You can use lspci -n to analyce what hardware is on your system. My new laptop a HP EliteBook 8540p gives the following output:

00:00.0 0600: 8086:0044 (rev 12)
00:01.0 0604: 8086:0045 (rev 12)
00:16.0 0780: 8086:3b64 (rev 06)
00:19.0 0200: 8086:10ea (rev 06)
00:1a.0 0c03: 8086:3b3c (rev 06)
00:1b.0 0403: 8086:3b56 (rev 06)
00:1c.0 0604: 8086:3b42 (rev 06)
00:1c.1 0604: 8086:3b44 (rev 06)
00:1c.3 0604: 8086:3b48 (rev 06)
00:1c.7 0604: 8086:3b50 (rev 06)
00:1d.0 0c03: 8086:3b34 (rev 06)
00:1e.0 0604: 8086:2448 (rev a6)
00:1f.0 0601: 8086:3b07 (rev 06)
00:1f.2 0106: 8086:3b2f (rev 06)
00:1f.6 1180: 8086:3b32 (rev 06)
01:00.0 0300: 10de:0a2c (rev a2)
01:00.1 0403: 10de:0be2 (rev a1)
44:00.0 0280: 8086:4239 (rev 35)
45:00.0 0c03: 1033:0194 (rev 03)
46:06.0 0c00: 1180:0832 (rev 06)
46:06.1 0805: 1180:0822 (rev 25)
46:06.2 0880: 1180:0843 (rev 14)
46:06.3 0880: 1180:0592 (rev 14)
46:06.4 0880: 1180:0852 (rev bb)
46:06.5 0607: 1180:0476 (rev ff)
ff:00.0 0600: 8086:2c62 (rev 02)
ff:00.1 0600: 8086:2d01 (rev 02)
ff:02.0 0600: 8086:2d10 (rev 02)
ff:02.1 0600: 8086:2d11 (rev 02)
ff:02.2 0600: 8086:2d12 (rev 02)
ff:02.3 0600: 8086:2d13 (rev 02)

Copy the result from the above command and visit the address Debian GNU/Linux device driver check page and paste it into the window.

In my case the result was presented like this

PCI ID	Works?	Vendor	Device	Driver	Kernel
80860044	Yes	Intel Corporation	Core Processor DRAM Controller	intel-agp
80860045		Intel Corporation	Core Processor PCI Express x16 Root Port
80863b64		Intel Corporation	5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller
808610ea	Yes	Intel Corporation	82577LM Gigabit Network Connection	e1000e	v2.6.31-
80863b3c		Intel Corporation	5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
80863b56	Yes	Intel Corporation	5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio	snd-hda-intel	v2.6.27-
80863b42		Intel Corporation	5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1
80863b44		Intel Corporation	5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2
80863b48		Intel Corporation	5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 4
80863b50		Intel Corporation	5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 8
80863b34		Intel Corporation	5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
80862448	Yes	Intel Corporation	82801 Mobile PCI Bridge	i810_rng
80863b07	Yes	Intel Corporation	Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller	iTCO_wdt	v2.6.33-
80863b2f	Yes	Intel Corporation	5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 6 port SATA AHCI Controller	ahci	v2.6.31-
80863b32		Intel Corporation	5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem
10de0a2c		nVidia Corporation	GT216 [NVS 5100M]
10de0be2	Yes	nVidia Corporation	High Definition Audio Controller	snd-hda-intel
80864239	Yes	Intel Corporation	Centrino Advanced-N 6200	iwlagn	v2.6.30-
10330194		NEC Corporation	uPD720200 USB 3.0 Host Controller
11800832		Ricoh Co Ltd	R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller
11800822	Yes	Ricoh Co Ltd	R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter	sdhci-pci	v2.6.25-
11800843	Yes	Ricoh Co Ltd	R5C843 MMC Host Controller	ricoh_mmc
11800592		Ricoh Co Ltd	R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter
11800852		Ricoh Co Ltd	xD-Picture Card Controller
11800476	Yes	Ricoh Co Ltd	RL5c476 II	yenta_socket	v2.6.25-
80862c62		Intel Corporation	Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers
80862d01		Intel Corporation	Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder
80862d10		Intel Corporation	Core Processor QPI Link 0
80862d11		Intel Corporation	Core Processor QPI Physical 0
80862d12		Intel Corporation	Core Processor Reserved
80862d13		Intel Corporation	Core Processor Reserved

This is the text presentation of the hardware in the HP 8540p laptop

# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 12)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor PCI Express x16 Root Port (rev 12)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 06)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82577LM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 06)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 06)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 06)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 06)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev 06)
00:1c.7 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 8 (rev 06)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a6)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem (rev 06)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Device 0a2c (rev a2)
01:00.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
44:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation WiFi Link 6000 Series (rev 35)
45:00.0 USB Controller: NEC Corporation Device 0194 (rev 03)
46:06.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 06)
46:06.1 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 25)
46:06.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C843 MMC Host Controller (rev 14)
46:06.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 14)
46:06.4 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev bb)
46:06.5 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev ff)
ff:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers (rev 02)
ff:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 02)
ff:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 02)
ff:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 02)
ff:02.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)
ff:02.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)

This makes it easier to determine which device drivers I’m missing and might have to compile for the kernel.

More info about this laptop can be found on the Linux Laptop Wiki