From Drivers perspective, I can say that a Thinkpad is a decent choice if it fits in your budget (starts at about 60k , the one at 65k should be good enough for your purposes)
Have a R61, works with XP,Vista,7,8,Ubuntu without any issues
Wont satisfy good audio though
Otherwise look into the professional series of other manufacturers, they should have decent driver support as well : Vostro,Latitude,etc (I'm just guessing this part, someone should confirm)
