If you're willing to put up with inconsistency and a time-wasting learning curve, value responsiveness, and have no attachment to Windows software (which seems likely if you're coming from a Mac) - why not Linux?
(a) tell me that everything went smooth but on further inquiries admit that there were actually a number of issues, some of them unresolved
(b) admit (and complain about) issues outright
(c) actually have had everything going smooth
For laptops I've yet to talk to someone in category (c).
I haven't tried it myself (for lack of a T480s), I use Linux on Thinkpads for more than a decade, though.
However, I've heard more and more success stories recently, especially if you spend a bit more than the absolute minimum for your hardware. I or my co-workers have successfully installed on several laptops without any driver issues whatsoever, and some were really cheap pieces of crap (~$400).
Driver support has come a long way over there last 5 years or so, and I've actually had more trouble getting drivers after a fresh reinstall of Windows than Linux.
I've had a couple of experiences in the other direction though, including a Sony Viao laptop where neither the wired or wireless network worked after Window 7 install. With Linux (Kubuntu), everything worked flawlessly. This was not some strange one-off laptop manufacturer.
The other thing won't matter to many, but the install time for Windows was almost three hours, while Linux (and all it's accompanying office software, etc) took about 20 minutes. Updates are similar though, so there is some value there.
Just a few more data points, but I, and many others find that Linux is far easier to use than Windows these days as well.
For the last 10 years mainstream linux distros has been less hassle than hunting down Windows drivers, removing bundled bloatware etc.
Mac was awesome in this regard, but after I still struggled with alt-tab after 3 years I have up.
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fingerprint reader: unsupported, driver under development
smartcard reader: unsupported
infrared webcam: half works with V4L, flickers or appears green at full resolution due to odd pixel format (fully working if you write your own image processing)
Live switching between discrete NVidia GPU and integrated Intel GPU: distro-dependent
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Other than that, as far as I can recall, everything works perfectly, and did so out of the box. The main thing that annoys me about Linux these days is a lack of vendor-supplied binary packages, meaning I have to either compile from source or rely on a package manager. But if you use an Ubuntu LTS release even that is mostly a non-issue.
I am on my 4th TP as personal computer in the last 10 years and the number of issues stopping me from using the damn thing out of the box is nil. The only word of advice would be to stop the customization process of your OS as early as possible.