I really want my primary mobile computer to be a tablet mainly because I genuinely like the form factor. My current Linux laptop is dying and I thought I’d just buy the newest Lenovo Thinkpad Surface clone but Lenovo seems to have discontinued it because I couldn’t find a 2025 version anywhere, same with HP and Dell’s Surface clones. And most of the Windows tablets I could find online have dinky Intel N processors instead of Core.
Can anyone recommend a high end tablet that runs Linux well? Failing that, how bad is the Surface really with Linux as the only OS?
Asus has the ROG flow z13. It is very high end tablet laptop.
Not quite a tablet but if you’d consider a convertible, the Framework 12 is a solid choice.
I bought a second hand surface pro 7 recently and I’m quite in love with it! With a few GNOME plugins it’s a quite capable tablet AND a quite capable laptop on the go.
Minisforum V3 from what I’ve read seems good with Linux now
I just went through this with Dell xps 2 in 1 and surface pro 8 with mint and other OSes. Linux just is not fully ready for touchscreen it’s 90 percent there but for instance the last 10 percent is text boxes when clicking won’t spawn the keyboard, the keyboard regardless of input app is clunky, not phone grade speed, it’s possible but you my as well stick with a small 10 to 13 inch laptop. The folio is janky at best, using the slate solo is odd to hold and gets hot. Battery sucks. I tweaked and spent so much time wanting it to work. It just isn’t ready yet.
starlite runs the n100 and n200 cpus. the cpus are pretty great (have an n100 on my nuc). the problem with linux is the touch interface first and foremost imo. i have an old windows tablet converted to linux and its a daily headache. well, was. i haven’t used the thing for months.
I recently upgraded from an Ideapad FLEX-14API to a 4th gen Thinkpad X1 Yoga, I really like the folding back on itself tablet/laptop style machines.
I’ve never tried one.
It seems weird having the keyboard facing outwards. I know it gets disabled when folded back, just seems wrong. I’m not saying it is wrong just that it kinda freaks me out a little bit because I’m a bit odd like that.
I’m looking at ideapads though, that might be nice.
I have an old laptop that does that and the keys are very distracting whenever I hold it in tablet mode. I find myself holding it awkwardly on one side to avoid them, even though I know they’re disabled. It is still a nice feature though, I like being able to transition a laptop to portrait mode sometimes.
Yeah this is exactly what I was thinking. I was looking at pictures figuring out how to hold it without touching the keys.
The difference in build quality between ideapad and thinkpad is significant
Sure ok good to know.
I have a kind of a fleet of thinkpads, almost exclusively t490s, I really like them.
However I also understand that doesn’t necessarily mean that everything with the lenovo brand has a similar quality.
