I'd second the Ideapad. Not sure about recent versions, but I've had the Z510 for >2 years and it is great. I took out the CD drive and have an SSD + 1TB HD and it runs fedora with almost no issues (wifi drivers on some kernel upgrades). Only downside is the battery which was never great and after 2 years is down to about an hour.
Cost me about $700 2 years ago and other than the battery is perfect.
I've been using Fedora full time for the last 6 years (since 14 I think) and it has been pretty good. Haven't used any other distro much though so no real comparison.
Definitely agree that Broadcom wifi (what I have now) is a pain - occasional kernel upgrades kill wifi, when reinstalling I never remember which combination of kmod/akmod things I need. That is the only real complaint though.
Slightly unrelated, but I find the scaling factor based off experience interesting. Speaking as a junior, I am convinced that in 2 years or so when I would probably be classed as intermediate I will be worth far more than 10% more than I am now. Beyond that, I work at the moment with people who would be in the advanced/master range who are I think are definitely worth more than 20/30% more than me.
Cost me about $700 2 years ago and other than the battery is perfect.