Any of the following are likely to work:
- Web search for "[model name] linux" and see if there are any results describing actual experience. A handful mentioning using it with none mentioning compatibility issues is usually good to go.
- Check forums for existing threads. Good options include https://forum.thinkpads.com/ and r/thinkpad. Less populous possibilities are !linux@lemmy.ml and !linux@lemmy.world.
- Make your own post on any of those places and ask about the model and distro you're interested in.
- Use an LLM-based tool, but check its sources to make sure they say what the LLM claims they say and the author shows signs of knowing what they're talking about. LLMs are bullshit machines.