> I'd like to start by warning against purchasing any product from > Purism. They have consistently misled and profited off the backs of > the free software movement, without giving much back at all. Their > marketing material made many high claims - that they would be able to > run Coreboot, they were working towards getting Libreboot on the > device. This was false. They made claims that they were working > towards convincing Intel to free its infamous management engine > (something even Google were unable to do for its Chromebooks). > Finally, when Coreboot was actually ported (by a Google employee on > their lunch breaks, apparently), it ran with blobs that performed all > the initialization code. I think it is not unreasonable to describe > what they did as a scam. At any rate it is an overpriced generic laptop.
Thanks for this. I was taking them at their word without looking into it. I appreciate the correction. -Steven > I do recommend getting a device running Coreboot, though. It is an > important free software project, and you won't have trouble with > manufacturers restricting you, e.g. the secure boot issues mentioned, > or whitelists of wireless hardware. The X230 runs Coreboot, and there > are interesting things that one can do with it. > However, if you are not going to use this, then a better route might > be to get a device that ships without Windows or with something like > Ubuntu out of the box. An example of this is the Dell XPS laptops, > which are reasonably well made, although not as configurable. However, > they are expensive. Other people I know have had reasonable results > with the newest Thinkpads, although, one should note, they use > whitelists for network hardware (Dell may too, but I am not sure), and > they are slowly becoming less configurable, e.g. they no longer have > dial-up, it's harder to replace the memory, and they no longer have > features such as dial-up (tongue in cheek, but it's an example). They > still perform well and are somewhat configurable, though. Other things > to watch out for are the use of discrete graphics - often newer NVidia > cards are used, which may or may not work well with Nouveau, and are > reasonably power-hungry. > > Regards, > Duncan > > On 30.04.2017 17:00, Steven R. Baker wrote: >> I've spent a lot of time thinking about this lately. My next machine >> will be a Purism Librem, I think. But I've been a life-long fan of >> ThinkPads. I currently have a W550s, an X250, and an X1 Carbon. Cannot >> recommend enough. >> >>> The main reasons for replacing the X220 tablet: >>> >>> 1. weight - I'd like to get something under 1.5kg, the lower the better >>> and there are plenty of models between 1.0 and 1.2kg these days. >>> >>> 2. screen resolution - the 768 pixel screen height is troublesome for >>> some applications >> X270 will solve this nicely. So will the X1 Carbon. I have two machines >> with "HiDPI" (the W and the X1 Carbon) and it's very well supported by >> both GNOME and KDE. >> >>> 3. battery - it is not like new any more >> The X270 has a replaceable second battery, so you can carry around as >> many as you need. >> >>> Looking around, though, if I choose a current model laptop (Lenovo or >>> otherwise) it appears there is something of a minefield: >>> >>> - am I going to run into Secure Boot issues? I've met other people at >>> events recently who had new laptops and were struggling to get into the >>> BIOS and disable Secure Boot. >> I haven't had any issues with this. >>> - Windows included - can anybody give any tips on how to buy without >>> paying the Windows tax? >>> >>> - dongles - many of them favor dongles/expansion ports these days, some >>> of these dongles only work with the PSU, will the total weight with PSU >>> and dongle really be less than my current laptop? >> The X1 Carbon comes with an ethernet dongle, and that's annoying. >>> Are there any specific models that anybody would recommend in the >>> ultraportable form-factor (e.g. under i7, 16GB or more, 1.5kg, 12.5" - >>> 14", suitable for use on small spaces such as on trains and airplanes)? >> If I wasn't nearly certain my next machine would be a Librem, I'd be >> getting an X270. >>> Has anybody tried the 2017 models of the X1 Carbon or X270 with any >>> Linux distribution? >> I have more than one colleague with X1 Carbon from 2017 (on is an X1 >> Yoga), and one with an X270. Both claim that support is great. I don't >> know which distributions they run, but I suspect Ubuntu. >> >> Good luck! >> >> -Steven >> >>> Regards, >>> >>> Daniel >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Discussion mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Discussion mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list [email protected] https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion
