Laptop for Robotics: Ubuntu/Dual Boot & ROS & Sensor Compatability

I am buying a laptop for robotics research project. My requirements are durability, NVIDIA GPU, and Ubuntu/Win dual boot with ROS. This laptop will be used for

a) communicating with / monitoring an autonomous mobile robot

b) potentially plugging in sensors like ZED, camera, or even LIDAR and run AI models for fun

I narrow down to 2 choices.

1. Thinkpad -

Pros: popular among robotics people, installing Ubuntu & setting BIOS for dual-booting are known to be very easy, ROS and sensor driver compatability should be no problem (?);

cons: Lenovo sucks lately

2. Dell -

pros: Durable, on-site service;

cons: Not as popular among robotics people, BIOS seems to be locked to prevent users from making changes(?), probably not as many people to ask, not sure about compatability using different sensor on ROS, especially drivers(?)

Context:

- Dell does not sell any computer with preinstalled Ubuntu in my country.

- My previous laptops have always been Thinkpad, but my past few Thinkpad laptops have been showing decline in unreliability since Lenovo's takeover (long story filled with so many failure and repair headaches). I really want to switch to a different brand that is reliable, but I am not familiar with Dell regarding its ease in access to BIOS and dual boot settings.

Specific questions: If you have any experience with (recent-ish) Dell laptop models regarding

a) Tinkering with BIOS to install Ubuntu or Ubuntu/Windows dual boot

b) Running ROS

c) Interfacing with sensors (camera, ZED/Realsense, Hokuyo/Puck), finding drivers, etc.

please share your experience if you have to figure things out on your own or there are tutorials / community to ask, and what level of difficulty you think it'll take.

Any other comments and recommendations are welcomed.