Switching from desktop to laptop

User Support Hardware Issues
1

I am currently using a desktop computer.
Ryzen 7 2700x
32gb ram
RX 580
Everything works fine with this configuration.

I want to switch to a laptop to run qubes, but I am confused by the choice of supported hardware. I learned HCL and out of all the stable support I like the Thinkpad p51. I have already found a suitable one in the local market. What worries me the most is whether 4 cores are enough to work with cubes? I somehow managed to use an old lenovo g505s laptop with cubes, but for me it was hell (CPU load).
On average, I usually have about 10-13 appvm running.

  1. Programming
  2. Youtube
  3. Music
  4. tor
    etc.
    With 8 cores on the desktop, nothing bothered me, but with 4 cores on the laptop, I’m not sure.
    Will I notice a big difference in performance? I would be glad to receive any feedback.
2

It is surely depends on the usage, but I have never ever seen any laptop running Qubes where the CPU was the bottleneck.
It is usually the RAM, then the SSD performance.

But, as a general rule: I always assign only 2 vCPU cores to the VMs unless one really-really needs more.

3

You run browsers on 2 vCPUs? Video players? IDEs? How?

4

Here is my ‘xl top’ - without the VM names.
(the one with 6 cores is the dom0)

 CPU(%)     MEM(k)  VCPUS
    0.2    1823896      2
    0.1     507840      2
    0.8    2864472      2
    2.8    4035300      6
    0.2    1055908      2
    0.1     958448      2
    0.2    1050188      2
    0.1    1124716      2
    9.1    5347064      4
    0.2    1791688      2
    0.2    1758264      4
    0.1     507840      2
    1.1    4128704      2
    0.1    1046508      2
    0.1     290856      2
    1.0     147456      1
    0.2    1032128      1
    0.1     507840      1
    0.3     393256      1
    0.9     147456      1
    0.2    1122684      2
5

P-series like a heavy tank with 64-128GB GB of RAM and NVME SSD in RAID and Xeon processor. But portatibility sucks. Weight ~ 4,5 KG
Also with Qubes you can’t use a NVIDIA QUADRO.
Buy x390 or X1 Carbon.

6

The p-51 is there with the i7-7820hq processor and instead of nvidia you can use intel-gpu, which is the best option for qubes as far as I know.

7

What the point to pay for hardware you don’t use?
Qubes doesn’t support any 3D Acceleration
You dont need any Discrete Graphics

8

x1 carbon comes with a maximum of 16gb? The x390 comes with 32GB, but it is 13.6 inches. I’m focusing on p51 due to the fact that:

  1. 32GB
  2. 15 inches
  3. Cpu seem to be more powerful than all the others in this category. By category I mean those laptops that work stably under qubes.
9

I don’t quite understand what you mean. How did you get this opinion?

10

So if you need a lot of RAM, it’s cheaper to buy a server? R620 for example?

11

I have a small server to run my projects on kvm. Are you saying that 32GB is a lot for cubes? My main goal is to decouple the cubes from Windows collaboration on the physical machine and minimize wastage (as much as possible). The main question in this thread was about the processor, because I have never used less than 6 cores on cubes and cannot imagine the performance of 4 cores in a laptop. I am not asking about portability, device aesthetics, and cost. As mentioned above, the last time I ran cubes on a lenovo g505s laptop with 4 amd cores and coreboot, it was a terrible experience.
There is a difference between qubes and regular linux. And also between the processor of a stationary PC and a laptop. As far as I understand, the graphics in domU are implemented through software rendering, does this heavily load the cpu?

Anyway, thanks for your words.

12

its funny , but I use p50 on xeon E3-1505 v5 2.80 right now and 64GB ram from ebay. before that I suffered with x200 and x220 use small linux templates for vpn ~ 400mb and window managers instead xfce de. 16GB of RAM was enough for me. P50 just because gentoo is available and i can use 4.1 without any pain. Also no cpu throttling and overheating. I’m just not sure if this is the best option, for the same money there is Librem with 4.70Ghz i7-10710U (and HEADS can be flashed).
However windows tools are not being developed . and I see no reason to use HVM in qubes. (you can’t copy files between hvm and pvh, for example)
Windows 7 if only with seamless mode.

13

If you can get your hands on the rather extravagant w530 go for it.
32gb RAM (2133 mhz)
Coreboot-Heads support.
Pretty decent i7

The threat model of the laptop is difrent of desktop. Thing’s heavy but does the trick.
If you find yourself deprived of specs, get 2.

14

I do not know how much the Librem sold in your market costs, but for me the purchase will be unreasonably expensive, given the same characteristics. I will also have to find workarounds to bring it into the country as it is illegal. And I’m skeptical about its safety, for me it’s just marketing.

15

I agree that w530 is an excellent horse. I would take it or similar if I was planning on running coreboot, but I’m not sure if my threat level requires it. Still, more or less fresh technology is better. For now, I choose from p51 and t580, but unfortunately the second is not yet available on the local market.