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I'm considering buying a ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 that comes pre-installed with Windows. So I looked at Ubuntu's list of certified hardware to see if the laptop is certified/compatible with Ubuntu. After finding it on their list, I clicked on the link to read more about it and got the following information:

Pre-installed in some regions with a custom Ubuntu image that takes advantage of the system’s hardware features and may include additional software. Standard images of Ubuntu may not work well, or at all.

So it seems like the hardware is only certified if I buy it pre-installed with a custom Ubuntu image, which isn't available btw. But it says the exact same thing on every other listing I checked. So I'm wondering if anyone has found a laptop that is certified with a standard Ubuntu image?

PS I'm not interested in System76 hardware right now.

Fadi
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  • Certification won't help you, it won't work anyway. I have third thinkpad and I can assure you, that it won't work as you expect. Ubuntu for laptops is a joke! – user1660210 Mar 20 '23 at 11:58

1 Answers1

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It is a wrong way to look for a certified laptop. Frankly speaking this "certification" means nothing.

Laptop vendors can change some parts without notice such as: wireless devices, touchpads, etc. Some of the devices may be incompatible with Linux yet.

So this message really means that in some regions somebody sells laptops with this brand name. Maybe, but not necessarily they added some drivers to get everything properly working.

There is no guarantee that if you buy a laptop with exactly same name and all work out-of-the-box.

The only reliable way is to boot a laptop with a LiveUSB and check yourself.

The same applies to asking at forums. If one sucessfully installed Ubuntu to one laptop, it doesn't mean that all is OK with another.

But generally most of laptops work. There may be issues with touchpads and wireless devices that in most cases can be solved.

Pilot6
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  • Thanks for the input. It sucks not knowing if everything will work before placing an order... – Fadi Jul 28 '22 at 17:12
  • while most systems work, there seems to be new Pluton (multiple vendors) systems that currently do not. Lenovo's new AMD Rembrandt powered laptops with Microsoft Pluton security co-processor are set by default to only trust Microsoft's key or the only boot Windows. ThinkPad Z13 https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Lenovo-Pluton-Windows-Default – oldfred Jul 28 '22 at 17:39
  • @Fadi In most cases all works. – Pilot6 Jul 28 '22 at 20:07
  • @Pilot6 I don't think so, the ArchWiki lists many defects for all kinds of hardware – Fadi Jul 29 '22 at 11:37