Do Manufacturers Put Hardware Specific Settings for Windows 7

Hi, I just looked into buying a new laptop from Future Shop and talked to a Sales Rep. and have trouble believing what he said. To sum it up, he was saying that manufacturers make the "new" laptop models with hardware settings that only let it run Windows 7, and that I can't install any other OS on the laptop because of these settings. His reasons were that it was because of the drivers, the "manufacturer's settings", and that if I were to install Linux like I wanted to then it wouldn't function.

I've never heard of that before and it all seems a bit ridiculous to me that manufacturers would do that. The Sales Rep. said that the Windows 7 specific hardware were put in place by the manufacturer as a response to Windows piracy, so it was something between Microsoft and the OEM.

I just don't beleive him -- so i thought this forum would know something about it. Also, I've built up my own computers before and used Linux and Windows on my desktops so i know a fair amount about installing an OS, but I've never tinkered with a laptop, and I haven't bought a new computer in awhile so any help with this is appreciated.

The laptop we discussed was a Toshiba Satellite 15.6" Intel Core i3-350M 2.26GHz Laptop.

Here is a link to it on Future Shop: http://tinyurl.com/2aztswr