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Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

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Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#41

Post by zozbot234 »

aorth wrote: post #39
gentleman11 wrote: post #10

Can’t trust them since the multiple spyware incidents. Fool me four times, shame on me Eg, > But it did more than that. It injected a self-signed root HTTPS certificate, which allowed them to hijack any and all encrypted traffic Different incident > This malware was hidden in the laptop's firmware, and abused the anti-theft feature in Windows 8 and 10. Whenever the laptop booted up, the executable would be extracted…

Honest question: how does this firmware spyware affect Linux? If I get a ThinkPad and overwrite the pre-installed OS with my own, would spyware like this be able to do anything on Linux? I guess they could do the same thing, extract some binary from the firmware pre-boot and inject it to /boot to mess with the boot process... but does that give them viable persistence and ability to do stuff in Linux once the OS is b…

The "anti-theft" firmware exploits a Windows misfeature where the BIOS can include stuff that Windows will simply install automatically at boot. So it wouldn't directly affect Linux just yet. But firmware can do other shenanigans that would render any system fundamentally insecure (e.g. via SMM).

Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#43

Post by distances »

Joff wrote: post #20
young_unixer wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the only thing stopping me from buying an X1 Carbon. I had decided to buy a Dell Latitude instead, but apparently Dell did something similar [1], so now I don't know what to buy. Maybe a Huawei? AFAIK they haven't been caught in these shenanigans yet, but I still don't feel comfortable with them for some reason. God, the laptop market is awful. [1] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/11/superfish-20-now-dell-.…

The Framework laptop seems to be a safe purchase. Even though the company is still young, all the reviews are praising it.

Framework is only available in the US now, and no AMD option. Despite all their past shenanigans, I got a Lenovo as they have solid Linux support. Erased Windows from it right away.

Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#44

Post by raffraffraff »

winrid wrote: post #14
young_unixer wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the only thing stopping me from buying an X1 Carbon. I had decided to buy a Dell Latitude instead, but apparently Dell did something similar [1], so now I don't know what to buy. Maybe a Huawei? AFAIK they haven't been caught in these shenanigans yet, but I still don't feel comfortable with them for some reason. God, the laptop market is awful. [1] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/11/superfish-20-now-dell-.…

I got an X1 Extreme, went to switch the graphics from Hybrid to Discreet in the BIOS to install Linux, and immediately bricked it. It was a bug. No reset can fix it. They have to replace the motherboard. They had it four months before I finally got them to just replace the machine.

Their entire graphics setup on the X1 and P1 laptops is atrocious, and I've definitely bitched about it here before. Basically, you can't turn off GPU without loosing the external HDMI, so you need to leave it on if you use an external monitor. But that eats battery. And you can't easily turn the GPU on/off whenever you "go mobile" - it requires an Xorg restart. There's some software crap you can do (Bumblebee? Primus?) that works on some distros but it's a total pain in the ass on others. There isn't a clear consensus on which to use either, and I haven't found a single sane set of instructions for it anyway. Avoid avoid avoid.

Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#45

Post by CSDude »

darthrupert wrote: post #30

They have been selling laptops without os for quite some time. I guess having a preinstall has some use but not much for me. The E14 gen3 is looking pretty nice for myself. Zen 3 ryzen (not quite M1 levels of raw power but not too far behind) with 24G ram and 512+1000G SSD for little over 1000 euros.

Had E14 gen2. Was very happy except screen. Colors are wrong and not visible when in bright environment. Sold it and got an M1. For compile, programming etc. tasks its 2-3x faster.

Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#46

Post by distances »

darthrupert wrote: post #30

They have been selling laptops without os for quite some time. I guess having a preinstall has some use but not much for me. The E14 gen3 is looking pretty nice for myself. Zen 3 ryzen (not quite M1 levels of raw power but not too far behind) with 24G ram and 512+1000G SSD for little over 1000 euros.

AFAIK, mobile Zen 3 is behind M1 in single-core workloads but wins in (most) multi-core tasks if you're using the top core count models (5800, 5900).

Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#47

Post by stanislavb »

gentleman11 wrote: post #10

Can’t trust them since the multiple spyware incidents. Fool me four times, shame on me Eg, > But it did more than that. It injected a self-signed root HTTPS certificate, which allowed them to hijack any and all encrypted traffic Different incident > This malware was hidden in the laptop's firmware, and abused the anti-theft feature in Windows 8 and 10. Whenever the laptop booted up, the executable would be extracted…

Yup, no one should trust them given their reputation of installing spyware + being Chinese owned.

I thing Dell is amongst the top choices nowadays with regards to Linux laptops.

P.s. I miss the old Thinkpads (the IBM era)

Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#48

Post by sam_lowry_ »

raffraffraff wrote: post #44
winrid wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got an X1 Extreme, went to switch the graphics from Hybrid to Discreet in the BIOS to install Linux, and immediately bricked it. It was a bug. No reset can fix it. They have to replace the motherboard. They had it four months before I finally got them to just replace the machine.

Their entire graphics setup on the X1 and P1 laptops is atrocious, and I've definitely bitched about it here before. Basically, you can't turn off GPU without loosing the external HDMI, so you need to leave it on if you use an external monitor. But that eats battery. And you can't easily turn the GPU on/off whenever you "go mobile" - it requires an Xorg restart. There's some software crap you can do (Bumblebee? Primu…

Isn't it the way Intel designed their reference motherboard?

Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#49

Post by squarefoot »

gentleman11 wrote: post #10

Can’t trust them since the multiple spyware incidents. Fool me four times, shame on me Eg, > But it did more than that. It injected a self-signed root HTTPS certificate, which allowed them to hijack any and all encrypted traffic Different incident > This malware was hidden in the laptop's firmware, and abused the anti-theft feature in Windows 8 and 10. Whenever the laptop booted up, the executable would be extracted…

I wouldn't use the preinstalled OS anyway, no matter if it's Linux or not. The good thing about them offering Linux is that they must ensure hardware compatibility (though I don't recall it having been a problem with Thinkpads) and be ready to give some support, and I also would expect the machine to cost a bit less for using a free OS.

Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#50

Post by sam_lowry_ »

rjzzleep wrote: post #37
young_unixer wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the only thing stopping me from buying an X1 Carbon. I had decided to buy a Dell Latitude instead, but apparently Dell did something similar [1], so now I don't know what to buy. Maybe a Huawei? AFAIK they haven't been caught in these shenanigans yet, but I still don't feel comfortable with them for some reason. God, the laptop market is awful. [1] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/11/superfish-20-now-dell-.…

I actually have an X280 in my hand. The reason why wanted it was so I would get 5 years of international warranty on it. Turns out most countries don't actually accept the accidental damage coverage from another country(I paid about $600-$700 in coverage, so for the first 3 years it's no better than an AppleCare, which is international as well). Also when I wanted to switch it for an X1C because the new ones came out…

For $600-700 you can get a backup laptop.
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