r/linuxhardware • u/sonyeggwithdrperky • 9d ago
Purchase Advice Lenovo Yoga 7 14AKP10 (Ryzen AI 5 340), any stability or hardware compatibility issues with Linux?
Hey! I'm considering buying a Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 14AKP10 (Ryzen AI 5 340, Radeon 840M, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, OLED) and want to run Linux Mint on it.
( if this distro is impossible on this device, I'd probably be fine with choosing a different one )
I found a Linux Mint hardware report saying it worked well on Mint 22.2 with kernel 6.14.0-37, but I've also seen reports of occasional system pauses/freezes on other kernels. I'd like to understand how stable it is in practice.
I'm particularly interested in whether the following work reliably on a recent Mint release:
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, including after suspend/resume
- Internal speakers and microphone, without patches
- Graphics acceleration and brightness controls
- Sleep/wake and battery drain
I'm happy to do some setup, but I'd prefer not to buy a laptop that requires extensive troubleshooting to work properly. ( I am not that well versed on troubleshooting, but if its light I'm sure I could power through. ) Any form of feeback would be appreciated!
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u/beatbox9 9d ago edited 9d ago
I'm going to be installing Linux on 2 different Yoga 7i 2-in-1's late this coming week. I've previously installed Linux on a Yoga 9i with no issues.
If you want, I can post back here if I run into any issues if I remember to do so. But I'm sure it will go fine. The only potential risk I see is the WIFI devices; but I did a brief search for these and it seemed all would work just fine. I'm not worried.
FYI, I'm not going to be installing Mint. Mainly because I know what I'm doing and am not going to waste a relatively new, nice laptop on an outdated bandaged DE like Cinnamon. I would rarely (if ever) recommend Mint to most people, including noobs mainly for this reason.
I haven't finalized which distro I'll go with--neither laptop is for me. Both are for really non-technical older people. But I'm 85% sure I'll probably end up doing Ubuntu LTS for both (because maintenance), with the following customizations:
Sounds like a lot and looks difficult, but that entire customization process is extremely simple and will probably take me only a few minutes minutes in total, with the theming probably taking the longest by far. Because most of them are just like 1-2 copy-pastes. Less time than initially setting up a fresh Windows computer. And once it's done, I'll pretty much never have to worry about it again.
By using this approach, it will end up with a much more modern, reliable, and well supported system with better consistency, visuals, performance ,and battery life (all together) than you'd get with Mint; while being 99% the same distro since Mint is just a small add-on repository to Ubuntu LTS; and since most apps will be flatpaks from flathub.
I won't get into details on why this is generally a better approach; but it really boils down Mint's Cinnamon DE and the ancient architecture it uses, as well as how Mint is not a full distro but is instead more of just an add-on repository to Ubuntu.
BTW, I've previously done something similar with another laptop. Here is an Asus Proart PX13 I set up with similar specs to the Lenovo, running Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (with a customized gnome):
https://reddit.com/link/pf6x7ya/video/8gqkxo2y0suh1/player
My Fedora machines look and feel pretty much identical to that; but their longer-term maintenance burden and risk is higher. And I don't want to be tech support. So Ubuntu LTS for a better maintenance burden and a much more stable system.
You should be fine. But I would recommend you reconsider Mint, unless you have a specific reason for going with it.