I wanted to know from the people in the Linux/FOSS/Privacy/Security world who have suggestions on buying a good Linux laptop. I’m in the market for one and I’d like it to be modern, and more open source than usual laptops.
I was looking at System76’s Lemur pro with Core boot and its Open EC Firmware. Sounds pretty promising. I’m going to be using Windows 10 but in a VM for running Microsoft Teams with other software running at the same time, so I heard RAM is needed the most to run a a good VM.
Are there any other suggestions? I was thinking of going the older ThinkPad route but I would have to learn how to core boot and 16GB or RAM is usually the cap, which might be a problem. (8gb for VM - 8GB for host)
The newest ThinkPad that is Coreboot friendly is the T440p, so some may balk at the age of this otherwise capable machine. And yeah, it took me literally weeks, if not months to figure out Coreboot, gather my nerve and bring my T420 back to life after a few initial failed attempts.
Purism is another option, but personally I think System 76 has it going on and has the potential to stay in the market long term. Mind, I have nothing bad to say about Purism.
tl;dr
If you’re wanting a ready-to-go FOSS solution I’d recommend going with System76. Their build quality is decent enough.
Privacy ≠ security and you should be careful not to mix the two.
If you want security you should just go with a modern proprietary laptop. Yes, it’s closed source however I would argue it’s more likely to be “secure” because it’s people’s 9-5 job to keep it as such. You also get the benefits of new hardware and support.
Don’t get me wrong, FOSS is cool too and it allows for piece of mind for the privacy-conscious. If you’re looking towards FOSS I’d recommend System76. There is controversy surrounding Purism and would recommend staying away. You can also get an old Thinkpad and load coreboot on it, but that’s going to be even more work to load coreboot and the OS.