I want to share what I’ve learned from successfully destroying Librem laptops over the years. I even had an L15 in my backpack when I suddenly found myself in a volleyball game at the beach, only to fall backwards on it. (Of course this was only because I have the soul of a mechanical test engineer.) If Purism is still in the laptop business (is it?) then maybe this advice will come too late for the next generation, but fear not because there are workarounds which are still acceptable in exchange for the outstanding benefits of the brand. I’m here to help improve the product going forward, assuming that there is in fact a “forward”.
The technical term for the root cause of the self-destructing laptops is: “aluminum”. This chemical element was once used in airframes which disintegrated in midair and killed many people.
But how, exactly, is aluminum to blame? It causes “hinge cancer”.
The cancer starts when you put the laptop in your backpack or other carrying case such that it’s standing up the long way. The mass of the lid and the flexibility of the aluminum causes the lid to droop at a very slight angle, such that it’s temporarily ever-so-slightly misaligned with the keyboard. This misalignment gradually solidifies, finally allowing the edge of the hinge to catch against the aluminum keyboard cover. The next time you open the laptop, the hinge drags against that cover. Eventually, it pries the cover up. Then the screen can never quite close again. The edge of the screen starts to flex due to the stress, eventually culminating in the screen border fatiguing and splitting apart. Ultimately, the plastic hinge cover literally explodes into pieces from the stress of scraping against the keyboard cover. The ribbon cable between the motherboard and the screen starts to fatigue. The screen goes partially dark. The stress also affects the motherboard itself, causing the keyboard to become intermittent (random extra keypresses). Now you can’t even type your password to log in. So you live off an external keyboard for a while. Then the USB ports start to fail, one by one, so you can’t even boot anymore, to that point that the machine is little more than landfill fodder. And all the while, the case screws have been popping out, helped out of their drill holes by the flexing of the aluminum base plate relative to the motherboard.
Ways to cope if it’s too late to change the next generation and you want to benefit from owning one:
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Never let your laptop stand vertically unless you’ve sealed it into a hard plastic notebook case stuffed with cotton which prevents any swiveling of the screen whatsoever.
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Relax. Use it as a desktop. You can use your L5 phone for security on the go.
For the next generation:
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Do what the aviation industry did before Apple copied them: use titanium. Stainless steel would only work for desktops as it’s too heavy for weight-limited air travel. Take a Macbook Air apart and look at how the case is machined from a single block of titanium like a fine wristwatch.
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Too expensive? Use thick and robust plastic. Nobody knows rigorous plastic case design better than Asus. Their cases snap together so that the screws merely serve as reinforcement. Cheap material but virtually zero flexing. Buy one and take it apart. Use AI to find out who’s supplying them upstream. You know how to do this. I’m just saying.
Optional:
Offer a better case as a premium upgrade. Those who only plan to use their laptop as a desktop can save money and get theirs sooner if the factory is already cranking up.
