> My next computer will be purchased with free software compability in mind.
Then you should definitely check out the Chromebook Pixel, which is currently
the best FLOSS compatible laptop I'm aware of. It is also the only one
comparable in hardware design to your MacBook Air.
> ...there are open source drivers for my wireless chip
Most (if not all) of the wireless drivers contained within the Linux-kernel
are released under a FLOSS compatible license. The real issue is that the
vast majority of them relies on a proprietary firmware blob, included within
the mainline kernels (like the ones used in Ubuntu), and because you have the
misfortune of buying a hardware that uses a proprietary/non-standard
WiFi/Bluetooth combo card (probably designed by Apple itself), your only
"real" choice is to use some external wireless adapter, like the
aforementioned TP-Link TL-WN722N, if you doesn't want to install the non-free
firmware blob (not recommended, since you will need to manually update the
wireless driver after every kernel upgrade). The best compromise (in my
opinion) is to buy a Unex DNUA-93F/ThinkPenguin TPE-N150USB type of adapters,
since they are very small, and does not hinder during daily usage.
