Does Qubes OS eventually run on new gen Intel Chips? System76 Lemur Pro (lemp14)?

Question: Does Qubes OS generally become compatible with newest generation Intel Chips given enough time? Is there a reasonable chance that my System76 Lemur Pro 14 with an Intel Core Ultra X7 358H will be able to run a future version of Qubes OS in 6-24 months?

Context: I started using Qubes OS as a previous Mac OS user over a year ago when I decided to switch to an open source OS after feeling a bit violated when I finally stopped ignoring the invasive telemetry of Apple/Google/Microsoft etc etc. I bought a clunky cheap laptop and upgraded the RAM and I have been enjoying Qubes OS as my daily driver for almost a year now. I really like it and want to continue. I decided the “experiment” is a success and that I wanted a more permanent sleek ultralight laptop (I am, in truth, missing my macbook in a hardware sense).

I decided to stupidly ignore the advice of avoiding the newest generation intel chips and bought a System76 Lemur Pro 14 with an Intel Core Ultra X7 358H (Lemur Pro (lemp14) | System76 Technical Documentation). I took the gamble because System76 offer a 30 day return policy, the chip supports virtualization and also the last gen Lemur Pro was on the HCL list as compatible. Alas, the installer freezes as it boots (essentially just before the GUI installer opens) and I assume this means it is incompatible? I have verified the installer USB works on my old laptop.

The laptop is very nice, light and portable. Although a standard linux distro will probably be able to achieve a somewhat acceptable level of privacy and security, I eventually want to use Qubes OS. I could return the laptop and potentially look into another (Clevo or otherwise) laptop. However, if it is reasonably likely that an update in Qubes OS in the near-ish future would mean that I could install it on the new laptop I am tempted to keep it and run Pop_OS or Fedora until/if that happens. Essentially: is the incompatibility likely temporary or permanent?

It is most likely temporary. Usually the software/drivers need updating to support newer hardware. Probably within a year. If you can live without wifi (or use a USB wifi) you can try disabling wifi in bios… often that is the issue (newer wifi drivers) for installer

Thanks for replying. Your answer led me to some more reading and I would guess there are probably many hardware incompatibilities, probably more than the wifi card (it’s an intel BE211). Bios didn’t have an option for disabling WiFi but I tried multiple ways of disabling it including physically removing the wifi card and then trying to run the Qubes OS installer and nothing worked.

Temporary, if you want a more compatible System76 option, the Darter Pro (darp11) is one generation ahead of the NovaCustom NV54/NV56 and/or Nitrokey NitroPad NV54/NV56 in the same Clevo NV540TU/NV560TU chassis, but it is Arrow Lake instead of Panther Lake like your current device. If you want to persist on the Lemur Pro anyways, it would require developer debugging sessions and tools in the boot sequence along with output dumps to iteratively and systematically address every technical blocker. Afterwards, generating an HCL report would be an important step towards others adopting your workarounds.