Choosing a Computer for Qubes OS

Hello everyone.
I am planning to buy a desktop computer to use the Qubes system.
I wanted to ask if the Lenovo Legion T5 26IRX9 i7-14650HX computer will be suitable? On the Qubes website I found that a similar model, but with a different numbering, would be suitable.
Thank you in advance for your answer. I would like to add that I want the installation of this system not to require too many workarounds.

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Open “Qubes OS documentation”: Documentation | Qubes OS
Scroll down to “User documentation”, go to “Choosing your hardware” section take a look at “system requirements” and open the OEM (Lenovo,Intel,AMD,Nvidia) website to search for this model and compare the hardware specfications with the Qubes OS requirements to see if it is compatible and satisfies them.

Edit: I checked quickly for you and yeah it seems compatible for all this model variants (I don’t know which is specifically yours) but all of them seem to satisfy even the recommended requirements: at least 16GB memory, IGP, TPM support (in case you want to use anti evil maid), VT-x with EPT, VT-d, even the variants with AMD GPU are Raedon which according to the documentation works well with qubes.

But make sure your self or wait for another more informed forum member to confirm this.

Also I noticed that you are buying a desktop to specifically use Qubes sk you may check certfied harware in the documentation, as it is a list of trusted PCs by qubes where the manufacturers are advocating some principles such as security and open source amd it may even bought wit Qubes pre-installed.

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Generally speaking the best way to have a “just works” qubes machine is an older Thinkpad. My desktops always seem to have some odd behavior. On one the PS2 connection doesn’t work on startup until I disconnect it. On another, the USB 3 connection speed doesn’t work.

I also find that even though my desktop is much more powerful than the laptop, the qubes performance isn’t as great. Since qubes chooses security, it doesn’t use a lot of the advantages of desktops (high end GPU for example). I see no difference between USB 3.0 and 3.1/3.2/ USB C etc. Also less improvement with sata sad vs nvme

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NitroPC are way too expensive for what they sell… I can buy the same hardware, even slightly better like the case etc and pay like 0,7 of it… and they also charge for the delivery and additional taxes. Besides, the hardware is old now, the new PCIe 5 delivers twice the ssd speed than PCIe 4 etc. Not sure who actually buys these. The only benefit is the pre-installed dasharo.

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I am not sure whether ssd devices with the latest PCI 5.0 are much faster that PCI 4.0 that you would notice the difference. In real world scenarios it is barely noticeable, so why to pay more? I would disagree, the hardware is not old. It is pretty good and stable. One could also order a complete PC from dasharo, where some customization is possible, so you do not stick to only components like the case etc. But if the certification is your thing it perhaps make sense…

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Go for dasharo…additionally you would get rid of the proprietary bios :wink:

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When the first NitroPC was announced, it was slightly cheaper than the sum of its parts. I did the calculation somewhere in the forum, I can’t find it :frowning:

But if the specs did not change, it’s certainly cheaper to build something equivalent nowadays.

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