The effort around improving FreeBSD on laptops continues full speed ahead in 2026. The upcoming FreeBSD 15.1 remains on track with not only having a KDE desktop option from FreeBSD’s text-based installer UI but also improved Realtek WiFi adapter support is on the way, updating of the graphics drivers from Linux, and more.
The latest FreeBSD Foundation Laptop Update has been published for outlining recent progress in this sponsored initiative for making the FreeBSD experience better on modern laptops. One of the most exciting fruits of this work for both desktop and laptop use is adding the ability to easily install a KDE Plasma 6 desktop from the FreeBSD installer.
After failing to make it work in time for FreeBSD 15.0, the KDE desktop option should be good for introduction with the FreeBSD 15.1 release. FreeBSD 15.1 is aiming for a stable release in June.
Also on track for FreeBSD 15.1 is WiFi 4 and WiFI 5 support with the Realtek RTW88 and RTW89 hardware. FreeBSD developers are still working on supporting newer WiFi 6 hardware and the WiFi 6 standard at large in their network stack.
On the graphics driver side, they remain in the middle of porting the Linux 6.11 open-source graphics drivers over to their platform.
FreeBSD developers also continue working on better s0ix modern standby support, S4 hibernation, and other power management improvements.
The February 2026 status update on the FreeBSD laptop project can be found via GitHub.
