I saved a doomed Windows laptop by embracing Linux

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I saved a doomed Windows laptop by embracing Linux

Published: April 03, 2026 at 15:00 | Source: theverge.com

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Tech Close Tech Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Tech Features Close Features Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Features Linux Close Linux Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Linux I saved a doomed Windows laptop by embracing Linux If your laptop is stranded on Windows 10, the solution isn't a new laptop. It's a new operating system. If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. by Stevie Bonifield Close Stevie Bonifield News Writer Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All by Stevie Bonifield Apr 3, 2026, 3:00 PM UTC Link Share Gift If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Stevie Bonifield Close Stevie Bonifield Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All by Stevie Bonifield is a news writer covering all things consumer tech. Stevie started out at Laptop Mag writing news and reviews on hardware, gaming, and AI. Two weeks ago I set aside my M4 MacBook Air and picked up a nine-year-old ThinkPad. It's one of an estimated 200 to 400 million Windows 10 PCs that don't meet Microsoft's requirements for Windows 11. When Microsoft officially ended support for Windows 10 in October, it became "obsolete." The solution, according to Microsoft, is to get rid of it and buy a computer that can run Windows 11 . But that's not good enough. This ThinkPad — like millions of other PCs in the same boat — is still perfectly functional. Its hardware is more than capable of everyday tasks. I've been using it for web browsing, writing in Google Docs, talking to my Verge colleagues on Slack, and even some gaming on Steam. Not bad for a laptop that's supposed to be retired. All you have to do is reject Microsoft's framing. It's not safe to leave it on Windows 10, since Microsoft chose to stop offering security updates, and Windows 11 isn't supported. But who says this laptop needs to run Windows at all? There's another operating system that runs great on older hardware, is still actively maintained, and can prevent millions of computers from being scrapped before their time. That's right: The secret to saving this laptop, and maybe yours too, is Linux. The spec that blocked my laptop from running Windows 11 This story was written on a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 5 with 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a 7th-gen Intel Core i7-7600U processor. It's a more powerful version of a laptop The Verge reviewed when it came out in 2017. At the time, it was considered a high-end, ultra-portable workhorse of a laptop, offering upwards of eight hours of battery life in a surprisingly lightweight package. It started at $1,100 when it was released, but my configuration would have cost $2,100. I found this one used on eBay for just $250. The ThinkPad could still run Windows 10 perfectly fine. Photo by Stevie Bonifield / The Verge When it arrived, the ThinkPad was in almost new condition without any noticeable wear and tear. It even came with a new charger. It booted into the setup process for a clean installation of Windows 10 without any issues. After using it on Windows 10 for a few days, I had a hard time remembering it was a laptop from nearly a decade ago. It certainly didn't feel like a device that was ready for the laptop graveyard. 2017 Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 5 (as tested) Display: 14-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS, 300 nits Processor: Intel Core i7-7600U (2 cores, Intel HD Graphics 620) Unified memory: 16GB Storage: 512GB SSD Webcam: 720p Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1 Ports: 2x USB-C / Thunderbolt 3, 2x USB-A, HDMI 1.4b, microSD card slot, SIM slot, 3.5mm combo audio jack Biometrics: Fingerprint reader Weight: 2.9 pounds / 1.31kg Dimensions: 12.74 x 8.55 x 0.63 inches / 323.5 x 217.1 x 15.95mm Battery: 57Wh Price: $2,100 (at launch) / $250 (purchased used) It seems like this laptop should be able to run Windows 11, but it can't. Microsoft's base requirements for Windows 11 include at least 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, a TPM 2.0 security chip, UEFI Secure Boot, and a 64-bit processor with at least 2 cores running at 1GHz or faster. My ThinkPad has all of that — except its processor is one generation too old. Windows 11 requires a processor that's an Intel 8th generation or AMD Ryzen 2000, or newer. Technically it still works, but continuing to use it on Windows 10 without security updates could be risky. Even if I decided to opt in to Microsoft's Windows 10 Extended Security Updates (ESU) program, that would only get me one extra year of updates, which ends on October 13th, 2026. So, whether now or later this year, this lapto

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• Tech Close Tech Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
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• Follow Follow See All Features Linux Close Linux Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
• Follow Follow See All Linux I saved a doomed Windows laptop by embracing Linux If your laptop is stranded on Windows 10, the solution isn't a new laptop.

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Article Details

Published: April 03, 2026 at 15:00

Source: theverge.com

Original link: https://www.theverge.com/tech/905946/windows-11-forced-obsolescence-linux-thinkpad

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