HCL - Lenovo Thinkpad P14s Gen 5 Intel

User Support HCL Reports
1 
---
layout:
  'hcl'
type:
  'Notebook'
hvm:
  'yes'
iommu:
  'yes'
slat:
  'yes'
tpm:
  '2.0'
remap:
  'yes'
brand: |
  LENOVO
model: |
  21G3S2CJ00
bios: |
  R2DET36W (1.21 )
cpu: |
  Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 9 185H
cpu-short: |
  FIXME
chipset: |
  Intel Corporation Device [8086:7d01] (rev 04)
chipset-short: |
  FIXME
gpu: |
  Intel Corporation Meteor Lake-P [Intel Arc Graphics] [8086:7d55] (rev 08) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
gpu-short: |
  FIXME
network: |
  Intel Corporation Device [8086:7e40] (rev 20)
  Intel Corporation Device [8086:550a] (rev 20)
memory: |
  64969
scsi: |

usb: |
  4
certified:
  'no'
versions:
  - works:
      'FIXME:yes|no|partial'
    qubes: |
      R4.2.4
    xen: |
      4.17.5
    kernel: |
      6.13.6-1
    remark: |
      FIXME
    credit: |
      FIXAUTHOR
    link: |
      FIXLINK

Lenovo Thinkpad P14s Gen 5 Intel

Detailed Report

Installation

  • Any problems with installation - No
  • Was latest kernel required? - Yes, otherwise boot was only possible with kernel parameter nomodeset
  • Were some additional kernel options required? Yes, without i915.modeset=1, the brightness control keys didn’t work

Basic Input

  • Keyboard - Works
  • External USB mouse [if possible to check] - Works
  • Touch-pad - Works
  • Touch-pad supports “tap as click” and scrolling with 2 fingers works, - Works
  • Display brightness change shortcuts, - Works only with kernel parameter i915.modeset=1
  • Sound volume shortcuts, - Works
  • Keyboard led and keyboard brightness change shortcuts, - Works
  • Output of xinput --list from terminal of dom0
    • ⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
      ⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
      ⎜ ↳ ELANxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mouse id=9 [slave pointer (2)]
      ⎜ ↳ ELANxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Touchpad id=10 [slave pointer (2)]
      ⎜ ↳ ELANxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx id=11 [slave pointer (2)]
      ⎜ ↳ TPPS/2 Elan TrackPoint id=14 [slave pointer (2)]
      ⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
      ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]
      ↳ Video Bus id=6 [slave keyboard (3)]
      ↳ Power Button id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
      ↳ Sleep Button id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
      ↳ Intel HID events id=12 [slave keyboard (3)]
      ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard id=13 [slave keyboard (3)]
      ↳ ThinkPad Extra Buttons id=15 [slave keyboard (3)]
  • Check if keyboard and/or touchpad is PS/2 connected - Yes

Internet and bluetooth

  • Ethernet cable connection - works out of the box or actions were required? - Untested
  • Ethernet cable connection - speed - Untested
  • Wifi connection - works out of the box or actions were required? - Works
  • Wifi connection - speed, is reliable over the time? - Yes
  • Bluetooth - works out of the box or actions were required? - Untested
  • Bluetooth - shows devices, connection process works, sound output or copying works. - Untested

Suspend

  • Suspend/Resume works - works out of the box or actions were required? - Works out of the box
  • Does resume breaks WiFi, if it does, how to recover it? - Works after resume
  • Does resume breaks Bluetooth, if it does, how to recover it? - Untested

Video [increase VCPU to the qube before test]

  • Fullscreen and windowed video playback of youtube - 720p/1080p/2K/4K in Firefox. Does it drop frames? - Tested with 8 vCPU cores. A 1080p video stutters a lot. EDIT: Disabling hardware acceleration in the browser does not help.
  • Video file playback of file using mpv/mplayer/smplayer - 1080p? Higher resolutions and bitrates? - EDIT: Playing a 1080p video with mpv feels smoother than in the browser, but still not as smooth as it should be.
  • Multiple displays configuration works (using available DP/Thunderbolt, HDMI or other video ports, - HDMI works. With Thunderbolt dock, external monitors also work, although the laptop needs to boot while connected to the dock. USB devices connected to the Thunderbolt dock were unfortunately not detected.

Audio

  • Speakers (sound playback) (was sys-audio used?), - Works (no sys-audio needed)
  • Head-phones via 3.5" jack (works, automatically turns off speakers?) - Works
  • Sound output via HDMI - Untested
  • Audio-optical (S/PDIF) output - Untested

Fans

  • Are fans silent on idle? - Yes
  • Are fans noisier than on Windows/Linux?. If they are, was thankfan or similar software tried? - Untested

Other

  • Have you tried running Windows 10 HVM qubes? - Untested
  • Does CPU boost seem to be working properly? - Untested

Specs:

  • Link to the laptop page on the brand website,
  • Display native resolution, - 2560x1600, 90Hz
  • Maximum possible RAM memory,
  • CPU score (from PassMark - CPU Comparison),
  • Number of USB Controllers and if more than one: information what internal USB devices and USB ports are connected to which controller.
  • Internal TPM - TPM 2.0

Additional comments

  • Webcam works, but I’m not sure if it’s at the correct resolution (but good enough for meetings).
  • Microphone (+ mute button) works, but the microphone mute button LED was always on. The LED can be disabled with echo 0 | sudo tee /sys/class/leds/platform::micmute/brightness without affecting functionality.
  • Battery life is not very great, even with tlp installed. I predict at most 3-4 hours with normal workload. The idle consumption (screen turned off, no extra App qubes open) was okay with around 5.5 Watt, measured with powertop. However, it quickly goes up to 15 Watt when the screen is on and Apps are running.
  • The device has a touchscreen, and it works out of the box.
  • A weird, unnamed USB device always appeared, together with the webcam. I think it was the touchscreen, which I temporarily disabled with xinput disable 11. But I’m not sure, because, after a reboot, the weird USB device is no longer appears, but the touchscreen still works.

Conclusion - Is this a good laptop for QubesOS?

It’s a great laptop, but I think I will now switch to a different Linux that makes better use of the hardware. Maybe I will dual boot with QubesOS. Maybe I will come back for QubesOS 4.3.

Positive

  • Solid build quality
  • Lots of RAM
  • Good processor
  • Great display
  • All important features work out of the box with kernel-latest and kernel parameter i915.modeset=1

Negative

  • Above all else, poor battery life (though, perhaps could be better with less RAM and a weaker CPU?)
    • Probably related: Xen Hypervisor is not able to distinguish between efficiency/performance cores (I think, please correct me if this is wrong!)
  • Intel ARC GPU not usable outside of dom0 (There is hope for SR-IOV, which will
    change this). Can’t even play 1080p videos without stutter.
    • Perhaps related: Intel NPU cores unusable (not sure if it’s different on other Linux?)
  • Thunderbolt dock USB devices weren’t recognized (but at least external monitors worked)
  • Intel ME

Attachments

Qubes-HCL-LENOVO-21G3S2CJ00-20250327-124238.yml (829 Bytes)

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So I installed a different Linux (CachyOS) on the laptop now. Battery life feels much, much better. When idle, the power draw is only around 3 Watt, according to powertop. Based on a few hours of testing, I would say the battery easily lasts 2-3 times as long as with QubesOS. This is quite unfortunate.

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