While downstream Ubuntu is the most popular Linux option for the Qualcomm Snapdragon X powered “Windows on Arm” laptops, that’s because of their concept images containing a number of “hacked packages” to lead to a decent user experience. But for upstream Debian Linux the prospects of running it on Snapdragon X Elite/Plus laptops is less than ideal with a number of problems persisting — similar to other Linux distributions focused on running the mainline Linux kernel and other upstream software.
Debian developer and Linaro engineer Christopher Obbard presented at DebConf25 last week in France around running Debian on Windows on Arm (ARM64) laptops. He noted these Qualcomm Snapdragon laptops with the popular Ubuntu concept images rely on “hacked packages on top of Ubuntu” with a “custom kernel” to make everything play nicely. Meanwhile the Debian images are not usable out-of-the-box on these devices. No surprise there regarding the “hacks” with the Ubuntu concept image and the overall poor upstream state – I covered it in my Snapdragon X Elite Linux benchmarks/review earlier this year with the number of limitations and various challenges associated with using Linux on these ARM64 laptops relying on Windows 11 by default.
The Linaro engineer noted that Debian can boot on the hardware with “some hacks” but there are a number of problems. There are known problems around ACPI / DTB, various features not yet being enabled in the upstream kernel or more recent than the Linux 6.12 LTS kernel used by the upcoming Debian 13, the lack of readily available firmware for Linux users that must be provided by the vendors, and all of the other device-specific firmware issues. There are also known web camera issues and a lack of documentation.to help users get started.
These problems aren’t specific to Debian but pretty much all Linux distributions. It’s just been Canonical going the extra step with their Ubuntu Concept images to provide some customized images tailored specifically to these devices.
Those wanting to learn more about the Debian prospects for Snapdragon X1 laptops can be found via the PDF slide deck from DebConf25.
It’s been one year since the Snapdragon X Elite laptops initially began shipping and while there have been upstream kernel improvements and DT files added for various laptops, there are various feature limitations remaining for the different devices and issues getting most Linux distributions running well on these devices, especially with the firmware woes. With those challenges and the X Elite performance on Linux not being too impressive against AMD Ryzen and Intel Core Ultra, for any production/daily use out of laptops in 2025 on Linux I’d still whole-heartedly recommend AMD Strix Point/Halo instead or Lunar Lake if wanting aggressive power efficiency / battery life.
