Are you happy with your Librem 14?

Hardware
21

Yes.

I knew its major limitation for me, namely the keyboard does not have a trackpoint, before I ordered it. So I have to carry a keyboard with me when I travel (rarely).

22

Iā€™m mostly happy with my Librem 14. Good battery life, and it is a secure set-up with Qubes and Pure Boot. Iā€™m having an issue now with the 3 cell battery (got so I can use both SSD card slots), but Iā€™m sure support will help me with it. The mic & camera have been working well, as well as network (both WiFi and Ethernet. I like the multiple USB ports, and the power port that is separate from them. For a laptop, the bezel on the screen is quite thin. Iā€™ve run Qubes OS, Pure OS, and Manjaro. Booting from USB can be a bit tricky sometimes, not everything works perfectly. I do love the way I can replace things on the system if I want to (e.g SSD, RAM, etc.).

1 Like
23

I have been using the Librem 14 and Qubes 4.1 OS for a few months now. Starting to get used to the compartmentalisation so it is starting to work for me, and 32G RAM makes the system flow.
A few niggles, one is accessing the camera for one of my VMs. I note you have it working well, any advice you can offer would be appreciated.
Thx

1 Like
24

In order for a Debian-based AppVM to be able to use the camera and microphone, the TemplateVM needs to have the following packages installed:

  • policykit-1
  • pulseaudio-qubes
  • qubes-usb-proxy

The killswitch for the camera and microphone needs to be switched to allow functionality before assigning them to an AppVM. A usb-qube (sys-usb) will also need to be started before assigning camera or microphone to an AppVM.

1 Like
25

Thanks for your help. These three were installed, but are not evident in the software lists. Still reading the Qubes OS website, suspect the solution is there.

26

Iā€™ve unfortunately ran into a lot of hardware issues and some software issues with the Librem 14 running Qubes OS, and it makes me hesitant to purchase another one of these laptops. Even with multiple firmware updates, these issues have not been fixed for me (take these as opinions, ymmv):

Hardware Issues

  • Some keys on the keyboard have broken, finding replacement keys is difficult.
  • The T, Y, and Tab key will stop working at times. I have no idea what is making these 3 keys in particular stop working.
  • Charging is extremely buggy, does not give a good reading, and causes the laptop to force shutdown unexpectedly. At this point taking the laptop off the charger is a gamble, it might shutdown instantly, it might shutdown after 10 minutes, it might shutdown after 2 hours, I have no idea. Sometimes the battery gets stuck at 90%, sometimes 92%, sometimes 100%, and sometimes it drops from fully charged down to 0%. Is the battery dead? Iā€™m not sure, but as far as I know there are no replacement batteries available. Iā€™ve also tried multiple chargers and multiple EC firmwares, nothing has fixed this.
  • The build quality in general is a bit low. The laptop shell and hinge feels a bit flimsy, and my screen has flickered before when adjusting it.

Software Issues

  • Librem 14 suspend does not work well with Qubes. After resuming from a suspend, the network is gone. Iā€™ve disabled suspend entirely as a workaround.
  • When the battery is working, battery life is at most 2 hours.
  • The fans are very loud on older versions of the firmware. Newer firmware seems to have fixed this.

Itā€™s very unfortunate, at this point I canā€™t really recommend the Librem 14, the quality is just not there, the firmware has not improved my experience, and the parts are not available to even attempt self repairs.

2 Likes
27

You have to email support and ask to buy them (like a battery, for example). They donā€™t list everything in the store.

28

I sent them 2 support emails asking about replacement parts, which vendors sell them, and if they sell them and what the cost is, but the reply did not indicate they sell the parts. It also does not make sense to me why they would not list the repair parts on the store. As long as their (price > cost), they could potentially be making money off the repair parts, so its odd to my why they wouldnā€™t list them.

1 Like
29

Stranges issues overall.

How many time are you opened your Librem 14 to do anything?
Are you sure that you get burning the EC success?

30

Others have been successful. What did they tell you?

31

Iā€™ve unscrewed the bottom and checked out the hardware once, nothing inside looked damaged, burned, etc, all the hardware looked good.

Iā€™m going off of the directions they provide at https://puri.sm/librem-ec/. If the ectool is working properly, then I am on the most recent EC firmware (1.11).

They had indicated that other vendors do not sell the battery, but did not indicate that they sold one or a price. Iā€™m sure others have in the past been successful with this, but the problem is inconsistency. As it stands, from my experience its too much of a gamble for me to recommend their hardware, Iā€™ve had too many problems and Iā€™ve seen others running into some of the same problems too frequently.

1 Like
32

Iā€™m not arguing with your hardware experience. But it is possible to get replacement parts by (perhaps explicitly) asking to buy them. This information is just as much for other readers as it is for you.

2 Likes
33

The machine was not usable when it finally arrived. I sent it back and they said they would send another then forgot. I prompted themā€¦ They sent the old one back and on from there. Today I opened it up having applied the latest EC patch a week or 10 days ago and it would not boot, i had no valid keys. Right. I also noticed the battery was discharged and the estimate in settings is that it would take 12 hours to charge. I fought with resetting keys and all that, verified the EC patch was the latest and still find it is going to take 12 hours to charge. I was not aware i was investing in a hobby. I had hoped this would converge toward a working machine by now. I am entirely disappointed. Own the 13 v4 and the 14 but I wonā€™t buy anything else.

1 Like
34

Do you have Pureboot or Coreboot? to turn ON it need 3 seconds long press in power button. Sorry to ear the malfuntion.

1 Like
35

Given the age of this thread, I wonder if this is still relevant, but just in case:

Iā€™ve had my Librem 14 for several months now, and I am completely satisfied with it. I have not experienced any of the most common problems cited on these threads (e.g., battery not charging, keyboard dropping inputs, high-pitched whines, bluetooth/wi-fi dropping unexpectedly, frequent crashes, etc.) My experience thus far has been excellent. My only disappointment was that when I ordered my L14, the 3-cell battery was out of stock, and so I could not configure the laptop with a second internal drive. Honestly, though, that has proven to be very little inconvenience.

In fairness, I do have one criticism of the L14: the build of screen/top. It feels flimsy. Moreso than I think it should for the price. Whereas the body of the laptop feels solid, the screen has a dissatisfying flexibility to it that makes me want to take extra-special care when handling it.

I can only speak to my experience, but I would buy a Librem again, without hesitation.

3 Likes
36

I wouldnā€™t buy the L14 again. My L14 had to be RMAed three times with the exact same issue and was gone several weeks each time. Customer support was adequate once we got connected, but three times is a lemon as far as Iā€™m concerned. At least this time it seems like they got it right and itā€™s been working OK for a while now.

The keyboard layout is kind of weird and has caused problems for me before, but Iā€™m mostly deskbound so itā€™s not the end of the world. Itā€™s disappointing that we canā€™t use the second nvme slot on the motherboard due to the layout/battery.

Certain complaints really arenā€™t fair - itā€™s only a 10th gen, 6-core CPU for the cost of current day technology - but thatā€™s part of the tradeoff when youā€™re worried about security/privacy.

In the L14ā€™s favor are the display (which I really like) and the serviceability (itā€™s not glued together like everything else these days). It looks very sleek and understated with its exterior. Youā€™re also supporting a company that contributes to security/privacy/open source.

3 Likes
37

L14 + QubesOS user here. Quite content with my purchase.

Bottom Line Up Front for Issues:
I did experience power issues that were resolved with support. The issue was that the laptop would not charge after being plugged in. The keyboard layout issues (right shift for AZERTY being an issue) for me are managed through carrying a hacker keyboard.

Things I am Happy About:
Some of them have already been said: happy to be supporting an open source and privacy-minded firm. We help pay for the staff at Purism to continue to bring into the world hardware and software that I have longed for. Itā€™s really hard to put a price to that. The L14 is an attractive, easy to use, Linux friendly laptop. Being able to run Qubes without worry of managing compatibility issues is nice.

The rest of the hardware just meets expectations. Same would be said about the HPs, Dells, and Razers Iā€™ve used. Itā€™s good enough to do the job. Resolution is sufficient. I have support for 2 extra monitors. USB-C ports are handy.

Conclusion
Overall - I would purchase another L series laptop. I drive my L14 hard, consuming nearly 50GB of RAM of the 64GB I purchased on average. It fits in my backpack for travel nicely. Has a decent weight and size.

A solid purchase choice. Would do it again.

2 Likes
38

After over a year using my Librem 14 I would give 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Likes:

  1. Librem Key to tell me if boot partition was tampered with
  2. Hardware Switches
  3. Deactivated Intel ME
  4. Tamper proof delivery

For the below dislikes I have removed 1.5 stars:

  1. Fan Speeds go crazy at times even with the latest EC. Somewhat was fixed
  2. Built-in microphone not suitable for audio calls, pickups lots of background noise
  3. External Microphone via 3.5 jack not supported

90% of the time my laptop is sitting at the desk connected to two external monitors, keyboard and mouse and I try not to move built-in screen not to annoy flimsy hinges that some other users have complained.

4 Likes
39

I guess itā€™s important also to distinguish between ā€œdislikesā€ that could in theory be resolved for you in the future (like the 3-cell battery availability issue and the microphone in the 3.5 mm audio jack issue) and ā€œdislikesā€ that you will forever have to put up with (e.g. if a 10th gen, 6 core CPU is a bit low end for a particular customerā€™s needs or e.g. the keyboard layout).

1 Like
40

We can, if you look at this page: https://shop.puri.sm/shop/librem-14/. Just choose the other, smaller battery.