Hey everyone, I’m looking to buy a ThinkPad specifically for Qubes OS, and everywhere I look, people still recommend the T480. It seems like it’s been the go-to recommendation for years because of its excellent compatibility. I’m wondering if that’s still true in 2026, or if there’s a newer ThinkP…

Thanks so much for all your help, and thanks to everyone else who took the time to share their advice and experiences. I really appreciate all the different perspectives. They definitely gave me a lot to think about. For now, I think I’m going to go with the ThinkPad T480. Given my budget and the c…

Whichever laptop you buy, RAM is a bit expensive. Best wishes.

[image] Seeking advice: Hardening Project (Coreboot/Heads + Qubes OS) Hardware Issues At the very top of the T480 Board config in Heads repo : # WARNING: This system remains perpetually vulnerable to Spectre v2 (CVE-2017-5715). Mitigations and microcode updates…

Thanks for taking the time to explain all of that. I really appreciate it. The TPM issue definitely gives me something to think about. At this point, it seems like every ThinkPad has some kind of tradeoff or issue depending on your threat model. No wonder people keep recommending NovaCustom and Nit…

[image] Atrate: If you’re not looking strictly for Thinkpads and just good laptops (tho if it’s the former I’d be interested in hearing why), check out laptops from NovaCustom and Nitrokey. The only problem is they’re more than I’m looking to spend. I probably should have mentioned this in my…

$500 if it meant getting something that was a much better fit for Qubes How many VMs do you usually run? My laptop costs more than my car (but its a REALLY shitty old car LOL). I thought doing proper Qubes (15 VMs or so) would start at like 2k usd if you want that to feel smooth. I found that a…

[image] Community-recommended computers HCL Reports R4.1 Note: upgrading heads/coreboot is required for R4.1 install to work. Laptops brand model CPU max. mem in GB (slots) [1] USB ctrl. [2] core boot [3] note Insurgo PrivacyBeast X230 i7-3520M 16 (2) 3 …

[image] kuhbs: How many VMs do you usually run? My laptop costs more than my car (but its a REALLY shitty old car LOL). I thought doing proper Qubes (15 VMs or so) would start at like 2k usd if you want that to feel smooth. I found that auto-pausing (qvm-pause) VMs that are not focused in i3wm…

What are your thoughts on the ThinkPad T14 Gen 2? I’m looking at the regular T14 Gen 2 i7, not the T14s, since I want the version with upgradeable RAM. I already have an extra 32 GB DDR4 stick, so being able to reuse it is a big plus for me. Since you pointed out the security limitations and tradeo…

I do not give any attention or thought to hardware not supporting Coreboot + Heads on top of Qubes OS.

[image] cachemeousside: Out of curiosity, if you were buying a laptop for Qubes today, what would you recommend? I have a new-ish NovaCustom laptop with coreboot+Heads. I like it and recommend it.

Qubes OS Forum

Is the ThinkPad T480 still the best choice for Qubes OS, or is there a newer model?

User Support Hardware Issues

FranklyFlawless July 12, 2026, 2:33am 11