I use linux on laptop and I don't have problems(especially with xubuntu). I just install the base, run additional drivers, install the wifi/gpu drivers and done. It was always like this on my previous laptops and on others' laptops I've installed it.
Power saving on windows is an illusion, I don't remember getting more things done with the same laptop. Maybe it's the case if you use Unity/KDE/Gnome3 and similar heavy stuff...
If you want to spare more energy then use integrated graphics and amd|nvidia only if you want to play. Bumblebee can also help. Using XFCE, Firefox, playing videos with vlc(not with web players!), installing a blocking extension for your browser, avoiding electron/jvm/mono-based apps(ironic, I'm a Scala developer) can also reduce energy consumption. I use neovim for coding and it's a huge boost for me.
Suspending was always realiable on ubuntu for me. But with arch or arch-based distros it's a ~70% possibility for failure(according to my experience). On the other, hand putting windows to sleep is a serious hazard, it's not just hurts performance but it makes the os and its apps unstable(I use win7 at work).
I've heard that there are people with wifi problems but connection drops and packet losses are issues which are better to be reported. There is askubuntu.com, you can get help pretty fast by searching or asking.