> For most modern computers you cannot be 100% sure about what you get for your money, until you have them in your hands and you can run tests yourself. By then, if you discover that the computer is not exactly what you want, it is too late. You cannot get your money back because the computer is not defective, it is just different from what you expected.
Can you give an example? Clearly you are concerned with more than just the listed specs. Do you mean like RAM and SSD models? Or even lower level than this?
For most laptops (some gaming machines excepted) you don't find out the CPU and GPU power limits until after you install third-party software to inspect those settings. The turbo power limits affect system performance far more than minor clock speed differences between different Intel SKUs with similar core counts; it's not uncommon to find that the difference between an i5 and an i7 matters less than the unspecified thermal and power delivery limits.
The spec sheets that are provided for pre-built consumer machines will at best identify the two or three most expensive chips and give you a vague idea of what class of part they selected for up to a dozen other components. You will definitely never get the specificity of a PCPartPicker parts list. You won't be able to audit the list of components for ones that are known to be problematic for Linux use.
Can you give an example? Clearly you are concerned with more than just the listed specs. Do you mean like RAM and SSD models? Or even lower level than this?