Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

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PJWillie

Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by PJWillie »

Everyone,

I wasn't sure if this was the correct section but I'll start here. My current laptop
just died and I was thinking of replacing it with a Lenovo ThinkPad T570 with a
OPAL2.0 PCLe-NVMe hard drive @ 512 or 1 TB (SSD) & 32 Gigs of Ram.

Are there any known compatibility issues with Mint or Linux? Currently I'm running Linux Mint
18.2 with fully encrypted hard drives.

I will be using it for school : Software Engineering & Embedded systems.

Any thoughts on the reliability of the Lenovo ThinkPad?

What about programming with the ThinkPads?

Blessings,
PJWillie
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Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by Moem »

I've never used anything else for many long years. My current laptop and daily machine is an X201. Very sturdy and well built.
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Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by catweazel »

Linux has supported NVMe for quite a while so there should be no issues there. If you want to try linux on the machine, get a small capacity (8GB these days), high speed USB flash drive and create a live USB. You should be able to boot to the flash drive and test it out in the store. I use a very high speed USB flash drive (450MB/s) and have a 150MB/s as a spare. Both run very fast. If you go for a slower USB 2 flash then you'll experience lagging so you won't get an accurate view of the speed of the OS.
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Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by bjmh46 »

I run nothing but thinkpads and have owned 5. Currently have 4 running a mix of Mint 17 xfce, and Mint 18.2 xfce. Nothing as new as yours (my workhorse is a t520 i5, 8gb, 275gb ssd). Newest is a L430 with ivybridge. Only hardware item I've never gotten to work correctly under Linux (any distro) is the microphone mute button. Everything else just works. I just mute the mic in software.

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Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by +Gal4woP+5_M »

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad t420 with Mint Cinnamon 18.1 and everything works just fine. :D
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Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by stereo555 »

Thinkpad X1 Carbon (2012) here. Installation of 18.1 was fast and flawless. By far the best laptop I've ever used.
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Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by AndyMH »

Oh yes! Like others have used nothing else, had a T410 running 17.3 cinnamon, now running 18.1 cinnamon on a T430. Both have 240G SSD and 8G RAM. Mint installed 'out of the box'. What's more, all my Thinkpads have been second hand 'corporate' machines bought at reasonable prices. Would not consider anything else.

As for reliability, the predecessor to the T410 has got to be about a decade old, still running fine, a bit slow. The T410 is probably 7/8 yrs old, had to replace the screen and changed to the T430 because it was unexpectedly shutting down - web search suggested overheating mboard hence switch to T430. T430 is probably 5 yrs old and fine. The thing about Thinkpads is that they are built to last and parts availability I've found is pretty good, e.g. ebay.
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
Lanser

Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by Lanser »

Fully agree with the others. T Series Thinkpads (or E Series if you are on a budget) are the way to go.
My current T460 (with the latest BIOS) is running LM18.2 Mate with 4.10 series kernel. Zero issues.
The only suggestion I would make is to stick to the single embedded graphics models. Dual GPU can be PITA.
Lanser
hrmcrm

Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by hrmcrm »

Moem wrote:I've never used anything else for many long years. My current laptop and daily machine is an X201. Very sturdy and well built.
I am on board with Moem. My experience with ThinkPads has been they are very compatible with Linux. I used openSUSE for a while, now use Mint.
I also use an X201 both at home and for traveling. Great machine, and legacy BIOS makes life easy.
Regards,
PJWillie

Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by PJWillie »

'Solved"
Thank you everyone.
I'll order a Thinkpad tonight.

Blessings,
PJWillie
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Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by KBD47 »

Bumping this old thread: Which version of Mint are you using on your X201 Thinkpad? Just bought one and am trying to decide which is best for it.
hrmcrm

Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by hrmcrm »

KBD47 wrote:Bumping this old thread: Which version of Mint are you using on your X201 Thinkpad? Just bought one and am trying to decide which is best for it.
I am using Mint 18.2 KDE 64-bit. It runs great. I got used to KDE long ago and stay with it. I'm sure an X201 could easily run any Mint desktop environment.
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Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by Moem »

17.3 Cinnamon at the moment, but planning to switch to 18.2. Should run fine, too.
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Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by KBD47 »

hrmcrm wrote:I am using Mint 18.2 KDE 64-bit. It runs great. I got used to KDE long ago and stay with it. I'm sure an X201 could easily run any Mint desktop environment.
Mine came with Windows 7 and runs a bit heavy and warm for the machine. I was thinking about Mint Xfce or MATE. How much ram do you have if you don't mind me asking? (I have 4gb ATM)
Last edited by KBD47 on Fri Sep 29, 2017 6:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by KBD47 »

Moem wrote:17.3 Cinnamon at the moment, but planning to switch to 18.2. Should run fine, too.
What kind of temps do you get running Cinnamon?
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Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by xfrank »

I have an old ThinkPad L412 (core i3) with LMDE2 Mate, and a newer T440p (core i5) with LM 18 Cinnamon. Both works flawlessly and fast. :)
Active Distros in my computers: LM21.1 (Mate,Xfce); MXLinux (Xfce)
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Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by KBD47 »

xfrank wrote:I have an old ThinkPad L412 (core i3) with LMDE2 Mate, and a newer T440p (core i5) with LM 18 Cinnamon. Both works flawlessly and fast. :)
I've tried Debian 9 on my T420 and it worked great. I'm thinking about Mint Xfce on my X201, though LMDE would probably work well also.
hrmcrm

Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by hrmcrm »

KBD47 wrote:
hrmcrm wrote:I am using Mint 18.2 KDE 64-bit. It runs great. I got used to KDE long ago and stay with it. I'm sure an X201 could easily run any Mint desktop environment.
Mine came with Windows 7 and runs a bit heavy and warm for the machine. I was thinking about Mint Xfce or MATE. How much ram do you have if you don't mind me asking? (I have 4gb ATM)
My X201 came with Windows 7 during the free "upgrade" period for Windows 10, so I did that. It now dual boots Windows 10 and Mint 18.2 KDE, both 64-bit. CPU typically runs about 40 to 45°C with Mint 18.2 KDE, and 45 to 50°C with Win10. It has 4 GB RAM. Details are

Code: Select all

howard@X201LM182KDE64 ~ $ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: X201LM182KDE64 Kernel: 4.10.0-35-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.8.7 (Qt 5.6.1) Distro: Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya
Machine:   System: LENOVO (portable) product: 32492FU v: ThinkPad X201
           Mobo: LENOVO model: 32492FU Bios: LENOVO v: 6QET70WW (1.40 ) date: 10/11/2012
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i5 M 540 (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 10107
           clock speeds: max: 2534 MHz 1: 1199 MHz 2: 1199 MHz 3: 1333 MHz 4: 1866 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1280x800@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Ironlake Mobile GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 17.0.7 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel 5 Series/3400 Series High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.10.0-35-generic
Network:   Card-1: Intel 82577LM Gigabit Network Connection driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: 1820 bus-ID: 00:19.0
           IF: enp0s25 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 driver: iwlwifi bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 320.1GB (13.3% used) ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST9320423AS size: 320.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 20G used: 10G (54%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
           ID-2: /home size: 9.8G used: 1.9G (21%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda6
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 8.05GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda8
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 48.0C mobo: 0.0C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 3283
Info:      Processes: 210 Uptime: 22 min Memory: 1262.7/3747.8MB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35 
howard@X201LM182KDE64 ~ $ 
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Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by Moem »

KBD47 wrote:What kind of temps do you get running Cinnamon?
Around 60 C. If it gets to 75 C that means there's a program that needs restarting.
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Re: Do Lenovo ThinkPads run well with Linux Mint?

Post by KBD47 »

hrmcrm wrote: My X201 came with Windows 7 during the free "upgrade" period for Windows 10, so I did that. It now dual boots Windows 10 and Mint 18.2 KDE, both 64-bit. CPU typically runs about 40 to 45°C with Mint 18.2 KDE, and 45 to 50°C with Win10. It has 4 GB RAM.
I have heard you need to update the bios and remove a bunch of Lenovo programs and then reinstall them to upgrade to Windows 10. Did you run into issues upgrading the X201 to Windows 10?
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