Everything that you say is correct and accurate. Definitely there will be big companies that will create designs and keep them behind their IP walls. However, there will also be some small companies, which otherwise would have been unable to develop their own designs, which will be able to create something compliant with the instruction set and have Linux kernel up and running, with most of the GNU/Linux ecosystem available to them. This is a really big thing. Also, if the small manufacturers follow a common fully open standard (which is in their interest) the benefit will be huge for everyone, users included.

That’s impressive! I didn’t know about it. It’s expensive but seems to be worth every penny.

I second this. If the thinkpad is very old and weak (like before core i? or celeron stuff) you may have a better luck with an XFCE-based distro. I installed MX Linux on an old laptop (2nd gen i7 mobile) and felt snappier than anything, quite stable, and simple to use for newbies. Otherwise, if it is not an ancient laptop, just follow the advice of /u/rimu@lemmy.nz

That’s the dream. Based on RISC-V, a whole open hardware system working with free software, without bloatware and similar nonsense could become available.
Perhaps, it would be a laptop since most/all RISC-V designs are far more efficient than the best ARM.

That’s the dream! Having systems that are free in every sense.

I am not sure I understand the hype over the immutable distros. I get that it may be important for large deployments (e.g. a company of 500 people starting with the exact same desktop and remain compatible) but don’t really get the benefit for the average GNU/Linux user, especially those of us that like tinkering with our PC. I can’t see myself installing one of those but perhaps I am missing the point.