Now available: Fedora on Lenovo laptops!

We’ve been teasing this for a while, but today it’s finally true—Fedora Workstation is now available preinstalled on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 8, ThinkPad P53, and ThinkPad P1 Gen 2 laptops. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is available today for direct consumer purchase from Lenovo’s online store. The Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 2 and ThinkPad P53 will be available next week via the “Contact Us” icon on Lenovo.com. What’s more, the successor models are in the works for pre-load and online ordering as well!

Lenovo has been a great partner in bringing this to market. Like the Fedora community, they are operating on an “upstream first” model. That’s part of why the only thing you’ll see on the laptop that doesn’t come from an official Fedora repository is a set of PDFs providing documentation and legal notices. Lenovo engineers have been contributing to the Linux kernel, including a patch to enable the “lap mode” sensor, which is already accepted. They have also worked with their vendors to improve Linux support in devices like the fingerprint scanner.

Of course, you already know that open source is about more than just the technology; the community is what makes it great. Lenovo is a member of Fedora and other communities. In addition to participating in the usual Fedora places (like the devel mailing list), they also were a gold-level sponsor of our Nest With Fedora conference. And they have a dedicated Fedora section on their community forum. Mark Pearson, Senior Linux Developer said “doing open source the right way is important to us” at his Nest With Fedora Q&A session.

This will be a global program, but it will take some time to roll out country-by-country. If it doesn’t appear on the website in your country, call the local sales number for your country to place a phone order. I’m excited to have Lenovo offer Fedora Workstation as a supported choice on their laptops. This is a great opportunity to grow our community.

New in Fedora Using Hardware

68 Comments

  1. Linux User

    This is good news, can you please provide the link the UK store too.

  2. Alejandro

    Now Lenovo only need to add an AMD CPU/GPU to their X Carbon series and I’ll throw my money at them.

  3. Martin

    From the page linked in this article it looks like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is about $900 more expensive if you get it with Linux. If true that really sucks.

    • It wasn’t that way last week. Looks like the models were discounted across the line, but right now only pre-made ones are and not custom options, and Fedora Workstation is only available on the custom options. (There’s a bootstrap problem, because they haven’t sold enough custom ones yet to determine what the pre-made configurations should be.) Working with Lenovo now on getting that straightened out. Stay tuned.

    • Michael

      It is! I got a better equipped 8th gen X1 carbon (i7 CPU, 512GB HDD, 16 GB RAM, UHD Touch screen) for almost half the price that I would have paid at Lenovo. I saw and got this deal from Costco and quickly canceled my order! Sorry Fedora but frankly I can install Llinux on almost any computer I want, but I do not see why I should pay more for the Linux option out of the factory. Oh also I get it tomorrow. NOT sometime after Oct 15!

  4. Bengt

    Same model and spec:
    Windows $1,249.99
    Linux $2,145.00

    Why?

    • Einer Petersen

      Hey Bengt ……

      Look at the “Customize” ones …. the Fedora base is $2,145.00 and the Windows base is $2,219.00 …….

      You need to compare apples-to-apples … 🙂

  5. Andrew

    Awesome! Do you know when Lenovo’s UK store will offer these?

    • We don’t have a timeline for the different geographies from Lenovo. You can order by phone if they’re not available on the web store.

  6. Edward

    What about desktops machines? Would love to see a desktop model preloaded.

  7. Maddler

    I recently got the Windows version (Ireland) and installed Fedora 32, and everything is working perfectly.
    Would just be curious to see BIOS settings on the Linux version.

    • I’m told that the settings which say “Windows 10 only” are actually correct for Fedora — the Linux kernel also has the ability to take advantage of these modern features. So don’t change things to “Linux”. The Lenovo folks are working to update the text in the BIOS but it takes time.

      • Maddler

        I didn’t change much, so far.
        – Disabled secure boot (required)
        – Set video mem to 512
        – Didn’t change Thunderbolt 3 settings other than what was needed to be able to increase video memory. Found online a few settings related to the X1 Carbon Gen 7, but didn’t play with those uet.
        – Sleep mode change to Linux. (Did this before installing Linux so, to be fair, wouldn’t know if that made any actual difference versus the Windows 10 setting).

        All in all, I’m quite happy with the laptop so far (upgraded from a 4 years old T470),

        Let’s see what the next BIOS updates will bring! 🙂

        • Elliott S

          – Disabled secure boot (required)

          What do you mean ‘required’? Fedora has supported Secure Boot for several years.

          • Maddler

            Disabled it while installing, had to do that before. Assumed it was still required.
            Might give it a try.

          • Maddler

            meant “required to boot from USB to install”.

            • Ah, it’s not, though! Our boot images are properly signed and configured and should just work with Secure Boot.

              • Maddler

                Ah, cool! Just gave it for granted as it was the case for me in the past.
                Just disabled as soon as I switched on.
                Anyhow, turned it back on.

                Thanks for the info!

        • You shouldn’t need to disable secure boot. Mine actually came with it disabled (because it does need to be off on the models where the Nvidia proprietary driver is best, and they want the settings to be the same), but I turned it back on and it’s fine.

          I also increased the video memory and did the same thing with the thunderbolt. 🙂

          You might want to put the sleep mode back to “Windows 10”. That lets you use the new S0ix sleep modes, which give the same power savings as S3 yet let you sleep and resume faster. I’ve been using it since I’ve got mine and noticed no problems.

          • Maddler

            Cool, thanks for the info!!!

          • Maddler

            Cool, just set that back to “Windows 10”, suspend loos to be faster indeed.
            Thanks for the hint!

  8. Neff (@neffscape)

    Not in Switzerland and in most countries outside USA. BOOOH!!!

    • They should be globally-available, even if your local website hasn’t added them yet. You’ll have to call the local sales number to order.

  9. So exciting. Progress for sure.

  10. gabriel

    Please more on brtfs! dedup and compression will be available? Thanks!

  11. Andropause

    Good to know that it comes pre-installed. I have an old laptop (AMD E-450 CPU, 4GB RAM) and I had to install Linux on it as the Window 7 that came pre-installed became so slow that it was unusable.
    Fedora was the only distro that I managed to install, and now the laptop works perfectly well. No point in throwing away a working machine. It is slow for browsing but works like a charm when coding some Python, C++ or Lisp.

  12. Tanay Deshmukh

    Although I don’t have the funds to buy one of these, I hope this means that Lenovo will invest more in working with the Fedora and Linux kernel teams to improve hardware support for my Lenovo IdeaPad 5.

    Although installing a Fedora is a very easy process, it warms my heart to see the largest PC and Laptop vending company in the world openly support our community on their flagship devices.

  13. Mehdi

    The Linux one is much more expensive. $2,145,000!
    Seems quite expensive for a laptop with 8 GB of RAM and no dedicated GPU. Does Lenovo donate portion of the sale to Fedora Project?

  14. pierre

    Good news but I would prefer less expensive models… Why no linux on chromebook or sudent laptots ?
    I had bought a thinkpad L380 with windows 10. I use it with dualboot windows – Fedora. Everything works perfectly !

    • Lenovo made this decision based on the demand they’re getting from their customers. I’d love to see a Fedora OS available on some of the more affordable options as well!

      • Tormod Macleod

        I’d buy one. I don’t need a powerhouse. It’d also be a good way of reaching kids, students and the elderly. Many of whom have limited budgets and needs. This is a significant step forward though. Good news

  15. George

    Good news. Can the Fedora team check with Lenovo on the fix for the touchpad? This issue affects many. I have seen a few points online, but it does not seem to be addressed. have a Lenovo IdeaPad S145-14IIL with Fedora-33 pre-release. The touchpad does not work and does not even show under Settings | Mouse & Touchpad. Thanks.

  16. How much is the price of new fedora lenovo

  17. George

    How did Lenovo-Fedora solve the touchpad issue? Can the solution be publicized for the benefit of all Lenovo laptops running Fedora while the touchpad is dysfunctional?

    • So, good news and bad news. In some ways, there are similarities between a project like Fedora and creating a laptop. Lenovo doesn’t actually make the fingerprint reader — they get it from vendors. And with this model and going forward, supporting Fedora (and therefore the upstream Linux kernel, because that’s how we do things!) is a requirement Lenovo gives to their suppliers. They didn’t do that before, and so older models may have hardware without Fedora compatibility. So, in a way, this helps everyone — these devices should work with all modern Linux distros — but it doesn’t solve the problem for older laptops with older hardware.

      • George

        Makes sense. But, shouldn’t it be possible to ‘decipher’ what was done by Lenovo / its suppliers to fix the issue, especially that this will help hundreds of Fedora users worldwide? I have a very new Lenovo laptop (IdeaPad S145-14IIL), but I don’t think the issue is new or old. It has to do with drivers and the kernel.

        • Not necessarily — it’s just that the new part is one which has support in the upstream kernel. The older models don’t. It doesn’t necessarily translate. (They may be entirely different inside.)

  18. Have been on Thinkpads for the last 28 years and Fedora for last 16! So thankful to not have to fight the device driver battle with every new laptop (e.g. Validity 97 on the T470), so can afford to update my laptops a little more often – good for Lenovo, and hopefully good for Fedora.

    • maddler

      Totally! Been using Thinkpads for ages now (the only break was in 2011 when I was fool enough to buy a MacBook Pro, wich left me with a melted motherboard after 2yrs!) and coming I just upgraded to the X1 from a T470s. Was quite happy go get the fingerprint reader out of the box! Hooray!

  19. Steven Drinnan

    The only problem is you can by the same machine (but i7) for nearly $1000 less. With that price difference it doesn’t make sense.
    Better to go to System76

  20. wtf? lenovo ships its pcs with preinstalled malware through which it spies on the users and sells their privacy. I dont mean to offend you but “preinstalled” fedora in lenovo pc would mean another root kit or a back door. honestly, cant trust these guys. cant trust anything “preinstalled”

    • Maddler

      Well, even if you want to reinstall everything yourself (which you’d be doing anyway with a PC coming with Windows 10) you can now be sure that the hardware is going to be 100% supported and/or drivers provided.
      So, either way, that’s good news IMHO.

    • The preinstalled image is stock Fedora Workstation with no modifications except the addition of (non-code) documentation. The team working on this is totally unrelated to whoever made that decision in the past. In any case, if you can’t support companies changing for the better, why would they ever change?

  21. Bob Fleming

    Thank God. I purchased a Thinkpad last year with Windows installed. That lasted a whole 6 months and I am now running Linux Mint. If they had had a laptop with Fedora pre-installed I would have happily purchased one. It would have saved a good deal of time and hassles. Lenove makes fantastic laptops, now you can get them with a quality operating system as well.

  22. What about current users with a Lenovo laptop mentioned in article? I have P52 (Not P53) with Fedora 32.
    Unfortunately I have 2 issues:

    1.- Fingerprint reader is just there as Fedora 32 did not recognized out of the box. Even looking at internet I was not able to find a way to setip the reader.
    2.- ThinkPad USB 3.0 Ultra Dock. Display Port not working correctly and slow ethernet port speed.

    Hopefully Lenovo has willingnes to provide repo with Fedora specifics.

  23. svsv sarma

    What is the advantage of preinstalled OS if it is not cost effective? You can as well purchase a raw system and install fedora yourself as Miller pointed out. Instead of pre-installation, they should announce it as Fedora compatible. That will encourage buyers for sure as FOSS is free. I am glad that my HP notebook (2015) is agreeing well with Fedora and that should be the case. I earnestly hope that manufacturers will consider.

    • Martin

      The sale seems to have been extended to linux now so at least that problem is fixed. There are a few reasons why it’s important to have linux as a pre-installed option:

      It’s easier for new adopters. Installing linux from a USB is easy but it’s still a barrier for some who’ve never done it before. Many people just don’t expect that level of admin on their devices even though linux could otherwise be a good option for them.
      There are many linux users who just don’t want a computer with any Microsoft on it. Microsoft hate has died down a bit since windows is no longer the dominant computing platform, but it’s still there (and well deserved).
      Having compatible hardware is not the same as having supported software. My XPS 13 gets regular firmware updates through Fedora and hopefully these Lenovos will too.

  24. G Smith

    Where do I get a evoucher from? Do they delivery to Autralia and are the prices in US Dollars

  25. David F. Lanphere Sr.

    I have been using Fedora on my ThinkPads since Fedora 16, with great happiness. My only complaint, and I know it really isn’t fedora’s fault, is the lack of printer drivers for all the other printer/scanners. No Lexmark, no Epson, and most others. I am able to use the HP Laser printers at work, but we really need to get the Printer Companies to get on board. I would love to learn how to write my own Drivers, but some brains just can’t get around coding!

  26. Maddler

    And, by the way, 33 Beta runs smoth on X1 Carbon 🙂

  27. Rodrigo

    This is a very big step for Open Source mindset – Special with such a powerful vendor of computer systems. Thank you

  28. This is a great step. I own 3 different Lenovo boxes, 2 laptops, and 1 of their mini desktops. Fedora has worked excellent, minus normal hiccups (one OS upgrade went real bad)& (and I make my own mistakes). Price would be an issue. I would look at a strong ideapad option, NO 4 GB RAM, I had to add Crucial’s RAM to both laptops. 8 GB is only option in my humble opinion. I like the combo, Lenovo + AMD + Fedora. Get that sweet spot for your tinkerer/home user dollar wise, Windows did not last long on these for under $300 including extra RAM……..

  29. Update for everyone concerned about the price: looks like there’s “sale” pricing again and the base model is currently $1,287.00, which is just under fifty bucks cheaper than the cheapest Windows configuration. And the nice screen is back in stock!

  30. Max

    Thank you Matthew, amazing work to get this done!

  31. James

    The funny thing is, the Lenovo website allows you to buy various Adobe software for your Thinkpad, stuff like Photoshop and Premiere. I wonder how that’d work?
    …and yes, I did make sure I had the Linux X1 Carbon selected

  32. Just wanted to point out the font is broken on this one!

    https://pagure.io/fedoramagazine-images/c/21daee58ffc8e313b317186dd64817303eeb4391?branch=master

    The fonts that are missing are part of the Fedora Magazine font set, so when these SVGs are built we should make sure the environment has the following Fedora Magazine fonts installed:
    – Molot
    – Montserrat

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