I've had good luck with an X201, W520, and T480 - all thinkpads. Haven't tried any of the lower end lenovo models. I got my W520 new and my other ones off craigslist.
If you're looking to get a preinstalled OS and from a refurb vendor, an interesting option would be buying from libreboot. Debian/KDE by default or you can choose your own distro. Libreboot is a good cause, and sales funds the project. You'll have the most secure bios on the block.
I'm following the progress of nixos on snapdragon, but its still a bit early for me. Audio kind of working but might damage your speakers, webcam not working, crashing on 64G version but not 32G, etc. Also some funny business about needing windows for firmware or something. These issues are getting resolved but aren't completely solid yet IMO.
Don't know where things stand on the more mainstream distros but I'm guessing its probably similar.
Love it. No connection to the internet except when you choose to, through your phone. Analog controls. Frickin roll up windows!
My only beef with the current concept is the bolt on body panels and other parts. Too easy to steal. Could replace those bolts with security bolts, if they aren't already, but that just discourages the casuals.
I switched to nixos years ago. Its better now than it ever has been as far as available packages and etc. But it does present issues if you get off the beaten path - the "now you have two problems" issue. For instance:
That said, more and more projects are supporting nix, and nixpkgs has gotten really big. I think they support more packages than any other distro now.
When you finally see the big picture, you have to die because you know too much.