What's Going On With Linux and Lenovo? (YouTube)

[Jason]

I found an informative video here about Lenovo and its support of Linux.

Lenovo has repeatedly promised to support Linux as well as they do Windows on their laptops. To get that now, you have to buy a more expensive laptop from one of the Linux retailers like System76 at a higher price point. Although Lenovo sells some laptops with Linux pre-installed, it takes longer to get one, doesn't have Lenovo apps on Linux and, according to the presenter, has poor tech support. This video looks at Lenovo's timeline of promises and how far they've moved the needle. If you are interested in running Linux on Lenovo laptops you should find it enlightening. It's 14 minutes long.

While I've only had one Lenovo notebook, I loved it. Until you've tried it, you have no idea how much better their TrackPoint is over a touchpad which they also include. It worked well enough that I didn't even bother with an external mouse most of the time although a mouse is still better. While it ran Linux fine, I had to install it and not everything worked out-of-the-box. I never was able to get the fingerprint reader to work on it. And of course, the Lenovo apps, some of which include automatic driver updating and energy conservation, weren't there. I don't think I tried the power features enough to compare how well it worked compared to Windows. It was a used laptop so I kept it plugged in most of the time.