Fast Qubes Confirmed Laptop (Without workarounds) w/ 64 GB+ Ram?

General Discussion
8

I have similar requirements. Also preferred no workaround as I’m trying to onboard some other users who may not be super technical.

Not good that the “community created list of recommended computers” contains a bunch of discontinued CPU’s manufactured 9+ years ago which can’t run a decent sized display due to software rendering.

It seems the Tuxedo Infinitybook 14 is the best option (but the version in the HCL isn’t the same version being sold now - Hardware compatibility list (HCL) | Qubes OS). Ships from Germany.

9

Just seen that new Lenovo X1 Carbons have a 4+ month shipping time for i7s, and you can’t get 32GB of RAM or more on their i5 models.

10

What display configuration are you using on the Yoga 730? I think I could live with 16GB if the performance was good on an HDMI 4K output…

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@bowtiediguana wrote:

I think I could live with 16GB if the performance was good on an HDMI 4K output…

I am running a ThinkPad T430 with the following specs:

  • i7-3840QM
  • 16 GB RAM
  • 2 TB SSD
  • Full HD (1080p) internal display
  • 4K 32" external monitor (display port, HDMI doesn’t give me the full 4K)

I am writing this not to recommend my config to you, but merely to make clear even with this “old” computer you can get good 4k performance.

As far as what you guys are asking for in this thread:

  • Purism Librem 14 v1
  • ThinkPad P51

… both on the list, both match what you are asking for.

3 Likes
12

Librem 14 has only 1 USB controller so that won’t work for me.
ThinkPad P51 is no longer available new.

The search continues for a laptop I (and others) can be assured to be able to buy over the next 12 months, which is fast and Qubes compatible. Closest so far is Tuxedo Infinitybook 14 if anyone is interested. https://groups.google.com/g/qubes-users/c/E8suaQMxT0g/m/IbuaF-PODQAJ

13

Someone posted a list of manufacturers who made qubes tested laptops. Off the top of my head which had 64/+ ram were tuxedo and star labs

14

Hi 51lieal, the Legion seems great especially because I am looking for something with over 16GB of max memory (that doesn’t break the bank).

I noticed your legion report on HCL was for Qubes 4.1. Have you tried it with 4.0 before? Only asking since I am a newbie (trying to avoid workarounds and stick to the stable 4.0 version).

15

The only problem with 4.0 is default kernel doesn’t have wifi worked, so i need to use ethernet and upgrade kernel then install driver manually.

1 Like
16

I happened to stumble on a post from fieryrajang without looking for anything WiFi related (sheer coincidence). I thought of your reply and figured I should ask… would these be the instructions to get wifi working properly on 4.0? It seems fairly straightforward, but I have no experience with it so I might be mistaken.

fieryrajang

Jan 17

Obtain kernel-latest-qubes-vm package on a usb and you can install just before rebooting on Qubes Install. Ctrl-Alt-F2, mount USB to /mnt/sysimage/mnt
chroot /mnt/sysimage/
cd /mnt
rpm -ivh --nodeps kernel-latest-qubes-vm

Then Ctrl-Alt-F6 to return to installer and reboot.

This way you can have working WiFi without having to require an Ethernet connection first to download the kernel. Note this would set all appVms to latest kernel, you can change default back to stable, and only change sys-net.

17

As long as you can use newer kernel for qubes-vm it’s okay, with kernel 5.10 you don’t need to configure anything, but from my perspective just go with r4.1 with current-security repo, i’ve been testing since early and only got 1 issue (for me) until now (current 4.1rc1 cannot use whonix to download template), and using 4.1 mean that you don’t need to learn again, since 4.0 and 4.1 has slightly different structure.

18

Hi, Welcome to Forum

If you did not find it yet, Repo of latest Qubes ISO.

https://qubes.notset.fr/iso/

19

Sounds like a Razer laptop is perfect for you although I would advice you to check every specific model for 64GB RAM problems.

20

Tuxedo’s Pulse laptops sound interesting, up to 64 GB ram and AMD Ryzen 4800H, the H CPU’s are 45 watt and are faster. They have Intel alternatives as well. Since the components are checked to be compatible with Linux, the chances of them being compatible with Qubes is bigger. And they’re much more powerful than the Librem laptops.
Does anyone know how long they support their machines with BIOS updates? The downloads are not public, you need to login.

21

Continuing the discussion from Short list of laptops/desktops that work well with Qubes OS:

I found the notebooks from Schenker/XMG very suitable as well as mentioned in the discussion linked above (and, in comparison to the Tuxedo, they are manufactured in Germany too and seem in general pretty similar considering their broader philosophy), but just my humble 2 cent…

22

That i7-3840QM is a beast of a chip especially if your thermals can handle it. I am shopping for a new computer that’s what I compare all the newer cpus to.

23

I have been doing a little research myself with more restrictions. Have you looked at the dell precision 5560 or 5760? Some one checked the dell xps 15 9500 (2020) and found it is working with 4.1. The 5560 (2021) is the business line from dell that share the same chassis is the xps 15 but with slightly different internals. The main difference from the xps is that it has Linux support from dell and is certified to work with RHEL 8.4 which is some what similar to qubes. There might be limited sucess with the x1e or p1 which are direct competition. At least with dell you can get a machine in a couple of weeks instead of a couple of months with lenovo.

24

I know this is an old post, but just to let you know, there is a Qubes-certified laptop now: the NV41 Series.

4 Likes
25

Dell Latitudes are laptops provided by companies to the employees, without discrete GPUs. Many can be upgraded to 64GB RAM.

I have installed and tested Qubes 4.2 on a variety of them, including with 64G RAM. It runs snappy.

26

Did you try Dell Latitude 7400?
My have 64 gb, IntelCore i7-8665U*8, and Mesa Intel® UHD Graphics 620 (WHL GT2) and my laptop still have issues with Qubes OS, no default software (like Debian or Fedora or Whonix) /no templates

27

I have not tested that particular model. I have run it in 3 different latitudes, 5X series. I doubt if 7x is any different.

I had to play with bios settings.