Linux PC maker Tuxedo Computers has ceased development of a Qualcomm Snapdragon X1 Elite-powered Linux laptop after more than 18 months of work. The company said in its announcement that the “first-generation X1E proved to be less suitable for Linux than expected.” Aside from that, the imminent arrival of the Snapdragon X2 Elite, announced last September and expected in the first half of 2026, meant the company would release an obsolete, last-generation laptop by the time it completes work on the Linux Snapdragon X1E laptop.
Tuxedo Computers states that its biggest challenge was replicating the impressive battery life that these Arm laptops achieved under Windows. Aside from this, it lacked a feasible way to install BIOS updates for Linux, support for fan control, virtualization with KVM, and high-speed USB4 transfer speeds. It’s also having issues with video decoding, which, although technically supported, are often unsupported by most applications.
These issues would make the laptop practically unusable, and the company estimated it would take several more months to fix them all. That means the newer X2E would already be well into the market when they’re ready to launch, which wouldn't make sense for the company. Still, that does not mean that the company is totally giving up on a Linux Snapdragon laptop.
It said it’s still monitoring developments with the X2E and will evaluate whether it will work well with the open-source operating system. “If it meets expectations and we can reuse a significant portion of our work on the X1E, we may resume development,” says Tuxedo Computers. “How much of our groundwork can be transferred to the X2E can only be assessed after a detailed evaluation of the chip.”
We certainly hope that Tuxedo Computers will be able to continue its work on Snapdragon-powered Linux computers and eventually produce a laptop with an ARM chip. While they might not have as many users as Windows or macOS, it would at least give consumers more options and not be tied to an x86 laptop if they prefer or need Linux on their computers.
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