Lenovo ThinkPads are some of the best business laptops on the market, and they all cater to different types of users. Among them, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 is one of the most powerful you can get, with options for Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics and powerful Intel CPUs. Of course, while most consumers prefer using Windows 11 (or 10), that's not the case for everyone. So what if you want to run Ubuntu Linux on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5?
Thankfully, you can, and there are a few ways you can go about it. You can run Linux apps directly in Windows if you want the best of both worlds, or you can trual dual-booting or virtual machines. Eventually, you should also be able to buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 with Ubuntu Linux right out of the box, in case you want to avoid Windows entirely.
Windows Subsystem for Linux
The easiest way to run Linux on your laptop - be it the ThinkPad X1 Extreme or anything else - is to use the Windows Subssystem for Linux. This is a feature that's been around since Windows 10, but it's been consistently improving over the past few years. Essentially, this is an advanced form of virtualization, which allows you to run a Linux system inside Windows while providing a tighter integration than virtualization typically offers. Linux apps can run right alongside Windows apps and appear on the taskbar, so you don't have to switch between two completely different environments.
Since its debut, some big changes have happened with the Windows Subsystem for Linux, so now it can use your GPU and it even supports GUI Linux apps, so you're not limited to terminal-based apps if you don't want to. It really is a very capable solution. Most recently, Microsoft even added support for systems, which can greatly improve the experience in Ubuntu, including with support for the snap package manager.
You can enable the Windows Subsystem for Linux in the Control Panel or Windows 11, or download the package from the Microsoft Store, which gets you updates more frequently. Once you do that (and after a reboot), you can install your preferred Linux distribution, such as Ubuntu, from the Microsoft Store and get started using it inside Windows Terminal.
Installing Ubuntu Linux on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme
If the Windows Subsystem for Linux doesn't sound quite ideal for you and you want the full Ubuntu experience, you can install it on your PC in a couple of ways. The one we'd recommend if you want less risk is to use a virtual machine. This lets you create a contained environment where you can install Ubuntu and run it as its own independent system. It will still run in virtualization inside Windows, but it's the safest way to go about it, especially if you just want to dip your toes into Linux. To get started with this, you'll need virtualization software such as Microsoft's Hyper-V or VMware Workstation Player, as well as an Ubuntu ISO file which you can download here.
On the other hand, if you want to get native performance out of Ubuntu Linux on the ThinkPad X1 Extreme, you can try dual-booting Ubuntu and Windows. This means that whenever you turn on the computer, you'll be able to choose between Ubuntu and Windows and you'll get full native performance out of both. It does make it a bit more of a hassle to set up and switch between the two operating systems, but it might be a good idea if you're using one OS for work and one for entertainment, for example. You can check out our guide on how to dual-boot Windows 11 and Linux on the same computer if you want to do this.
Buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 with Ubuntu Linux
If you don't want to do any of the things above and you'd rather avoid Windows completely, you can buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 with Ubuntu Linux installed out of the box. Or at least, you should be able to. While this option is mentioned on Lenovo's official spec sheet, you can't actually configure the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 with Ubuntu right now. Still, the option should show up at some point in the coming weeks or months, so it's worth it to keep checking back.
Whether you want to get it with Ubuntu Linux or Windows 11, you can buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 using the link below. Lenovo's configurator offers a ton of options, not just for the software, but for the hardware of the laptop, and there are also some preset configurations you can buy outright, which typically ship a bit faster than custom configurations. If you want something else, there are many other fantastic Lenovo laptops out there which you can check out. Or, if you're not committed to Lenovo, take a look at the best laptops overall.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 is a powerful business laptop with Intel H-series processors and NVIDIA RTX graphics to handle the most demanding workloads.