Last summer marked a turning point for Arm-based computing on laptops, as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite processors began appearing in a new generation of devices. These chips quickly earned praise for their impressive performance, remarkable power efficiency, and extended battery life. With integrated NPUs enabling local AI capabilities, Snapdragon laptops emerged as serious contenders in the high-performance mobile computing space—especially for users seeking fanless, quiet operation. However, a major drawback dampened early enthusiasm: none of these powerful machines played well with Linux. Despite Qualcomm’s promises of support, early adopters found themselves locked into Windows 11, as Linux distributions struggled to run reliably on the new platform.
One of the first companies to try breaking that barrier was Germany-based Tuxedo Computers. In June 2024, the company showcased a Snapdragon X Elite prototype running its own Tuxedo OS at Computex. While hardware was in place, software development lagged, and by July, Tuxedo admitted significant challenges remained. The project went quiet for months, leaving many to wonder whether Linux on Snapdragon would remain a pipe dream. That changed in early 2025 when Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, finally announced a real breakthrough. Following a multi-year investment into ARM64 support that began in 2023, Canonical launched Ubuntu 25.04 “Plucky Puffin” in April 2025 with out-of-the-box support for Snapdragon X Elite laptops.
This was a major milestone. From earlier experiments with a single device—the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s—Canonical moved through developer-focused concept images to a full, stable release. The most recent Ubuntu distribution now supports a broad list of Snapdragon X Elite laptops from top brands including Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Microsoft. While early images were strictly aimed at developers and bold testers, the official release marked a turning point: the first mainstream Linux distro that runs natively and reliably on this advanced ARM64 platform.
Canonical acknowledges that ARM64 support remains more complex than traditional x86 systems. The lack of standardization across firmware and power management features has required significant engineering investment to get everything working smoothly. Still, the goal is clear—deliver equal performance, features, and update cycles on both x86 and ARM64 architectures. Canonical sees this not only as a way to differentiate itself from community-built Linux images, but also as a necessary step toward building a secure and unified multi-architecture ecosystem with timely security patches.
Meanwhile, work at Tuxedo has slowly resumed. In March, a developer posted an update to the Linux kernel mailing list about the Tuxedo Elite 14 Gen1 model. Key functions like the keyboard, touchpad, USB-C port, and storage were now operational. However, many vital components—such as graphics, audio, camera, and power-saving modes—were still non-functional. In a blog post, Tuxedo admitted that both resource constraints and delays in upstream support had hindered progress. Nonetheless, the company confirmed that a device tree—crucial for managing hardware on ARM64 systems—was now in place and undergoing further development. Tuxedo’s partnership with Linaro, a Linux-on-Arm specialist, has become central to its efforts, though the lack of direct cooperation from Qualcomm has proven a setback.
For now, Tuxedo has no clear timeline for a commercial release. There are also no active plans to integrate NPU functionality into its Linux distribution—at least not yet. But the company remains optimistic, citing the Snapdragon platform’s balance of high performance, long battery life, and near-silent operation as a compelling reason to keep investing. If Canonical’s progress is any indicator, fully functional Arm-based Linux laptops may soon move from niche experiment to mainstream alternative.
