Lenovo unveils its most powerful Linux laptops and PCs yet

(Image credit: Lenovo / Canonical)

Lenovo has unveiled a new range of Linux-ready laptops and business computers, which will ship with the Ubuntu operating system preinstalled.

The announcement marks a significant expansion in Lenovo’s Linux portfolio, which the company has been building out in recent months.

A range of roughly 30 new Linux-ready devices will soon be available to purchase, including 13 ThinkStation and ThinkPad P Series workstations and 14 ThinkPad T, X, X1 and L Series laptops.

All of the new models will come with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS pre-loaded, with the exception of the L Series, which will run on version 18.04.

Lenovo Linux

Currently, very few PC manufacturers offer devices with Linux preinstalled and the process of loading a Linux distribution onto a machine manually can prove both finicky and time-consuming.

Lenovo’s shift towards Linux integration began with a partnership with FedoraProject, announced in April, which will see ThinkPad P1 Gen2, ThinkPad X1 Gen8 and ThinkPad P53 laptops launch with the Fedora 32 Workstation distro installed.

At the time, the firm pledged to expand its selection of Linux-ready models moving forward - a promise on which it has duly delivered.

“Lenovo’s vision of enabling smarter technology for all really does mean ‘for all’. Our goal is to remove the complexity and provide the Linux community with the premium experience that our customers know us for,” said Igor Bergman, Vice President of PCSD Software and Cloud at Lenovo.

According to Lenovo, the new Linux-ready models will offer improved accessibility to open source apps and libraries, as well as providing Linux users - namely, developers - with a far greater range of options.

“Lenovo’s expansion of Ubuntu certified devices shows great commitment to open source and the Linux community,” added Dean Henrichsmeyer, VP of Engineering at Canonical.

“With data scientists and developers increasingly needing Linux for emerging workloads, this collaboration enables enterprises to equip their employees with long-term stability, added security and simplified IT management.”

The following Lenovo models will be available globally, rolling out in stages through 2021:

  • ThinkPad T14 (Intel and AMD)
  • ThinkPad T14s (Intel and AMD)
  • ThinkPad T15p
  • ThinkPad T15
  • ThinkPad X13 (Intel and AMD)
  • ThinkPad X13 Yoga
  • ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3
  • ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 8
  • ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5
  • ThinkPad L14
  • ThinkPad L15
  • ThinkPad P15s
  • ThinkPad P15v
  • ThinkPad P15
  • ThinkPad P17
  • ThinkPad P14s
  • ThinkPad P1 Gen 3
  • ThinkStation P340
  • ThinkStation P340 Tiny
  • ThinkStation P520c 
  • ThinkStation P520
  • ThinkStation P720
  • ThinkStation P920
  • ThinkStation P620
Joel Khalili
News and Features Editor

Joel Khalili is the News and Features Editor at TechRadar Pro, covering cybersecurity, data privacy, cloud, AI, blockchain, internet infrastructure, 5G, data storage and computing. He's responsible for curating our news content, as well as commissioning and producing features on the technologies that are transforming the way the world does business.