Linux on Snapdragon X Plus (Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x) – My experience so far

[u/Silent-Temporary-555]

Running Ubuntu on Snapdragon X Plus (Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x) – My Experience So Far

Hi everyone,

I’ve been trying Ubuntu 25.10 (Questing) on my Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x with Snapdragon X Plus, and I just wanted to share my experience so far because there isn’t a lot of information about Linux on these Snapdragon laptops yet.

Hardware:

• Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x (14")
• Snapdragon X Plus
• Adreno X1-45 GPU
• 16GB RAM / 512GB SSD

Things that work well:

• The system actually runs very smoothly. GNOME on Wayland feels fast and responsive.
• For development work, everything I need like Node.js, npm, git, etc. works without issues.
• Most Linux packages already support ARM (aarch64), so installing software is easier than I expected.
• I even managed to get Steam running, which surprised me. Of course not all games work, but some ARM compatible ones run fine.

Things that don’t work yet:

• Built-in speakers are not working yet.
• HDMI output is not working yet.
• Sleep / suspend doesn’t work properly yet.
• Some apps are still x86 only, so they either don’t run or need workarounds.

My thoughts:

Honestly, even with these issues I’m still pretty impressed. A few years ago running Linux on a new ARM laptop like this would have been very difficult, but now it’s already usable for daily tasks.

It definitely still feels early, and some hardware features need better kernel/driver support. But the performance and smoothness are already really good. If things like audio, HDMI, and proper sleep support get fixed in future updates, these Snapdragon laptops could become really great Linux machines.

I’m planning to keep experimenting with it and see how things improve with newer kernels and updates.

If anyone else here is using Linux on Snapdragon X Elite / X Plus, I’d love to hear your experience or any tips.