Ask HN: Non-Chinese Laptops? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Non-Chinese Laptops?

#21

Post by rl3 » Thu, May 23, 2024, 5:48 AM UTC

cpach wrote: post #19

According to this comment from 2023, most laptops are made by Taiwanese companies: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36651016 I don’t know for sure, but if I read that comment correctly, those six companies are turnkey suppliers for the large computer brands.

Surely there's still subcomponents made in China, even if device manufacture happens in Taiwan.

Granted, it doesn't really matter from a security standpoint unless those subcomponents are ICs of some sort. Then again, there's probably some really clever ways to backdoor stuff even using "dumb" components.

It'd be nice if consumers had options for end-to-end supply chain assurances though.

Re: Ask HN: Non-Chinese Laptops?

#22

Post by dajtxx » Thu, May 23, 2024, 6:59 AM UTC

runjake wrote: post #6

I'd think that the Apple MacBook supply chain, for better or worse, is about the best and most widely-inspected platform. A potential downside might be that you're limited to macOS or Linux only.

Or windows in a VM. Parallels makes that painless if you can use arm.

Re: Ask HN: Non-Chinese Laptops?

#23

Post by cpach » Thu, May 23, 2024, 2:12 PM UTC

rl3 wrote: post #21

cpach wrote: post #19

According to this comment from 2023, most laptops are made by Taiwanese companies: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36651016 I don’t know for sure, but if I read that comment correctly, those six companies are turnkey suppliers for the large computer brands.

Surely there's still subcomponents made in China, even if device manufacture happens in Taiwan. Granted, it doesn't really matter from a security standpoint unless those subcomponents are ICs of some sort. Then again, there's probably some really clever ways to backdoor stuff even using "dumb" components. It'd be nice if consumers had options for end-to-end supply chain assurances though.

Yeah I’m 99,9% sure that a non-negligible part of the subcomponents are made in China. I would be extremely surprised if it was possible to find a modern personal computer with zero parts made in China. (Might be possible for embedded devices?)