Were you using a mainstream desktop Linux distribution? Those are generally configured to handle things like graphics cards, sound systems, power management, and dynamic hardware coming and going (including monitors). That is not meant to say they always get it right. There are very few vendors who will test their products with Linux, and the community hasn't necessarily tested it either, but they usually do a fairly good job.

The reason why I bring this up is your description sounds like the experiences of someone who has used Arch or Debian or another distribution where there is a lot of configuration to be done out of the box. That is not necessarily a bad thing if you have the time or inclination, but it is also the sort of thing that desktop distributions are intended to handle for the end user.