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I planned to buy this laptop some time this year. Has lenovo stopped supporting linux as well as they used to? I've owned two lenovo laptops and loved them and

I planned to buy this laptop some time this year. Has lenovo stopped supporting linux as well as they used to? I've owned two lenovo laptops and loved them and planned to buy another. I'm also looking at dell laptops since their linux support is reportedly excellent.

1996 8y ago
I'm considering a Fujitsu lifebook U937 to replace my thinkpad.
n0ric 8y ago
My current laptop, the T450s, has full support for linux. My coworker uses a X270, which also seems to run Arch fine. I think it's just the X1 series with these issues.
- nine_k 8y ago
  Get a T or a W, they are fine, old-school corporate machines. Carbon is the new, fashionable, Macbook-like device with soldered-on RAM, etc; likely from a different design culture. Its biggest upside is likely the hi-res screen.
  - namibj 8y ago
    There are high-res models in the T-series. I.e., available in both 1080p and 1440p, the latter just at the point where you can use it without High-DPI tech if you have normal 20/20 vision, if you have worse, you want less resolution (as you can't use the higher resolution anyway).
    - nine_k 8y ago
      My vision is far from 20/20, and I have trouble discerning road signs at a distance, but I can see how pixels are square on most 24" FHD displays. For development, a lot depends on the quality of font antialiasing and hinting, though; Linux used to provide superb font rendering in this regard.
      - namibj 8y ago
        I too don't have too good vision, but the 1080p 15" and the 2160p 39.5" at slighly higher distance are just at the point where I don't need High-DPI technology. Seeing pixels at 24" is not that hard. There are screens with significantly higher linear resolution.
  - ahnick 8y ago
    I second going with the T line and would go as far to say that the T480 has a very modern feel to it. It is only slightly thicker than my old MBP 2013 retina 15 inch. (the thickness of the screen) I was expecting it to be much thicker and the fact that you can get 32 GB of RAM makes it feel like a very fast/responsive machine even with many applications running. Far more important in my opinion for a developer machine than having the screen of the Carbon.
paulie_a 8y ago
I'd just get a Dell delevoper edition.
nixpulvis 8y ago
I have both the X1 carbon 6th (2018) and 5th. The 5th supports the S3 sleep mode and everything works just fine. If you don't need the newer model, the 5th gen is a great Linux machine.
- jordigh 8y ago
  I was confused about the title because I have an X1 Carbon that I bought in 2018. Turns out it's 5th gen. And yes, it's one of the most blissful computing experiences I've ever had. Everything works out of the box with Debian stable. Not a hitch.
- hoppelhase 8y ago
  Any problems with the 6th despite the sleep mode? Do you have the higher resolution version?
  - nixpulvis 8y ago
    I do (unfortunately) have the HiDPI model. I personally don't care at all about more pixels on this machine, but I understand why people want this. HiDPI is kinda a mess in general on Linux, from my limited use cases. I run X11 with i3wm on Arch, and the application support is all over the place. `xrandr` seems unhappy with multiple monitors at different resolutions (as is my case at work, with external displays), it's a mess. All that being said, with a combination of `xrandr --dpi` and ctrl-+/- in Firefox and my terminal, things can be made to look OKish. TLDR: If you can get a computer without HiDPI, I personally recommend it.
    - madars 8y ago
      I have zero issues with HiDPI on Ubuntu + xmonad set-ups. In particular, setting xrdb's Xft.dpi to a good value (e.g. 144, an "even" multiple of 96 for X1 Carbon) seems to work well. However, I mostly use my laptop for Chrome, emacs, and terminal, so YMMV. HiDPI screen is definitely worth it for your eyes.
      - 8y ago
ahnick 8y ago
I just switched from an MBP 2013 to a ThinkPad T480 running Ubuntu 18.04. I'm loving it. Linux support has been really great and I didn't have to install a lot of special drivers. (e.g. trackpad support with multi-touch scrolling worked from the start) A lot of Dell's have that terrible bottom placement of the webcam. Things to love about the T480: - Fairly portable at around 3.5 lbs with a 14inch screen. It avoids the dedicated numeric keypad that some larger 15inch models have, while still having good screen real estate. - Great keyboard as all Thinkpads have. (media keys are working great under linux) - Very durable having undergone mil-spec testing. - Camera placement at top with a mechanical shutter if you get the FHD screen. - 32 GB of ram if you want/need it - Hot-swappable batteries. No need to turn off the laptop. just flip it over and replace. (You can buy the extended 72Wh battery for extra battery time) Bonus if you find one on eBay slightly used. You could save over a $1000 for a comparably specced machine.
- namibj 8y ago
  I have to second how awesome Hot-swap batteries are. While I do need to find a socket for this, having 'just' a T540p (can recommend, nice device), being able to swap the battery in seconds instead of charging >30 min (depending on how large your charger is) is awesome. So if you can hot swap, get another non-protuding battery instead of one that sticks out from the laptop, as that makes it hard to hold it on your palm (works like a charm, and the robustness makes you worry less). In that sense it is easier to use on-the-go than a tablet, due to the ease of holding (just wrap your fingers around the battery, and it will take a couple weeks to get the strength in your arm to do it comfortably if you are not used to such loads).
- dkhenry 8y ago
  I just made a similar swap from a 2013 MBP to the X1 and so far I love it. One great thing about the T480 over the X1 is you can push the CPU harder in the T480 due to better cooling. I like the size of the X1 so went with the smaller labtop, but so far its been great
hn_is_cancer 8y ago
I have a full guide to install arch on a lenovo x1 carbon gen 6 (with notes on the patch this post is about), right here if you would like to get it done. https://github.com/ejmg/an-idiots-guide-to-installing-arch-on-a-lenovo-carbon-x1-gen-6 https://github.com/ejmg/an-idiots-guide-to-installing-arch-o... The hardware is all supported from the get go, no tweaking or hacks to get it working (well, besides the bios + s3 hack). Besides the patch provided by the OP, everything else works without issue on Linux. It's kind of why this is so upsetting, in a way... the ability to make a linux machine doesn't require specialty companies, it just requires vendors not do dumb crap like completely dropping support for something without warning, etc.
- kart23 8y ago
  Tell that to apple... grrr
winter_blue 8y ago
I recently got an HP Envy 17t. It’s working perfectly for me, on Arch Linux + KDE/Plasma. I configured it for $20 more to have an Inte wireless card. The Intel wireless is working excellent on Linux. Sleep and wake-up works perfectly fine too. Secondary things like screen/LCD backlight control, keyboard backlight control, etc — all worked 100% out of the box with KDE/Plasma on Arch. I’d recommend it. It’s an excellent machine. The Intel wireless chip in it is “Intel 7265” — it uses the open-source “iwlwifi” driver. The machine I got also had the i7-8550U, an 8th gen Intel chip with has four hyper-threaded cores that has a TDP of a mere 15 W. It also had a 512 GiB PCIe SSD from an obscure brand called “SK Hynix”, 16 GB DDR4 RAM, and an NVIDIA MX150 GPU (with 4 GB of graphics memory) in addition to the integrated Intel UHD graphics that comes with the i7-8550U.

1996 8y ago

I'm considering a Fujitsu lifebook U937 to replace my thinkpad.

n0ric 8y ago

My current laptop, the T450s, has full support for linux. My coworker uses a X270, which also seems to run Arch fine. I think it's just the X1 series with these issues.

nine_k 8y ago
Get a T or a W, they are fine, old-school corporate machines. Carbon is the new, fashionable, Macbook-like device with soldered-on RAM, etc; likely from a different design culture. Its biggest upside is likely the hi-res screen.
- namibj 8y ago
  There are high-res models in the T-series. I.e., available in both 1080p and 1440p, the latter just at the point where you can use it without High-DPI tech if you have normal 20/20 vision, if you have worse, you want less resolution (as you can't use the higher resolution anyway).
  - nine_k 8y ago
    My vision is far from 20/20, and I have trouble discerning road signs at a distance, but I can see how pixels are square on most 24" FHD displays. For development, a lot depends on the quality of font antialiasing and hinting, though; Linux used to provide superb font rendering in this regard.
    - namibj 8y ago
      I too don't have too good vision, but the 1080p 15" and the 2160p 39.5" at slighly higher distance are just at the point where I don't need High-DPI technology. Seeing pixels at 24" is not that hard. There are screens with significantly higher linear resolution.
- ahnick 8y ago
  I second going with the T line and would go as far to say that the T480 has a very modern feel to it. It is only slightly thicker than my old MBP 2013 retina 15 inch. (the thickness of the screen) I was expecting it to be much thicker and the fact that you can get 32 GB of RAM makes it feel like a very fast/responsive machine even with many applications running. Far more important in my opinion for a developer machine than having the screen of the Carbon.

paulie_a 8y ago

I'd just get a Dell delevoper edition.

nixpulvis 8y ago

I have both the X1 carbon 6th (2018) and 5th. The 5th supports the S3 sleep mode and everything works just fine. If you don't need the newer model, the 5th gen is a great Linux machine.

jordigh 8y ago
I was confused about the title because I have an X1 Carbon that I bought in 2018. Turns out it's 5th gen. And yes, it's one of the most blissful computing experiences I've ever had. Everything works out of the box with Debian stable. Not a hitch.
hoppelhase 8y ago
Any problems with the 6th despite the sleep mode? Do you have the higher resolution version?
- nixpulvis 8y ago
  I do (unfortunately) have the HiDPI model. I personally don't care at all about more pixels on this machine, but I understand why people want this. HiDPI is kinda a mess in general on Linux, from my limited use cases. I run X11 with i3wm on Arch, and the application support is all over the place. `xrandr` seems unhappy with multiple monitors at different resolutions (as is my case at work, with external displays), it's a mess. All that being said, with a combination of `xrandr --dpi` and ctrl-+/- in Firefox and my terminal, things can be made to look OKish. TLDR: If you can get a computer without HiDPI, I personally recommend it.
  - madars 8y ago
    I have zero issues with HiDPI on Ubuntu + xmonad set-ups. In particular, setting xrdb's Xft.dpi to a good value (e.g. 144, an "even" multiple of 96 for X1 Carbon) seems to work well. However, I mostly use my laptop for Chrome, emacs, and terminal, so YMMV. HiDPI screen is definitely worth it for your eyes.
    - 8y ago

ahnick 8y ago

I just switched from an MBP 2013 to a ThinkPad T480 running Ubuntu 18.04. I'm loving it. Linux support has been really great and I didn't have to install a lot of special drivers. (e.g. trackpad support with multi-touch scrolling worked from the start) A lot of Dell's have that terrible bottom placement of the webcam. Things to love about the T480: - Fairly portable at around 3.5 lbs with a 14inch screen. It avoids the dedicated numeric keypad that some larger 15inch models have, while still having good screen real estate. - Great keyboard as all Thinkpads have. (media keys are working great under linux) - Very durable having undergone mil-spec testing. - Camera placement at top with a mechanical shutter if you get the FHD screen. - 32 GB of ram if you want/need it - Hot-swappable batteries. No need to turn off the laptop. just flip it over and replace. (You can buy the extended 72Wh battery for extra battery time) Bonus if you find one on eBay slightly used. You could save over a $1000 for a comparably specced machine.

namibj 8y ago
I have to second how awesome Hot-swap batteries are. While I do need to find a socket for this, having 'just' a T540p (can recommend, nice device), being able to swap the battery in seconds instead of charging >30 min (depending on how large your charger is) is awesome. So if you can hot swap, get another non-protuding battery instead of one that sticks out from the laptop, as that makes it hard to hold it on your palm (works like a charm, and the robustness makes you worry less). In that sense it is easier to use on-the-go than a tablet, due to the ease of holding (just wrap your fingers around the battery, and it will take a couple weeks to get the strength in your arm to do it comfortably if you are not used to such loads).
dkhenry 8y ago
I just made a similar swap from a 2013 MBP to the X1 and so far I love it. One great thing about the T480 over the X1 is you can push the CPU harder in the T480 due to better cooling. I like the size of the X1 so went with the smaller labtop, but so far its been great

hn_is_cancer 8y ago

I have a full guide to install arch on a lenovo x1 carbon gen 6 (with notes on the patch this post is about), right here if you would like to get it done. https://github.com/ejmg/an-idiots-guide-to-installing-arch-on-a-lenovo-carbon-x1-gen-6 https://github.com/ejmg/an-idiots-guide-to-installing-arch-o... The hardware is all supported from the get go, no tweaking or hacks to get it working (well, besides the bios + s3 hack). Besides the patch provided by the OP, everything else works without issue on Linux. It's kind of why this is so upsetting, in a way... the ability to make a linux machine doesn't require specialty companies, it just requires vendors not do dumb crap like completely dropping support for something without warning, etc.

kart23 8y ago
Tell that to apple... grrr

winter_blue 8y ago

I recently got an HP Envy 17t. It’s working perfectly for me, on Arch Linux + KDE/Plasma. I configured it for $20 more to have an Inte wireless card. The Intel wireless is working excellent on Linux. Sleep and wake-up works perfectly fine too. Secondary things like screen/LCD backlight control, keyboard backlight control, etc — all worked 100% out of the box with KDE/Plasma on Arch. I’d recommend it. It’s an excellent machine. The Intel wireless chip in it is “Intel 7265” — it uses the open-source “iwlwifi” driver. The machine I got also had the i7-8550U, an 8th gen Intel chip with has four hyper-threaded cores that has a TDP of a mere 15 W. It also had a 512 GiB PCIe SSD from an obscure brand called “SK Hynix”, 16 GB DDR4 RAM, and an NVIDIA MX150 GPU (with 4 GB of graphics memory) in addition to the integrated Intel UHD graphics that comes with the i7-8550U.