All thinkpads have a Wifi card whitelist at the BIOS level that prevent installing certain WiFi cards. The restriction can be bypassed with a BIOS modification: either installing Libreboot, Coreboot or editing the official Lenovo/IBM BIOS.

Lenovo uses a bios whitelist to prevent the installing of 3rd party wifi and 3G cards in the mini-pcie slot. The processor has vPro technology. The internal wifi card is an Intel Centrino and does not work with any distribution that I have tried. Gnewsense had several problems and Blag was unable to see the Ethernet card and would demote this laptop to a D if they were the only distros that I had tried. Other distros seemed to work normally. For this laptop, Trisquel works well. Parabola seems like a good choice if I had the time, and it seems like Dynebolic is also fully functional.

Slot:	00:00.0
Class:	Host bridge [0600]
Vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
Device:	3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller [0154]
SVendor:	Lenovo [17aa]
SDevice:	Device [21f3]
Rev:	09

Slot:	00:02.0
Class:	VGA compatible controller [0300]
Vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
Device:	3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller [0166]
SVendor:	Lenovo [17aa]
SDevice:	Device [21f4]
Rev:	09

Slot:	00:14.0
Class:	USB controller [0c03]
Vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
Device:	7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller [1e31]
SVendor:	Lenovo [17aa]
SDevice:	Device [21f3]
Rev:	04
ProgIf:	30

Slot:	00:16.0
Class:	Communication controller [0780]
Vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
Device:	7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 [1e3a]
SVendor:	Lenovo [17aa]
SDevice:	Device [21f3]
Rev:	04

Slot:	00:19.0
Class:	Ethernet controller [0200]
Vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
Device:	82579LM Gigabit Network Connection [1502]
SVendor:	Lenovo [17aa]
SDevice:	Device [21f3]
Rev:	04

Slot:	00:1a.0
Class:	USB controller [0c03]
Vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
Device:	7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 [1e2d]
SVendor:	Lenovo [17aa]
SDevice:	Device [21f3]
Rev:	04
ProgIf:	20

Slot:	00:1b.0
Class:	Audio device [0403]
Vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
Device:	7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller [1e20]
SVendor:	Lenovo [17aa]
SDevice:	Device [21f3]
Rev:	04

Slot:	00:1c.0
Class:	PCI bridge [0604]
Vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
Device:	7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 [1e10]
Rev:	c4

Slot:	00:1c.1
Class:	PCI bridge [0604]
Vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
Device:	7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 [1e12]
Rev:	c4

Slot:	00:1c.2
Class:	PCI bridge [0604]
Vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
Device:	7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 [1e14]
Rev:	c4

Slot:	00:1d.0
Class:	USB controller [0c03]
Vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
Device:	7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 [1e26]
SVendor:	Lenovo [17aa]
SDevice:	Device [21f3]
Rev:	04
ProgIf:	20

Slot:	00:1f.0
Class:	ISA bridge [0601]
Vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
Device:	QM77 Express Chipset LPC Controller [1e55]
SVendor:	Lenovo [17aa]
SDevice:	Device [21f3]
Rev:	04

Slot:	00:1f.2
Class:	SATA controller [0106]
Vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
Device:	7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [1e03]
SVendor:	Lenovo [17aa]
SDevice:	Device [21f3]
Rev:	04
ProgIf:	01

Slot:	00:1f.3
Class:	SMBus [0c05]
Vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
Device:	7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller [1e22]
SVendor:	Lenovo [17aa]
SDevice:	Device [21f3]
Rev:	04

Slot:	02:00.0
Class:	System peripheral [0880]
Vendor:	Ricoh Co Ltd [1180]
Device:	PCIe SDXC/MMC Host Controller [e823]
SVendor:	Lenovo [17aa]
SDevice:	Device [21f3]
Rev:	07
ProgIf:	01

Slot:	03:00.0
Class:	Network controller [0280]
Vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
Device:	Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak] [0085]
SVendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
SDevice:	Centrino Advanced-N 6205 AGN [1311]
Rev:	34

Slot:	04:00.0
Class:	USB controller [0c03]
Vendor:	ASMedia Technology Inc. [1b21]
Device:	ASM1042 SuperSpeed USB Host Controller [1042]
SVendor:	Unknown vendor [174c]
SDevice:	Device [2104]
ProgIf:	30

 lspci -nnk
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller [8086:0154] (rev 09)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21f3]
	Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller [8086:0166] (rev 09)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21f4]
	Kernel driver in use: i915
	Kernel modules: i915
00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller [8086:1e31] (rev 04)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21f3]
	Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 [8086:1e3a] (rev 04)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21f3]
	Kernel driver in use: mei
	Kernel modules: mei
00:19.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection [8086:1502] (rev 04)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21f3]
	Kernel driver in use: e1000e
	Kernel modules: e1000e
00:1a.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 [8086:1e2d] (rev 04)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21f3]
	Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller [8086:1e20] (rev 04)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21f3]
	Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
	Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 [8086:1e10] (rev c4)
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 [8086:1e12] (rev c4)
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 [8086:1e14] (rev c4)
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1d.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 [8086:1e26] (rev 04)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21f3]
	Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation QM77 Express Chipset LPC Controller [8086:1e55] (rev 04)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21f3]
	Kernel modules: iTCO_wdt
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [8086:1e03] (rev 04)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21f3]
	Kernel driver in use: ahci
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller [8086:1e22] (rev 04)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21f3]
	Kernel modules: i2c-i801
02:00.0 System peripheral [0880]: Ricoh Co Ltd PCIe SDXC/MMC Host Controller [1180:e823] (rev 07)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21f3]
	Kernel driver in use: sdhci-pci
	Kernel modules: sdhci-pci
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak] [8086:0085] (rev 34)
	Subsystem: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6205 AGN [8086:1311]
	Kernel modules: iwlwifi
04:00.0 USB controller [0c03]: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1042 SuperSpeed USB Host Controller [1b21:1042]
	Subsystem: Device [174c:2104]
	Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd