Linux 7.0 Brings Several Enhancements For Modern Laptops
•February 18, 2026
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Why It Matters
These driver enhancements improve power efficiency, thermal management, and performance visibility on contemporary laptops, accelerating Linux adoption in high‑end consumer and enterprise devices.
Key Takeaways
- •AMD PMF driver now exposes Ryzen AI NPU metrics
- •ASUS WMI driver improves backlight and RGB control
- •HP WMI adds manual fan control for Victus S
- •Lenovo WMI provides HWMON hardware monitoring
- •Uniwill driver enables custom TGP settings for GPUs
Pulse Analysis
The Linux kernel’s 7.0 release marks a pivotal step for notebook users seeking native, high‑performance support. By exposing granular Ryzen AI NPU data—frequency, utilization, power draw, and bandwidth—the AMD PMF driver empowers system utilities and AI workloads to make real‑time adjustments. This level of telemetry, previously hidden behind proprietary firmware, aligns Linux with the detailed power‑management tools available on Windows, fostering broader adoption in AI‑centric laptops.
Equally significant are the vendor‑specific WMI driver upgrades. ASUS’s refined backlight and RGB handling, HP’s manual fan control for Victus S, and Lenovo’s HWMON exposure collectively tighten the feedback loop between hardware and the operating system. Users gain finer control over thermal envelopes and display brightness, translating to longer battery life and quieter operation. These improvements also simplify OEM validation, reducing the time to market for Linux‑ready devices.
Beyond immediate user benefits, the upstream work on NVIDIA Mellanox and Uniwill drivers signals a strategic push toward heterogeneous computing environments. Preparing for 800 GB/s Ethernet switches and enabling custom TGP settings for discrete GPUs positions Linux as a first‑class platform for data‑center‑grade laptops and AI workstations. As open‑source drivers close the feature gap with proprietary counterparts, enterprises can confidently deploy Linux across a wider array of high‑end laptops, driving cost efficiencies and fostering innovation.
Linux 7.0 Brings Several Enhancements For Modern Laptops
HARDWARE
The x86 platform driver updates were merged recently for the ongoing Linux 7.0 merge window. As is a common theme for platform‑drivers‑x86, a lot of the feature work is around Linux laptop drivers for enhancing the support on modern hardware.
Some of the x86 platform driver highlights for Linux 7.0 include:
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The AMD Platform Management Framework (PMF) driver has seen various fixes as well as support for exposing AMD Ryzen AI NPU metrics to user‑space and use by other drivers. The NPU metrics are read from the platform management firmware and can then be consumed by other drivers like the actual AMDXDNA accelerator driver. The Ryzen AI NPU metrics currently consist of the clock frequency, the busy state of the NPU as a percent, the NPU power use in mW, the NPU frequency, the NPU read bandwidth, and the NPU write bandwidth.
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The ASUS WMI driver has landed improved backlight control handling as well as supporting multiple interfaces for controlling keyboard and RGB brightness.
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The HP WMI driver added support for manual fan control on HP Victus S laptop models.
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The Lenovo WMI driver now exposes hardware monitoring reporting via the HWMON interfaces.
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The NVIDIA Mellanox driver prepares for upcoming HI173 and HI174 hardware with a next‑gen 800 GB/s Ethernet switch as well as a new NVIDIA DGX system based on class VMOD0010.
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The Uniwill driver now supports setting a custom TGP for discrete GPUs (including for TUXEDO Computers laptops).
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WMI marshalling to better match Microsoft Windows’ ACPI / WMI handling.
The Linux laptops tested in the recent Intel Arc B390 Panther Lake Generational Performance Since The Gen9 Graphics Era.
More details on these platform‑drivers‑x86 changes via this pull.
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