Difficult question. The HCL is designed to help you prevent mistakes - and is best if you're installing Linux on a large number of computers. In that case, you would want to invest the time to get things right.
If you're going to use a laptop or two, you might try
www.linux-laptop.net. It collects the experiences of others with specific makes and models of a wide variety of laptops.
In general, the risk factor associated with installing Linux on most modern PCs is small. There are well known exceptions, such as winmodems and wireless cards.
Thanks,