FWIW from a Linux newbie, I ended up going for a gaming laptop. I was originally going for a Thinkpad, but honestly, after doing some reading on how Linux runs on various laptops, everything seemed to have people stating they had no real issues and people stating they had lots.

So I took a risk and got myself a Gigabyte G5. Three storage slots (good for separating samples or recording, virtual instruments etc.), decent enough cpu, up to 64gb ram (nice to know the option is there just in case), and gpu that will let me edit some stuff in Resolve.

The CPU (i5-11400H) has very similar specs to my desktop PC, which is about 4 years old now, but has never once broken a sweat with many, many tracks of audio, multiple instances of Serum and other softsynth, reverbs and delays etc, and Addictive Drums 2. So I don't think you need a high end cpu, but something with a few cores.

For video editing, I seem to remember that will depend a lot on your software of choice, and how much you're pushing it. For example, I use Resolve, which draws a lot from gpu, whereas other software might need better cpu specs.

I haven't used Reaper, my DAW of chioce on it yet, but Pd and SuperCollider are working perfectly.

I'm not an expert though so take all of this for what it's worth!

I would recommend something with a touch screen with decent specs... but... last time I checked Ardour doesn't work too well with touch interaction. On the other hand, Bitwig + touch interaction (+ Wayland) is such a nice experience that it's impossible for me not to mention.

I don't think you really need anything specific . I have generally used Dell laptops and they have always worked well for me. Unless you play games, I'd definitely forgo any fancy GPU for a better CPU.

I used a thinkpad t440 with an i5 4thGen to record the demo of my band. Fedora+pipewire+ardour. Worked flawlessly.

Never thought I would ever say this but Apple has currently some nice Laptops and Asahi Linux seems to get better and might be a standard choice. Got a mac mini and power draw vs performance is really good. Alternatively a laptop with ryzen 9 7940HS or similar seems to be roughly in the same ballpark. macOS is kinda annoying though.

I would probably get a framework laptop. https://frame.work/de/de