On Sun, Dec 17, 2017 at 6:58 PM, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 12/17/2017 05:06 PM, Dame Más wrote: > > Hi, >> The Coreboot BIOS of Purism 13 is open? >> > No it isn't, while they do use coreboot the silicon init process is > entirely blobbed. > > Technical merits - is it better than an off the shelf dell laptop? Of > course, but not better enough to justify even a $30 premium let alone the > thousands they are charging for a whitebox re-brand. > It removes the brander (ex: dell) from the firmware trust equation but > intel still remains and so does ME. > That's a pretty absurd exaggeration. Purism laptops certainly sell at a premium relative to a Dell (eg) with similar CPU/RAM/SSD, but they don't sell anywhere near the same volume, so their costs are higher. They also feature hardware kill switches for wifi/BT and mic/webcam, ship with a blob-free Debian-based distro, and use coreboot with a disable/neutered ME. Whether or not you consider those qualities, and supporting a startup working towards increasing owner control on modern hardware, to justify the price premium is certainly a valid point of discussion. > > If I was you I would purchase a different coreboot compatible laptop then > compile and install coreboot while running me_cleaner yourself - this will > provide a better result for a lot less money as these following laptops > feature open source silicon init and in the case of the intel models are > pre-skylake so more of ME can be "cleaned". > One of these laptops is $200 max for one in good condition, vs thousands > for a Purism 13 - with the cash you save you can also buy a KCMA-D8 gaming > computer for libre gaming in a VM or otherwise. "better" certainly depends on how one ranks the various qualities of a given device. If owner-controller trumps all other considerations, then certainly there are "better" options, but you're not going to find anything for $200 that is anywhere close in terms of weight, battery life, screen quality, or using a modern SoC -- that's the tradeoff, and again something that's worth discussion, but framing it in the context of paying "thousands" for a Purism device vs $200 for something of equal/better capability is dishonest and does a disservice to the entire community IMO.
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