A few suggestions for the next version laptop hardware

I don’t know if I should email the developers instead of posting here, but anyway…

  1. Option to order without webcam, just like the existing option to remove wireless.
  2. Fingerprint sensor.
  3. Dual channel memory.

And if ever possible:
4. Dedicated graphic card.
5. AMD CPU option.
6. Rugged design.

For 4 and 5, I know developers said in FAQ that those hardware require too many binary blobs to work so they don’t use them, but I’ll just keep them in the low priority list.

and the hardware will be the same like system76 im sure :smiley:


Biometrics are generally considered bad from a security / privacy point of view. Maybe an add-on USB device for this? (for those that want it)

What is your concern? Cost saving? Weight saving? Even a kill switch is not good enough?

(I doubt that removing the wireless is directly comparable with removing the webcam.)

are discussed extensively in the other topic that is linked to (above) - as is ‘3’.

I meant fingerprint for an additional security layer, not the replacement of passwords like many devices do today.
About the camera, the reason is it’s pretty useless, my friend and I had never use the webcam in our whole life, we don’t know why that spying thing appear on every laptop.

The primary flaw I see with Biometrics as a security layer is this:

If a password is compromised you change it.
If a device (badge/tag/whatever) is compromised you replace it.
If a finger is compromised… You have at best 9 others before you are stuck using a compromised factor?

And fingerprint is kind of your best case biometric, after all, you really only get one face, one set of iris…

While there is something to be said for the convenience of biometrics, enabling and encouraging their use is, in my opinion, leading toward a less secure environment where security gets compromised en mass with no desire for remediation because of the inconvenience of using something else.

I’ve said it before, but let me repeat: Your biometrics data is public. Especially the kind of data that is required for sensors in a smartphone. Someone takes a picture of you with a mid-range smartphone camera, and lo and behold, face, iris recorded and ready to use. I won’t be surprised by the report that fingerprints can be reconstructed from a photo of outstretched hand, taken from half a mile away with some suitable zoom.

So what are you going to do, wear mask and gloves on Summer? Or never shake hands in public?

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i prefer the Vulcan salute “live long and prosper !” :vulcan_salute: the rest is not so weird … people in China wear it at peak pollution hours just like Middle-Eastern women cover their face …
thou shall merit to see my face ! muahahaha

Therein lies the problem. You may never use it but other people do use it. So there ought to be a strong reason to get rid of it. As others have said, Purism serves a small market. It may not be economically viable to have too many variant configurations.

The other side of the coin is the fingerprint reader. My laptop has a fingerprint reader on it. I have never used it. I don’t intend to use it ever. I am not asking the vendor to remove it however. I am happy to ignore it.

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Many years ago, the finger print of Schäuble was taken from a glas and fake finger tips distributed by the CCC. Some years later, the iris of chancellor Merkel and the finger print of von der Leyen were extracted from photos. German article.

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Thanks for reinforcing my point: Biometrics are public.

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