For what it's worth, I bought a Dell Inspiron Mini 10v with Ubuntu Hardy preinstalled 2.5 years ago. It didn't suspend/resume properly and video out was flaky. It died after two years of use (with strange electrical problems). I don't think I'll buy a Dell in the future.
Also, it comes with a weird dock thing that has an external graphics card. Ideally, you would plug this in and have better graphics processing when you're at home. I haven't been able to get this to work on Linux. However, I haven't been able to get it to work on Windows 8 either :/.
So for me, the whole dock thing is just an overpriced external dvd drive. I really like the idea of having an external graphics card like that, but the implementation just isn't great.
Out of all the laptops I've read about online, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon[1] really stands out. If I was looking for a new one, that's probably what I'd get. I'm not sure how well it supports Linux, but it just seems really awesome.
[1]: http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/thinkpad/x-series/x...
My old Sharp MM10 had a magnesium alloy case... I still miss that one.
That said, if the X1 carbon was out when I was buying my laptop, I'd probably have gone for it. The low resolution of the old X1 was what really turned me off. Also, I think a 14" screen is a better compromise than 13" between portability and convenience.
Maybe it doesn't match a MBP, but if I can get 3 hours or more out of a charge, I'm pretty happy. There aren't many times that I'm going to be away from power longer than that. Now someone who's flying coast-to-coast on a routine basis and needs to get all the productivity they can out of 6+ hour flight, may need something different.