I just bought my first Librem laptop (L14) and hopefully the wait time is not huge now that shipping has started.
Based on previous versions, what sort of issues do I need to watch out for on the Librem 14?
I understand there were some hinge problems on L13 that could be avoided by regularly tightening some screws. Is there anything else I should keep an eye on when I receive my L14?
Many thanks
Next time, you should ask these questions before you buy the product.
Hi, for L13:
Trackpad (Screws can be mistightened)
Microphone (Correctable, wire just disconnects too easily)
Killswitches may break in or be pushed in.
Hinge (obviously, but there are multiple ways that it’s known to fail)
Not necessarily.
I have decided to buy the product in part to support the company and their research and also because it is the only way to get an ME-free 10th generation i7 laptop with mostly open-source firmware overall.
I understand that Purism is a small company and there might be some issues with the laptop.
I asked this question as a future owner of the product in order watch out for any possible issue, and maybe prevent it.
I suppose it should be mentioned that while there was a lot of things this kind of question could help with on the previous generations, the hope is that these have been addressed in this iteration.
The microphone and kill switches should be vastly improved. I believe this is because the killswitches themselves are now integrated into the mainboard. No wires to come loose, and traces are now used.
The issue with the hinges on previous models was because of the tension on the hinge when opening and closing and the anchor of the mounting hardware into a plastic sub frame. Based on what I could see in the shown pictures, it seems like the hinge hardware is still mounted in a plastic sub frame. (This is pretty normal for laptops.) If the tension and torqu used to open and close the display have been properly factored this shouldn’t result in hinge failures seen in the past. I would love to hear how the hinge is mounted to the aluminum chassis though.
The display cable on the v2 and v1 was real tight in the hinge due to the extra wires running from the kill switches. Now that the switches don’t add wires, this mean that the space in the hinge shouldn’t be so cramped, and the display cable will not be jostled or dislodged.
Basically the Librem 14 should alleviate all of the previous Librem issues. This time around the mainboard is a truly custom board which has made a lot of things easier to improve.
In short, the Librem 14 should be the best Librem ever made.
Just for clarification, the ME is disabled, not neutralized right now. I’m sure it will happen in time, but probably good for you to know.
Apparently so: New Post: Librem 14 in Pictures
I’m not. If Intel has intentionally changed this, it may be that the homunculus CPU (the Intel ME) can no longer be neutralized.