3 ms·

Any ideas on how well these laptops will support Linux? In my experience, Thinkpads are hit-or-miss when it comes to Linux support and I don't want to be the o

Any ideas on how well these laptops will support Linux? In my experience, Thinkpads are hit-or-miss when it comes to Linux support and I don't want to be the one that has to figure everything out (which I've done before for a few laptops; going so far as to make my own patches). Honestly, Windows-only hardware or features are a big warning sign for me as those will be the first things to cause trouble--even in Windows! Microsoft will push an update to Windows and then, say, your power management stops working, the screen starts flickering when playing videos, the special laptop buttons no longer work, etc etc. If everything works with Linux out-of-the-box though then it's unlikely you're going to experience problems in Windows either.

tertius 11y ago
Given that they don't come in 4K resolution (I have a Yoga Pro 2) it should be quite a bit more usable. But I agree, it's been hit or miss for me as well.
JoshTriplett 11y ago
> Thinkpads are hit-or-miss when it comes to Linux support Historically, ThinkPad devices seem to me to provide the most reliable Linux support. What issues have you encountered there? (Note that buying a brand-new laptop with a brand-new chipset can potentially require getting updated drivers, such as for graphics or networking, but that necessarily happens no matter what brand you pick.)
cyrus_ 11y ago
Ubuntu 15.04+ supports all the hardware on my Thinkpad T450s out of the box. In contrast, with a fresh install of Windows 8.1 on this machine, networking (wired and wireless) doesn't work immediately. Downloading the Lenovo drivers fixes things, though that's a bit difficult without networking...
creshal 11y ago
Thinkpads are by far the best supported notebooks in Linux – RedHat e.g. is mainly a Thinkpad shop, so lots of kernel maintainers are investing time into supporting every single quirk.
JanezStupar 11y ago
AFAIK Thinkpads are extremely popular with Linux people, especially developers. In my experience Thinkpads are extremely well supported and get support first.

tertius 11y ago

Given that they don't come in 4K resolution (I have a Yoga Pro 2) it should be quite a bit more usable. But I agree, it's been hit or miss for me as well.

JoshTriplett 11y ago

> Thinkpads are hit-or-miss when it comes to Linux support Historically, ThinkPad devices seem to me to provide the most reliable Linux support. What issues have you encountered there? (Note that buying a brand-new laptop with a brand-new chipset can potentially require getting updated drivers, such as for graphics or networking, but that necessarily happens no matter what brand you pick.)

cyrus_ 11y ago

Ubuntu 15.04+ supports all the hardware on my Thinkpad T450s out of the box. In contrast, with a fresh install of Windows 8.1 on this machine, networking (wired and wireless) doesn't work immediately. Downloading the Lenovo drivers fixes things, though that's a bit difficult without networking...

creshal 11y ago

Thinkpads are by far the best supported notebooks in Linux – RedHat e.g. is mainly a Thinkpad shop, so lots of kernel maintainers are investing time into supporting every single quirk.

JanezStupar 11y ago

AFAIK Thinkpads are extremely popular with Linux people, especially developers. In my experience Thinkpads are extremely well supported and get support first.