bought a new HP laptop

[SecularMotion]

5. I had to change the BIOS to install Linux on a laptop that came with Windows 8.

I had to change the boot mode from UEFI to Legacy to install Linux Mint.

The article at the link says Ubuntu supports Secure boot.

Choose a Linux Distribution That Supports Secure Boot: Modern versions of Ubuntu — starting with Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS and 12.10 — will boot and install normally on most PCs with Secure Boot enabled. This is because Ubuntu’s first-stage EFI boot loader is signed by Microsoft. However, a Ubuntu developer notes that Ubuntu’s boot loader isn’t signed with a key that’s required by Microsoft’s certification process, but simply a key Microsoft says is “recommended.” This means that Ubuntu may not boot on all UEFI PCs. Users may have to disable Secure Boot to to use Ubuntu on some PCs.