Zorin OS 17 compatibility with Asus Vivobook S14 (Lunar Lake, Intel Core Ultra 7, Intel Arc GPU)

Hardware Support
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1

Hi everyone,

I’ve just purchased an Asus Vivobook S14 (model S5406SA, Intel Lunar Lake architecture, Core Ultra 7 258V processor) and I’m considering installing Zorin OS 17. Before proceeding, I’d like to check if anyone has experience running Zorin (or other Ubuntu-based distros) on this model and whether it works out of the box.

Here are the main specs of the laptop:

CPU: Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 258V (Lunar Lake, up to 4.8 GHz, integrated NPU up to 47 TOPS)
GPU: Intel® Arc™ integrated graphics
Display: 14” OLED 2.8K (2880x1800), 120Hz, HDR True Black 600, 100% DCI-P3
Memory: 32 GB LPDDR5X (soldered)
Storage: PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD (1 TB, with expansion slot M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0x4)
Connectivity:
2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
2x Thunderbolt 4 (video + charging support)
1x HDMI 2.1 TMDS
1x MicroSD card reader
Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth 5.4

Other features:
RGB backlit keyboard
IR webcam with Windows Hello support
Harman Kardon speakers
75 Wh battery, 65W USB-C charger

My main compatibility questions regarding Zorin OS 17 on this hardware are:

  • Lunar Lake support: Does the Zorin 17 kernel already include stable support for the new Intel Lunar Lake CPUs with the integrated NPU?
  • Intel Arc graphics drivers: Are Intel Arc iGPUs supported out of the box, or do I need to install additional drivers (Mesa, newer kernel, etc.)?
  • OLED 2.8K 120Hz display: Does Linux handle high refresh rate, and brightness control properly on this type of OLED panel?

Connectivity:

  • Does Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.4 work correctly on Zorin OS 17?

  • Are the Thunderbolt 4 ports (with video and power delivery) fully functional?

  • Is the MicroSD card reader recognized without issues?

  • Battery & power management: How well does suspend/hibernate, fan profiles, and USB-C charging work on Zorin?

If anyone has tested this model (or other Vivobook laptops with Lunar Lake) on Zorin OS 17 or Ubuntu 24.04, I’d love to hear your experience.

Thanks in advance! :smiley:

2

You can create a USB Zorin boot stick and then boot from this stick and choose "Try Zorin" mode to test how Zorin works on your laptop.

Probably other ubuntu based distributions like Linux Mint or Ubuntu >24.04 will work better out of the box on this laptop because they offer later kernels, e.g. kernel 6.14, Zorin only kernel 6.8. For really new up-to-date hardware a non LTS distribution is the better choice.

But you can also install a later kernel on Zorin and add newer mesa drivers. When Zorin 18 soon will be released it will better support newer hardware.

3

You have new Hardware. So, I guess, You could need a newer Kernel for it to have a better Support and Experience. If Zorin should run, I would suggest to install after the Installation a newer Kernel. Of Course, You can check if zorin even works with the Live Move what @Forpli already described.

Depending of the specific Hardware Models beneath Your CPU, You could need additional Drivers and maybe newer linux-firmware Package.

So, You can try it with Zorin. If that shouldn't work, You could test Ubuntu 24 or Linux Mint. I would suggest Fedora; that has more up-to-date Components.

4

Zorin OS 18 will be released in a couple months, I'd suggest waiting, as it will use a later kernel. In the meantime, if you don't want to run Windows on the Vivobook, you could just run Zorin OS 17 in LIVE USB mode.

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