Last year TUXEDO Computers shared that they were developing an ARM Linux notebook powered by the Qualcomm Snapdeagon X Elite. They hoped to have the Snapdragon X Elite Linux laptop shipping by Christmas 2024, but that didn’t pan out. TUXEDO Computers has now provided a status update regarding this ARM Linux notebook effort.
In mid-2024, TUXEDO had been teasing a Snapdragon X Elite Linux laptop to be offered by this Bavarian Linux PC vendor. Their hope was to begin shipping the product in 2024. But now into Q2’2025, it looks like it could still be a while until we end up seeing the device.
TUXEDO Computers still isn’t ready yet to release this Snapdragon X1 based laptop as the development has been “somewhat slow” due to various issues. But recently they did at least post an initial Device Tree to the Linux kernel mailing list for review. But that initial DT is far from complete in yielding a working TUXEDO ARM laptop.
The DT patch for this TUXEDO Elite 14 Gen1 laptop notes the current level of support:
Working:
* Touchpad
* Keyboard
* eDP (no brightness control yet)
* NVMe
* USB Type-C port
* WiFi (WiFi 7 untested)
* GPU (software rendering)Not working:
* GPU (WIP: firmware loading but output is jerky)
* USB Type-A (WIP)
* Suspend with substantial energy saving
* Audio, Speakers, Microphones
* Camera
* Fingerprint Reader
Since then there was a follow-up patch working on the audio support for this laptop.
TUXEDO noted in the ARM notebook status update that a planned collaboration with Qualcomm didn’t materialize. But TUXEDO is now working with Linaro to hopefully help in the effort for bringing this Snapdragon Linux laptop together.
TUXEDO currently doesn’t have any ETA for when they hope to have the Elite 14 Gen1 laptop to bring to market. At this stage of the Snapdragon X1 Elite lifecycle and many of the Windows ARM laptops from other vendors beginning to see upstream Device Tree support, it’s unfortunate this TUXEDO Elite 14 Gen1 laptop hasn’t panned out quite as well as planned. The current state and various feature limitations isn’t too surprising though from what we’ve seen with the various other Snapdragon X1 laptops on Linux riddled with different unsupported features and yet-to-be-completed tasks. With some devices lacking audio, touchpad / keyboard, GPU acceleration, or other issues, many of these laptops on Linux aren’t good enough for daily/productive use.
