3 ms·

That's a questionable approach you took, since Lenovo has been caught in the past shipping laptops with spyware. I actually bought the same Thinkpad a few month

That's a questionable approach you took, since Lenovo has been caught in the past shipping laptops with spyware. I actually bought the same Thinkpad a few months ago (beautiful machine btw), but I had to return it as I couldn't get myself to trust a computer manufactured by a dishonest company, in an authoritarian country. It felt just so uncomfortable. At the end of the day, I still trust Apple the most, since they have a huge reputation they need to maintain, although I recognize it's not an optimal solution, as they might very well have weaknesses in their supply chain, or become dishonest at the request of some higher authority. On a related note, it appears we don't live in the era of personal computers anymore, but rather personal interfaces. Most people are comfortable getting a mobile interface they control, while the computation and storage of their data is performed by somebody else.

vtail 8y ago
> since Lenovo has been caught in the past shipping laptops with spyware Are you referring to [1]? Since I will be installing OpenBSD on this machine, I won't be affected by it. I do have to trust their BIOS, though, and unfortunately there is no easy way around it on modern hardware, unless you want to limit yourself to something supported by e.g. coreboot. > manufactured by a dishonest company, in an authoritarian country Macbooks are manufactured in the same country, but yes, I do understand your sentiment re: "dishonest" company - very few Chinese manufacturers can be fully trusted, as e.g. Chinese government has a lot of coercion power. [1] https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-S-Series-ThinkPad-Yoga/Lenovo-Spyware/td-p/2174928 https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-S-Series-ThinkPad-Yoga...
- plainOldText 8y ago
  Yep, I was referring to that. You are correct, you won't be affected, since you run a different OS. I personally just couldn't stomach that a manufacturer would engage in such sneaky practices. So, maybe you're fine for now (I envy you slightly for enjoying such a well designed piece of non-Apple hardware) but will you trust the X7, X8, etc? Especially with the escalating US-China trade war.
  - vtail 8y ago
    I do believe there is an increasing demand for privacy, so hopefully in 4-5 years, if I need to upgrade my machine, I would still have a reasonable choice.
chx 8y ago
>since Lenovo has been caught in the past shipping laptops with spyware those were IdeaPads not ThinkPads. > I couldn't get myself to trust a computer manufactured by a dishonest company, in an authoritarian country. ... you'd be naked and bereft a lot of other comforts if you were to get rid of everything made in China.

vtail 8y ago

> since Lenovo has been caught in the past shipping laptops with spyware Are you referring to [1]? Since I will be installing OpenBSD on this machine, I won't be affected by it. I do have to trust their BIOS, though, and unfortunately there is no easy way around it on modern hardware, unless you want to limit yourself to something supported by e.g. coreboot. > manufactured by a dishonest company, in an authoritarian country Macbooks are manufactured in the same country, but yes, I do understand your sentiment re: "dishonest" company - very few Chinese manufacturers can be fully trusted, as e.g. Chinese government has a lot of coercion power. [1] https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-S-Series-ThinkPad-Yoga/Lenovo-Spyware/td-p/2174928 https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-S-Series-ThinkPad-Yoga...

plainOldText 8y ago
Yep, I was referring to that. You are correct, you won't be affected, since you run a different OS. I personally just couldn't stomach that a manufacturer would engage in such sneaky practices. So, maybe you're fine for now (I envy you slightly for enjoying such a well designed piece of non-Apple hardware) but will you trust the X7, X8, etc? Especially with the escalating US-China trade war.
- vtail 8y ago
  I do believe there is an increasing demand for privacy, so hopefully in 4-5 years, if I need to upgrade my machine, I would still have a reasonable choice.

chx 8y ago

>since Lenovo has been caught in the past shipping laptops with spyware those were IdeaPads not ThinkPads. > I couldn't get myself to trust a computer manufactured by a dishonest company, in an authoritarian country. ... you'd be naked and bereft a lot of other comforts if you were to get rid of everything made in China.