I mean, that's kinda the cost for low volume sales + computer support.

They're not selling computers for the average Linux user, they're selling computers for independent professionals and businesses that need the support licenses to confidently run their operations.

For the average Linux user, they have put out an incredibly stable version of their OS that has a professional in mind (docking station ready, highly optimized GUI workflow tooling, familiar OS styling, and more). We can then go grab a bare machine and toss their OS on ourselves.

I get it though. I've strongly considered snagging one of their laptops in the past. Especially since I want to support them. I've even considered some other machines for niche purposes (HTPC, home lab VM host) , but always wind up snagging a Lenovo or IBM laptop or building my own desktop instead.

You can buy nearly any budget machine and load Linux off a USB stick, but most people just take whatever they have and their last windows action is to download a boot image and write it to a USB stick, then boot off the stick and tell it to use the whole disk

Then use your backup system to restore your documents, pictures, web and mail configuration, and game settings and saves to your Linux machine