Stay away from 6th generation Intel Core (Skylake) platform, whose audio and
graphics both require non-free blobs.
Also stay away from Nvidia's Maxwell architecture (GT(X)7x0) or newer,
because of some nasty firmware (anti-)feature.
Also stay away from Intel's ULV processors starting 4th generation (Haswell),
although there are some models without Boot Guard (we call it Boot Gaol or
Boot Grave) permanently enabled.
So here are what I can recommend:
For desktop: Z97 motherboard, quad-core 4th or 5th generation i5/i7
processor.
For laptop: High voltage 4th-generation Intel Core, or ULV 3rd-generation
Intel Core.
Note: For desktop Haswell or high-voltage mobile Haswell, the ME firmware
should be 9.0 or 9.1 and without Boot Guard implemented. But ULV Haswell uses
ME 9.5 with Boot Guard supported, so be careful!
