It's an added context switch. It takes a small amount of time and the end user has the convenience of not needing to do it, the end user chooses to pay for that.
disclaimer: I've never touched a s76 machine.
I would never run an OS that was pre-installed as the install image can't be verified.
Honestly, I've only ever run the pre-installed OS on one machine from them (my gaming Thelio). I buy them for the support both after- and before-purchase. I.e. because they do great support and provide machines that actually support Linux.
I used to not have the option of buying Linux hardware, and it was terrible. I don't understand why anybody does that to themselves these days, and I sincerely hope we never go back to having to buy Windows hardware, slapping Linux on top of it, and hoping that enough devs had the _exact_ same hardware to minimize the glitches.
disclaimer: I've never touched a s76 machine.
I would never run an OS that was pre-installed as the install image can't be verified.