I use linux as my primary desktop for work and home, I make a nice living, get things done quickly and never ever need to hack anything to make things work (ubuntu+intel laptop). Sure, if you get a laptop that's not linux friendly then it will be harder (to install) but that's not a fair comparison to windows/mac. Try getting a hackintosh to work, it's much harder then getting ubuntu to work on an nvidia/ati+broadcom wifi laptop or even on a mac.