For university I got a T450 a while ago. Probably the best laptop I ever had. It runs linux flawlessly (and I mean it, booting straight from a Knoppix ISO Image from 2.3 kernel times is no problem as much as booting a modern 4.15 kernel)

It seems they have somewhat fubar'd some of the newer and cheaper releases. I do however recommend to atleast try the more business oriented variants, usually they contain less crap.

I also find it disappointing that nobody else builds laptops like the Thinkpad. All I want from a good laptop is A) sturdy B) nipple mouse and C) long battery life.