> Can I just close my lid and have it sleep and then wake it in a couple of seconds and resume where I left off?

works for me on t41. linux 2.6.23-rt1 with default acpi support on gentoo distribution.

> Does Linux work on *any* current laptop out of the box (Ubuntu or Fedora)?

on many laptops. but running 'out of the box' for many ppl is not what they want. they want to customize their box and adopt it to their needs. something very hard to understand for FUDers like you....