Has Lenovo given up on Linux laptops?

LorenDB

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I'm planning to replace my laptop this Black Friday season, but during my "pre-shopping" I noticed a disturbing fact: Lenovo seems to have quietly dropped most Linux devices (at least laptops), as you can see here: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/d/linux-laptops-desktops/

"49 results", says the page, but there's only one laptop.

Has anybody else noticed this? Has Lenovo said anything on the topic? Or is Lenovo going to just silently dump Linux laptops?
 


Sadly, it's probably not a good financial decision to offer things outside the norm. It's much easier (and cheaper!) to have a consistent product. If people aren't buying the Linux choice in numbers that make financial sense, they're unlikely to keep producing them.

For better or worse, Linux on the desktop is generally estimated to be between 2% and 4%. Of that percentage, how many are actually paying for a laptop that comes with Linux pre-installed? There's more to it than slapping a Linux distro on it, they also need to ensure it all functions with that distro, provide support for that setup, etc...

I wonder if maybe they could sell them with no OS - and no software support, just supporting (warrantying, actually) the hardware? Then, they could just pull 'em off the production line as needed, with a handful already prepped that way to sit in warehouses.

It's just a sad reality, I suppose. With just 4% of the desktop market, how many people even consider buying a product with Linux pre-installed? Judging by the questions we get, I'd expect that to be not much more than a rounding error. I suspect it's a pretty tiny number of people.

The last time I bought a laptop with Linux on it, I spent out the butt on a 'mobile workstation'. It was a very, very good computer - but it was REALLY expensive, as far as these things go.

Configure and price one of these:

 
Hmmm... Doesn't look bad, although it's (a) not 14" and (b) I was hoping to get another 2-in-1.

I may just have to buy a Windows Lenovo (possibly a Yoga X1 or whatever they're called) and drop Linux on it.
 
I don't think I've ever seen that company have a Black Friday sale. Heck, I don't think I've ever seen them actually have a sale. I'm sure they must have and I just didn't notice.

The last laptop I purchased was a lovely number from MSI and I bought it just to do Lubuntu testing. It suits its role quite nicely. I no longer have the last Titan that I purchased. It was getting long in the tooth, so I handed it off to a sorta-neighbor's kid.
 
Well, I bought a Thinkpad on discount. Looks like I get Windows with it, but ehh... It could come in handy, I guess. I'm going to repurpose my old laptop as a Windows machine for the few things I may need Windows for, and since it had Windows preinstalled, I won't have to buy it, so I guess getting Windows preinstalled is not 100% bad. Only 99%.
 

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