbox.php
it is from the fitlet guys:
https://fit-iot.com/web/#buymbm2

and is on my near term radar for purchase in my grand scheme for network and file server upgrades.

Hope some of this helps!