For what it's worth, I've always had NVIDIA and they hadn't been a massive pain (or maybe I just don't tend to play 3D games/apps these days). My main system is running Arch Linux - so the package choice & updates is much simpler. I only hit a snag when I got a new 50 series card which required nvidia-open instead of nvidia that my 2060 SUPER used.
I would say it's how Ubuntu packages them. It's like they're very broken down - since there's previous driver versions (-470, -390, -340) best for older cards, then the latest drivers (-580), then the "open" driver variants (580-open)... and whatever these "server" variants are (-580-server-open)... then possibly packaged per kernel in Ubuntu!? (unless you use the DKMS ones)
To top it off, if anyone finds an old blog/guide that uses old package names, they might be now transitional/virtual packages:
My work laptop is AMD, integrated graphics of some kind, my experience is "buggy" - (I'd prefer Intel ) With compositing in Xorg, it eventually "freezes the framebuffer", but Wayland is fine. That could be the hardware being exotic (120 Hz panel) since it's OK when plugged in via DisplayPort with lid shut.
That said, I have a hybrid arrangement on my desktop. I find Intel iGPU smoother / efficient, then NVIDIA GPU for power when it's needed.
I guess I always assumed it was a Proton/Wine bug. For other uses (CUDA for ML acceleration) it kind of just worked for me.
Interesting, I haven't had the same experience re: AMD integrated GPU. I have a Radeon RX Vega 6 integrated GPU in my laptop. It works flawlessly. Only time I ever run into problems is when I'm using NVIDIA render offloading, and it's not reasonable to use the NVIDIA card all the time - sucks too much power in a laptop
The integrated Radeon can render, decode/encode and do ML, but it's too underpowered. The NVIDIA card generally works for CUDA, OpenCL, and encode/decode, but the render offloading has been a terrible experience throughout. For example, this issue has sat around for years affecting many users, and it looks like everyone has given up: External monitor freezes when using dedicated GPU - Linux - NVIDIA Developer Forums
I'm going to take my chances with AMD for my next purchase simply because I've heard (aside from your experience) lots of positive experiences, and I know there's better support from AMD for Linux games - I suspect partly driven by the Steam Deck. I'm even considering trying the APU route with a Ryzen AI Max - although the price kills me (and I hate the "AI" branding).
Yes! That's what the laptop is: HP ZBook Ultra G1a 14 (AMD Ryzen AI Max Pro 390 w/ Radeon 8050S)
Wayland? No bother, smooth, works great actually.
Xorg? I still just naturally prefer how it works, but using it as a laptop with the compositor running, ugh. It may or may not survive if I stop the compositor. Guess that's what I get for clinging onto the old display server. It was a regression (could be mesa) since it was OK when I first was given it for work.
Oh gosh, I don't want to start with that AMD laptop:
Sleep issues/no S3 support.
Still waiting for webcam to be upstreamed in kernel
Brightness control bug at one point, so typing disk encryption with no screen backlight
Disk encryption stops working after a specific kernel version. I just decrypted the disk.
This one will be HP's fault: But the UEFI behaves like malware when it somehow downloads BIOS updates in the background and applies them at next boot. Turn that off!
I don't know if that's HP or AMD, but I think I just got a taste of "too new" AMD hardware until stock/generic/vanilla Linux... the Ubuntu experience should be smoother as it's certified... though if it wasn't pre-installed with Ubuntu, you'd need to install the OEM kernel separately - I wish the installer could detect that.
I'd probably recommend a certified laptop if you're using it with Ubuntu.
It is overkill for me, but the company like very powerful hardware so it lasts a long time. I recommended a Framework but
That reminds me, I wonder how NVIDIA behaves under Wayland these days. I'm just not really a laptop person though.
(Since I was going off-topic, I just wanted to share my experience and split the topic)
I'm expecting to migrate to Wayland due to exactly what you're seeing: newer hardware not playing nicely with X11, especially with some of the changes to displays and frame rates.
Those all sound annoying You would think a laptop that comes pre-installed with Ubuntu 24.04 would not have those kind of issues - but maybe that comes down to some pre-installed (i.e. OEM) kernel?
At least HP offers a pre-installed Ubuntu, I guess? I'm on an ASUS ROG laptop, therefore not certified, and some features are only available via the thank-less open source community e.g. asus-linux · GitLab - really puts me off another ASUS.
I'm going to pay close attention to your advice because hardware isn't cheap and I don't want to be hating my next Linux laptop!
It actually came pre-installed with Windows 11 - for it to have a "license key in the UEFI" sort of thing. The company allows us to install whatever we're comfortable with. It's just for software development.
I did originally replace Windows with Ubuntu, that's where I learnt that any Ubuntu USB medium doesn't install the OEM kernel - which I 'expected' to happen as a user. Since it installs the generic (upstream) kernel, it was surprising the webcam didn't just work - a bit problematic for MS Teams All it needs is installing linux-<version>-oem instead of linux-<version>-generic, but it took some digging to figure out what an OEM kernel was.
The camera is an AMD sensor, so that's where my bias kicks in:
Camera IR Sensor HM1092
Camera RGB OV05C
AMD MIPI camera on AMD Strix-Halo platform
They are working on upstreaming it though (for at least 6 months) then it should work without 'patches'.
I just falsely figured "well, if it's certified for Ubuntu, it must just work with any distro right?".... well, not quite. I prefer Arch Linux, which uses the upstream kernel, so I can put up without the camera for now, but it should just work as soon as AMD's work is merged upstream (I use a USB camera anyway)
Turns out it might be both Wayland and X11, or neither. I had a "WTF?" moment earlier when using it portably when the display 'froze' (with just a cursor moving) under Wayland.
Since it's running KDE, I had to imagine CTRL+ALT+T opened a terminal to run both kwin_wayland --replace then kill plasmashell and plasmashell --replace in order to get back to a usable desktop.
Probably should look at the logs to dig deeper, but I am busy at the moment. Might need to set up a "help! the display froze again!" keyboard shortcut as a temporary band-aid.
Arch Linux - so the package choice & updates is much simpler. I only hit a snag when I got a new 50 series card which required 
) With compositing in Xorg, it eventually "freezes the framebuffer", but Wayland is fine. That could be the hardware being exotic (120 Hz panel) since it's OK when plugged in via DisplayPort with lid shut.
You would think a laptop that comes pre-installed with Ubuntu 24.04 would not have those kind of issues - but maybe that comes down to some pre-installed (i.e. OEM) kernel?
All it needs is installing 
when the display 'froze' (with just a cursor moving) under Wayland. 