The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 is a premium thin and light laptop with a 14 inch display with support for up to a 4K display, up to an Intel Core i7-1185G7 processor, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of PCIe SSD storage all stuffed into a package that’s less than 0.6 inches thick and which weighs less than 2.5 pounds.

When the laptop went on sale earlier this year it was initially available with a choice of Windows 10 Home or Pro operating systems. Now there are two more options: Ubuntu or Fedora.

Lenovo announced last year that they’d begin offering some ThinkPad laptops with an option to have Fedora Linux pre-installed rather than Windows, and later in the year began shipping a ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 8 with a 10th-gen Intel “Comet Lake” processor and Fedora.

So it’s good to see that the company is continuing to offer Linux options for its 2021 models.

If you were hoping to save money by skipping the Windows license, you will… but not a lot of money. Prices start at $1393 for ThinkPad X1 Carbon with Linux, compared with $1415 for a Windows model.

Both versions feature entry-level specs including a 1920 x 1200 pixel IPS display, Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of LPDDR4x-4266 memory and a 256GB SSD. But each of those specs can be customized – and I’d recommend paying a little extra for more memory if you think you’ll need it, since the RAM is soldered to the motherboard and not user replaceable.

The laptop comes standard with a backlit keyboard, fingerprint reader, support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, a 57 Wh battery, a 720p webcam, and a port selection that includes:

  • 2 x Thunderbolt 4/USB-C
  • 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
  • 1 x HDMI 2.0
  • 1 x 3.5mm audio

Lenovo offers the laptop with an all-black case or an optional carbon-fiber weave for the lid. Other optional accessories include an IR camera for Windows Hello-compatible face recognition, a FHD+ touchscreen, or a 3840 x 2400 pixel IPS glossy non-touch display, and the notebook can be configured with a 4G LTE or 5G modem.

 

via Matthew Miller

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One reply on “Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 is now available with Fedora or Ubuntu Linux”

  1. It is important to note that if you want WWAN capability, you cannot order the X1 Carbon Gen 9 preloaded with Linux. Correct me if I am wrong, but you will have to purchase the Gen 9 with Windows preloaded to get a WWAN option. The Quectel EM120R-GL appears to have USB Serial Drivers available for Linux 2.6, 3.x, 4.x, and 5.x. However, the Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System does not appear to have Linux support. I would be interested in finding out someone’s experience with either the Quectel EM120R-GL or the Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 with Fedora or any distro, really. My guess is if it does work, it will take some effort since Lenovo does not offer the option as a configurable system.

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