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There are many many options for you if you want a laptop that will run windows "well" (even if most of them suck). This is for people who want a laptop where a

by ploxiln 11y ago

There are many many options for you if you want a laptop that will run windows "well" (even if most of them suck). This is for people who want a laptop where all hardware is well supported by open and upstream drivers in linux. If you're running Windows or OS X, most of the point of this is defeated. You can't tell much about privacy, security, etc. The hardware switches are nifty, but they're an add-on due to popular demand, not the main feature. (It is a bit annoying the the marketing isn't clear that this is just a nice modern laptop which supports linux very well and avoids you supporting Apple or Microsoft with your purchase.)

Silhouette 11y ago
There are many many options for you if you want a laptop that will run windows "well" (even if most of them suck). But that's rather the point. I'm willing to trust a clean Windows 7 installation and well-known drivers not to be phoning home. Given a system that was never contaminated with junkware, I then have a reasonable chance of only getting stuff I choose on there afterwards and keeping control of what applies downloaded software updates and when, and that is my primary requirement in software terms for a system I'm willing to trust. The desire for a good spec is just because so many business laptops are overpriced junk here in the UK, and the physical switches are just safeguards to mitigate things like zero days attacks or, frankly, embarrassing forgetfulness. I don't really buy the theory that the source for everything you install theoretically being available somehow makes your privacy better protected. Given that I'm not going to personally audit the entire source code of the OS distro being installed -- and neither is anyone else who buys these laptops -- the benefit is largely illusory, and the reality is that I'm just trusting the distro and everyone contributing to it instead of trusting the likes of Microsoft. Either way you're also assuming the system is secure so any privacy you start with will stay that way.

by ploxiln 11y ago

Silhouette 11y ago

There are many many options for you if you want a laptop that will run windows "well" (even if most of them suck). But that's rather the point. I'm willing to trust a clean Windows 7 installation and well-known drivers not to be phoning home. Given a system that was never contaminated with junkware, I then have a reasonable chance of only getting stuff I choose on there afterwards and keeping control of what applies downloaded software updates and when, and that is my primary requirement in software terms for a system I'm willing to trust. The desire for a good spec is just because so many business laptops are overpriced junk here in the UK, and the physical switches are just safeguards to mitigate things like zero days attacks or, frankly, embarrassing forgetfulness. I don't really buy the theory that the source for everything you install theoretically being available somehow makes your privacy better protected. Given that I'm not going to personally audit the entire source code of the OS distro being installed -- and neither is anyone else who buys these laptops -- the benefit is largely illusory, and the reality is that I'm just trusting the distro and everyone contributing to it instead of trusting the likes of Microsoft. Either way you're also assuming the system is secure so any privacy you start with will stay that way.