Comes with a Copilot Key, so that model is off my list. We have enough dumb M/S Windows Keys already.
I have seen the space bar shrink and shrink. If they added these really useless keys somewhere else, like a tiny button above the F-keys I would not care.
I want a easy to get at space bar, at this rate the space bar will eventually be the size of a regular key. To me it is already too small.
Is the concern surrounding having to install Linux yourself (valid concern), or around vendor support (subtle BIOS issues, lack of trackpad support, etc)?
Edit: Emphasizing my "fine" experience with Linux.
Shipping with Linux is a good indicator that it's Linux compatible. Buying computers with Linux is also a way of voting for Linux compatibility - even if you reinstall your preferred distro afterwards.