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I am looking to purchase a a ThinkPad W540 to run Ubuntu.

The specs are as follows:

Processor: I7-4700MQ Graphics: NVIDIA Quadro K1100M 2G Memory: 16 GB Ram

Would there be any compatibility issues with Ubuntu? I used the guide on the site but it does not include the new processors on the market just yet.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

LSUTigerFan
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4 Answers4

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Usually, processors themselves never are the big deal when it comes to whether Linux can run on it. The most affected hardware parts are graphics cards/chips.

The Graphics you name work with the proprietary nVidia driver. To do this, open the Software & Updates utility, go to the Additional drivers tab and select nvidia-331 for your graphics card, then reboot.

A faster option would be to run the command sudo apt-get install nvidia-common nvidia-331 from a terminal, then reboot. This also works, if you're unable to use Ubuntu with a graphical frontend due to a non-working driver. In this case, hit Ctrl+Alt+F1, log in and run the command.

Another problem you may encounter are wrong LAN/WiFi/BT drivers, which may result in slow internet connections. As you didn't name the Ethernet or WiFi chip in your question, you should best look at the chip manufacturer's website and look for Linux drivers, or ask another question here, if you don't find any information about it.

Other than that, there often are only smaller problems, most of which can be resolved by the correct config or driver. Basically, ThinkPads most often run pretty well with Ubuntu.

s3lph
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  • Could you possibly look at this question too? I'm having issues with Whoopsie causing Network Manager to crash on my Lenovo W540. https://askubuntu.com/q/965245/171748 – FilBot3 Jan 17 '18 at 04:50
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Yes Ubuntu runs on the Thinkpad W540 very well. I am using Ubuntu on the W540 to reply to this message. The W540 ran the trusty and vivid releases of Ubuntu without any problems. I upgraded to a SSD drive for the boot drive (update your BIOS before doing that). I normally use the W540 for work so primarily use the Intel graphics to save power and heat, but I have installed the Nvidia graphics driver to play some PC games. Steam works very well on Ubuntu and the W540.

Here is the Overview from the Details window in Ubuntu:
Memory 15.3 GiB Processor Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ CPU @ 2.40GHz × 8 Graphics Intel® Haswell Mobile OS-type 64 bit

Matt Bruzek
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I currently have Lenovo W540, 32GB RAM, I7-4700MQ, 512GB SSD. I'm using Ubuntu 19.04 and I can tell there is a problem in the GRUB loader as it takes around 10 seconds to load the screen. But after I boot, it works normally.

Laith Leo Alobaidy
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With double boot install you've to hold Fn+Escape (before start button) button UP to and until the underine below LENOVO (secure boot screen) a appears then you could relax your left fingers and wait for lenovo advantage... upline , then finally the grub appears if you've good eyes or magnifier you can select Ubuntu, ..versions, windows10 (TPM 1.2 !) or UEFI Bios settings. Hope it will help i lost some hairs for this TiP Lenovo W540 Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS (secure boot active installed with MokManager)https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UEFI/SecureBoot

G L
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