The thing is, high-end laptops used to be one expensive option among many before the whole SecureBoot thing.
You had a choice.
That choice has been killed. High-end laptops are now the only option if you want freedom, and that's not an accidental thing, it's by microsoft's design.
I'm failing to see why disabling Secure Boot on a lower-end laptop before installing Linux isn't a viable option here?
Of course, being able to have it ship disabled by default is ideal, but for the HN crowd and for Linux shops, disabling Secure Boot in BIOS/EFI is trivial.
> http://linuxcomputers.nl/
They don't appear to even mention secure boot as the reason, but pricing, margin and lack of interest, both from consumers as from vendors.