SATA comes in three speeds SATA I, SATA II and SATA III. Pretty much all SATA devices today would be SATA III so let’s go with that. SATA III theoretical speed is 6 Gbit/sec i.e. best case marketing speed 750 MB/sec.
That would actually exceed the real world speed of most SATA disks, which typically top out at around 550 MB/sec (for solid state).
NVMe speed depends on how many PCIe lanes are available to the device. Typical on a mid-high device would be 4 lanes. Each lane (at current technology) gives you 1 GB/sec. So best case marketing speed 4 GB/sec i.e. over 5 times faster.
That would definitely exceed the real world speed of most NVMe disks, which for a good current device should go up to 3.5 GB/sec, while a slightly older slower device might top out at about 2 GB/sec.
In other words, real world speed over 6 times faster.
None of this is absolutely dependent on whether the disk is solid state v. rotating rust. SATA v NVMe refers to the interface to the drive, not to the drive itself. However this discussion is not even worth having unless you are talking about solid state.
As far as I am aware, NVMe disks are all solid state. On the other hand, SATA III disks most definitely can be either solid state or rotating rust.
You typically don’t buy rotating rust for speed. You buy it for capacity i.e. a 2TB drive is so much more affordable when it is rotating rust compared with when it is solid state.
I’ve already placed an order but I’m wondering if the hinge issue was addressed here. I think given the new chassis it is almost a foregone conclusion but just checking.
@Kyle_Rankin, that’s understandable, but I think it also creates a chicken-egg problem to grow / get started in non-English areas. My proposal would be to add a “other” to keyboard layout selection.
Then, if a user selects that, they’ll be presented with a preorder-selection.
Also add information about the minimum order quantity to be reached and how many orders have been placed.
Maybe even add an estimation, on how long it will probably take to reach the MOQ, based on the orders during the last 60 days or so.
Then, customers can make an informed decision and put money on the table, knowing it could take a year or much longer.
When a layout reaches about 50% of the MOQ, make a campaign to speed it up a bit.
Nope. The original laptop campaign had a goal of $250k. I also think I’ve read here from an employee that the minimum quantity for a variant is about 200 or so.
The bar is not high, it’s just a problem if they have 100+ laptops in the shelf that nobody orders. That’s why I propose it that way.
There is a FAQ for this question.
I add that NVMe Pro drives are not only faster, they come with exceptional endurance (TBW: Terabytes Written) and longer warranty.
Me too. But one could make the sticker hack: there seems to be the right number of keys - just re-label a couple with stickers. Keys will map to what you set them to, even in PureOs, don’t they? (Yes, I know, it’s not as pretty up close, but it works)
It would be cheap(er than stocking kayboards) for Purism to sell right size, shape and color vinyl keyboard stickers fro those that could use them… Including colorful WASD stickers for gamers
Instead of stickers, I’d be curious on the feasibility of selling keycap sets. Sure manually swapping the keycaps isn’t ideal, but might be a more palatable option than complete keyboards while looking nicer than stickers.
As someone who doesn’t do 3D printing, maybe it’s also possible to print your own keycaps if you can’t buy the ones for your region?
Matt Devillier (MrChromebox) on this Reddit thread answered a bunch of questions about the Librem 14.
On the hinge issue:
Also, what design changes have been made to solve the hinge issues?
it’s a completely new design from a different partner/ODM. I’ve held it by the screen and flapped it until my arms got tired
In another reply:
the hinge issue on the 13v4 was, AIUI, limited to a single batch where the ODM changed the chassis mounts without our knowledge, and is one of the reasons why we are using a new partner to build the L14.
On why Thunderbolt wasn’t included:
Thunderbolt would have made this perfect!
TB is problematic on Comet Lake since it requires an extra chip. We debated on going with IceLake instead, which has TB built-in, but seems like a bit of a shit show still (Google canceled their ICL Chromebooks and is going straight to Tiger Lake it seems)
On video out:
In the tech specs HDMI is listed as 4k60hz but USB type c just mentions 4k. Does that mean we’ll only be able to get 4k30hz out of it?
the USB-C DisplayPort Alt Mode will support 4Kp60 via both DP and HDMI adapters. The HDMI port uses a LSPCON (HDMI 2.0) like the Librem Mini does, so the L14 will be able to drive two 4Kp60 displays simultaneously
Can you use a USB-C dock from, let’s say Lenovo, to get 2 external monitors connected?
depends on resolution/refresh rate, and type of dock. USB-C Alt mode only has enough bandwidth for a single 4Kp60 display, or two 1080p displays. The L14 doesn’t support Thunderbolt (which is PCIe over USB-C, and has a lot more bandwidth), so you can’t use a TB dock with it.
On the disk drives:
How many nvme slots are there? 2? And 1 2.5” sata? So total of 3 drives possible?
… it’s going to be 2x m.2 slots
On Qubes:
Could you perchance discuss installing & using Qubes on the laptop? One thing I see in Qubes forums/boards/reddits/etc is people constantly asking what laptop to buy - you might consider putting up some how-to, documentation, etc for people to point to - might net you some extra sales, ala Project Sputnik. Speaking of which, is regaining Qubes certification something Purism is working towards on this laptop or in a future product out of curiosity?
We ensure that Qubes runs without issue on all of our devices out of the box, with either our standard coreboot/SeaBIOS firmware, or our Pureboot firmware. Installation isn’t any different than any other Linux distro really.
Qubes certification has a lot of IMO silly and unnecessary requirements that serve no purpose other than to keep the number of certified devices artificially low. But I need to update the Qubes HCL for all our current models with the latest firmware (something they require to be static for a period of time).
@OpojOJirYAlG I thought of that and you are right, It could be nicer looking, but as far as I can tell, most laptop keyboard keys aren’t easy to swap. But what’s more important, is that stickers are already available (and they are much easier to design, get, distribute, use - plus cheaper) and they’re relatively nice when done right. Here’s one of my old laptops that has transparent vinyl stckers (plus some black marker since didn’t want to use black to cover the Fn keys - cost was about 5 coins [€/£/$]):
So, even if different keyboards aren’t offered, it would be nice to have sets of model specific stickers (or keycaps or even just stl-files for printing fi they can be changed) available at the shop for those that can and want to use them. It does not solve all the problems for everyone, but some.
Thanks, I didn’t know that page existed.
SATA M.2 is half a GB/s.
NVMe M.2 is 3 GB/s read and 2/3 that for write.
The Pro has both read and write speeds above 3 GB/s and lasts longer for enterprise.
So on your NVMe PRO 3D MLC-based disk average write rate is 614,5 MB/s (128 samples), coming from your current PCIe Gen3(?) motherboard. Isn’t this going to change with the new one? L14 is going to support PCIe® Gen4 NVMe™ SSD controller for sure , or not? Or at least have NVMe PCIe Gen3 ×4 M.2 connectors onboard, if not there already? I just want to be informed of what generation the PCIe slot will be there (to probably avoid getting ×2 in Q4, 2020).
@reC, thanks anyway! In addition, could you please post output from: $ sudo hdparm -tT /dev/NVMe_PRO (nvme0nX), just for general comparison, hoping that with L14 sequential write speed max. might eventually result in something closer to 2,700 MB/s. As, for example, brand new NVMe PRO PCIe 4.0-based M.2 SSD is promised to be able to manage data with r/w speeds of up to 6,500/5,000MB/s.
And, not to forget, another official/important: “Stay Tuned” link is here:
unfortunately the CPU used in the new Librem 14 does not support PCIe Gen4 so the highest level might be PCIe 3x4 for the NVME Interface.
But I think there is still some gain to be had by installing a PCIe Gen4 NVME into a PCIe Gen3 Port since the Storage Driver on the NVME SSD is designed for more transfer-rate and might use the PCIe Gen3 Lines to their max data-rate.
, or not? Or at least have NVMe PCIe Gen3 ×4 M.2 connectors onboard, if not there already? I just want to be informed of what generation the PCIe slot will be there (to probably avoid getting ×2 in Q4, 2020).