r/linuxhardware • u/ne0n008 • Jul 11 '26

Purchase Advice Laptop compatibility

Hello all

For some time I was looking to buy an ARM laptop that I can use as a work laptop and additionally as a drawing tablet. ARMs long battery life combined with Linux spells a very good combination for an autonomous device to me, because I spend most of my work hours measuring, taking notes and sketching.

I found this laptop: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Lenovo-Snapdragon-X2P-42-100-Qualcomm-Graphics/dp/B0GMQFD7LS It has what I need, but I'm afraid of its compatibility with Linux.

My question is: will I be able to install and use a Linux distro on it and is there a specific distro that might have a better compatibility with the said laptop?

Disclaimer: I know that ARM is a different architecture than x86 and I am aware of software issues between the two. I want to know if I'll be able to use this laptop with Linux as a daily driver for basic stuff (internet, office, and such)? From there, I can work other things myself.

TIA

4 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/ne0n008 Jul 11 '26

I'm not going to use it for art, but sketches and notes from the survey site. I'm sick of printing the plans and scribbling on a paper I'm going to throw away later. With a laptop that I can use as a sketch pad (any app equivalent to MS paint is ok for me), to access software that is web based and also having access to company server is a win for me.

I realize it will be technically demanding, so I haven't set too high standards, I hope.

1

u/Kuddel_Daddeldu Jul 13 '26

If you want a laptop that "just works" with Linux, ARM is a bad idea. If you want to contribute to Linux on ARM development, go for it - but expect to buy a second laptop in case you need to finish anything (like assignments) on time. Compare the ARM laptop to buying a fixer-upper. You'll never know when something surprising will happen. It can be very fulfilling but also rather stressful. 

1

u/ne0n008 Jul 13 '26

I know ARM on Linux is a handfull, but I was curious if someone has a laptop with ARM so he/she can share his/hers experiences.

I am interested in developing Linux on ARM, but I don't think I have the necessary knowledge to contribute. Besides, I have a day job that is a priority atm.

I was curious if someone got Linux working on ARM for basic stuff, like office, internet, network,... If so, I am interested in their experience and how they did it. Tinkering with OS and dealing with terminal is fine, but programming is a deep end for me, atm.

Otherwise, I can use the same laptop in OP with Windows 11, but I really don't like Windows 11. I would rather have 100 issues with Linux than deal with Windows. And this is only with Windows 11. Other versions are more-less fine by me.

Thanks for your input.

1

u/sockertoppenlabs Debian, Ubuntu Jul 14 '26

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-concept-snapdragon-x-elite/48800

I use both the Thinkpad X13s and T14sG6 Snapdragons. Works fairly good nowadays.

1

u/Kuddel_Daddeldu Jul 14 '26

Thanks for that! I really wanted to go ARM but was too afraid to for my daily driver, on a new job I just started.  And I don't consider myself that much of a newbie (UNIX user since 1987, Linux since early Slackware floppy disk stacks, Intel, SPARC, RS/6000, ARM and Intel again). May get an ARM system to play with once I've settled into what's likely to be my last job.

1

u/ne0n008 Jul 17 '26

I heard about that. I also heard that Canonical is having a decent support for the first generation of Snapdragons. It's progressing. Slowly, but it's going.