Thursday, September 24th 2020
Lenovo Launches Linux-Ready ThinkPad and ThinkStation PCs Preinstalled with Ubuntu
Today, Lenovo announced a global expansion of its Linux portfolio, extending its certification program that was announced in June to include PCs preinstalled with Canonical's Ubuntu LTS operating system. Previously only accessible to enterprises via a customized bid, a comprehensive range of nearly 30 Ubuntu-loaded devices will now be available for purchase via Lenovo.com. These include 13 ThinkStation and ThinkPad P Series Workstations and an additional 14 ThinkPad T, X, X1 and L series laptops, all with the 20.04 LTS version of Ubuntu, with the exception of the L series which will have version 18.04.
"Lenovo's vision of enabling smarter technology for all really does mean 'for all'. Our announcement of device certification in June was a step in the right direction to enable customers to more easily install Linux on their own. Our goal is to remove the complexity and provide the Linux community with the premium experience that our customers know us for. This is why we have taken this next step to offer Linux-ready devices right out of the box," said Igor Bergman, Vice President of PCSD Software & Cloud at Lenovo.
With this expansion comes increased accessibility to open source apps, libraries and tools to enhance developers' productivity. Not only does this offer a seamless out-of-box experience for those who previously braved the often time-consuming process of loading Linux onto their Lenovo devices themselves, it also provides this community of programmers, software developers, AI professionals and other Linux users an increased range of devices to choose from.
"Lenovo's expansion of Ubuntu certified devices shows great commitment to open source and the Linux community. With data scientists and developers increasingly needing Linux for emerging workloads, this collaboration enables enterprises to equip their employees with the assurance of long-term stability, added security and simplified IT management," said Dean Henrichsmeyer, VP of Engineering at Canonical.
By providing these devices preloaded with the OEM version of Ubuntu, Lenovo is removing complexity for Linux users and introducing end-to-end web and phone support for platform-related Linux issues.
Availability
Included in this global expansion are the following Lenovo ThinkPad and ThinkStation devices which will be available globally starting September 2020 and rolling out in phases through 2021:
Source:
Lenovo
"Lenovo's vision of enabling smarter technology for all really does mean 'for all'. Our announcement of device certification in June was a step in the right direction to enable customers to more easily install Linux on their own. Our goal is to remove the complexity and provide the Linux community with the premium experience that our customers know us for. This is why we have taken this next step to offer Linux-ready devices right out of the box," said Igor Bergman, Vice President of PCSD Software & Cloud at Lenovo.
"Lenovo's expansion of Ubuntu certified devices shows great commitment to open source and the Linux community. With data scientists and developers increasingly needing Linux for emerging workloads, this collaboration enables enterprises to equip their employees with the assurance of long-term stability, added security and simplified IT management," said Dean Henrichsmeyer, VP of Engineering at Canonical.
By providing these devices preloaded with the OEM version of Ubuntu, Lenovo is removing complexity for Linux users and introducing end-to-end web and phone support for platform-related Linux issues.
Availability
Included in this global expansion are the following Lenovo ThinkPad and ThinkStation devices which will be available globally starting September 2020 and rolling out in phases 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
7 Comments on Lenovo Launches Linux-Ready ThinkPad and ThinkStation PCs Preinstalled with Ubuntu
Odd the L series come with 18.04 and not 20.04. Oh well, can just run sudo do-release-upgrade I guess.
Price is not the motivation here, but rather businesses wanting to run Linux for their developers without having to install the OS and do support in-house, some companies have policies forbidding "unsupported" OS', this makes it much easier for them.
While Linux might not be "the desktop king", it has become vastly popular among developers over the past few years, especially in embedded and web development. One contributing factor is Apple's insistence on making lives harder for development, and their upcoming move to ARM. Another is the prevalence of "Linux tools" like git, which in the past five years has gone from being a niche Linux tool to becoming the most widespread version control system (it is possible to get it working on Windows too, but it's a hassle).
But lastly, competition is of course good.
You really don't want your name attached to freaking lenovo.
And that is somewhat 'sanitized' it seems.
And seeing that after all that stuff and while being a Chinese companiy they were never touched by any criticism of the US government nor got any whisper of sanctions applied I can only assume that they must be working massively with the NSA to get such favorable status, that math is really elementary.