HP certifies their laptops with Suse: that said, Fedora might work just fine: ignore the 'don't do it' guy; also, make sure you re-size the partition carefully in order to install it, and read-up before in order to know what you're doing through the whole isntall process; check HP's website, and call their representatives, and perhaps they too might install it (if they offer it).
There's no such things as 'A Windows Laptop', at least from a hardware perspective (though in regards many decisions and the current state of the market, sure). I run an HP2510p using xubuntu and it works beautifully (though, of course, I did have to tweak plenty).
Also, install a linux distro according to your needs; Fedora, for instance, is an EXPERIMENTAL TEST BED for Red Hat, not stable, and it has increasingly destabilized as time has progressed; if you need that specific version for, say, school--like a programming course, then go for it; if not, say you just want 'Free Red Hat', then install CentOS (it IS Red Hat stable, not experimental, just without Red Hat's trademark logos, etc.).
If you just want 'User Friendly' (yet powerful), go Ubuntu, Kubuntu, or Xubuntu, the first and last I recommend (since Kubuntu, though KDE is great, isn't currently given as much attention, and KDE 4 isn't as ready as many would like it to be, yet, after transitioning from the 3 series--though I found it worked fine for me). This writer's personal opinion more highly favors Xubuntu (though I've learned to configure things to my liking) for being lightweight and fast on my lappy. : )
Also, any of these distros can be isntalled as either 32 or 64 bit editions; in the past 32 bit was your only choice (not 64 bit flash, etc.), but nowadays flash isn't needed for video sites (you can install the mozilla mplayer plug-in, and if needed, Firefox's Greasemonkey, and in that addon install the "HQtube" script), and Adobe has released a 64-bit version of flash, which I believe they have truly working nowadays.
If you're just a total beginner with Linux, the Ubuntu (in any of its flavors) distro is your best bet.