What are differences between the Librem versions?

Hardware
1

Aye, I’ve been looking around at different laptops that run and work with Linux-libre.

Purism seems to take the cake for modern compatible laptops (h-node scores).

However, I was curious if somebody could help explain how the models have changed over time.
There is a fairly under-filled Wikipedia page for this: /wiki/Purism_(company)#Comparison_of_laptops

Especially for users like me who mainly work through a web browser and might be considering purchasing a used machine.

v4 seems to be documented fairly well. However, v3, v2, and v1 appear to have little coverage on how they changed from the previous models.

Thanks!

2

In theory, that info should be here
https://wiki.puri.sm/hw
Unfortunately not in good shape.

v2: TPM optional
v3+: TPM always
CPUs vary, RAM and storage are of course always user configured. Other than that I don’t think there are very important differences.

3

Whether the version has an ethernet port?

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4

Broadwell (5th-gen) devices:

  • 13v1 - has pop-up ethernet port
  • 15v2

Skylake (6th-gen) devices:

  • 13v2 (few late devices have TPM, switches on hinge)
  • 13v3 (all devices have TPM, switches on side)
  • 15v3 (some devices have TPM)

completely new board/chassis design from 5th-gen
improved multi-touch trackpad
adds USB-C port

Kabylake (7th-gen) devices:

  • 13v4
  • 15v4

all devices have TPM
same board as 6th-gen devices, just upgraded SoC
15v4 has 4K display

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5

@MrChromebox I would assume all freedom aspects are the same after v1?
H-Node lists Librem 13 v1 & v2:

https://h-node.org/notebooks/catalogue/en/1/1/undef/undef/undef/undef/compatibility/undef/undef/undef?search_string=librem&submit=Search

6

that is correct, yes

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7

@MrChromebox :+1:
To add some more information:
According to Wikipedia v1 also shipped with CoreBoot. 1

However, ME wasn’t disabled and neutralized until v2:

8

that’s incorrect, and the wikipedia page is badly out of date / contains multiple inaccuracies. the 13v1 initially shipped with AMI firmware, and coreboot was made available later on, but the ME was always disabled with the 13v1 coreboot firmware. The linked blog post only relates to the 13v2, not the 13v1.

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9

@MrChromebox could you (or anyone with access) please add this info to the Purism wiki?

Related: Last time I checked, there was still no way for the public to get an account on the Purism wiki. Has this changed?

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