This is not an easy question to answer, because there’s not even a mention of screen size. Nor weight, desired battery life, or other features.
I was very happy with my LG Gram (17) for its compactness and light weight; I graduated just recently to a Dell XPS 17 which I am also happy with for its performance, but it’s so much heavier than my Gram - an issue when I use it as an actual laptop.
In the UK, I suggest you try to find out if Dell has an outlet - for returned and or demonstrator machines. They’re often available shown at significant reductions on new, and come with a new-machine warranty. Inspirons usually don’t have the best screens, but that might be something for you to investigate.
For a good many years I ran Linux Mint on my Alienware 17 - now that was a real blunderbus! - and got greater-than-Windows battery life. However, my XPS didn’t play well with Mint (even with the battery-saving software installed) so I’m now on MX which again gives excellent battery life.
I have no recent experience with HP. I did have one once, but it was terrible; my younger daughter had an Acer which she replaced with another Acer when it was DOA on receipt, and the second one died after a couple of weeks. She got a Dell. Not one Dell that we’ve had has given any trouble, but that doesn’t mean they all have perfect reliability, but I’m now thinking that after close to a dozen machines in the family - including work-supplied machines - I’ve had access to a reasonable sampling.
There are some Linux-only machines for sale, and they’re not hard to find.
Metabox is a re-branding of the Clevo brand. There are many “name” macihnes that are also re-branded Clevo devices.
I wish you well with your quest, and if you have further questions of me, ask away.