The unfortunate fact of the matter is that if you want to run a Linux computer with a seamless experience you need to do a bit of research on hardware in advance, at least this problem is nowhere near as bad as it used to be.

You could argue that you would have the same problem with OS X, it's just made easier for you because they designed the OS not to run at all on anything that wasn't 100% compatible. Running Ubuntu on random hardware is really more like running a hackintosh.

Now you could argue about who's "fault" this is. Canonical's for not making clearer which hardware is supported or pushing for better support, Yours for not doing the research or the hardware manufacturers for not providing better drivers out of the box but it is basically academic.

I actually remember an interview with Linus somewhere where somebody asked him "why is Linux not more popular on the desktop?" and his response was that the desktop is hardest because you have to try and support every printer that somebody might happen to plugin.

FWIW Lenovo and System76 computers seem to be the ones that people have best results with for running Ubuntu.