We buy everyone Alienware 13" from Dell. They Ubuntu 16.04 out of the box (and Mint latest). The screen is 1330x768 or something insane, which doesn't have a lot of love, but everyone plugs in external monitors. They're awesome.

Also, as a save a bunch of coin trip - buy all add-ons from your local store/amazon. We save ~300 per laptop compared to adding to Dell.