Hello. Many of the older thinkpads were regarded as being peak for the ability to repair and easily see into them at both the hardware and software levels.

I was wondering, what PC, if any, is similar in this regard? Aside from building your own PC ofc. Any opinions are welcome. Thank you.

  • trippingonthewireOP
    62·
    9 months ago

    I was looking for something that I’m confident doesn’t spy at the hardware level.

    I used Thinkpads as an example because after the early 2010 ones, they got those weird i7 (I believe) processors and we don’t know much of what they do but some speculate they record keystrokes and phone data home.

    What PC can you trust has good hardware in privacy? I don’t want to buy a PC and run Linux, trying my best, and the thing spies at the hardware level.

    • hperrin@lemmy.world
      121·
      9 months ago

      They absolutely do not record keystrokes and phone that home. You’re talking about the Intel Management Engine, which is completely useless to almost everyone, but there’s no evidence that it spies on you. There have been security vulnerabilities found in it that could let someone else compromise your system (notably: only if you’ve provisioned Intel Standard Manageability), but there is practically zero chance that Intel is doing that or even selling that sort of capability.

    • SheeEttin@programming.devEnglish
      81·
      9 months ago

      How confident do you need to be? I don’t think I’ve seen any convincing evidence of any firmware spying in PC components.

      Well, except the NSA’s Clipper chip, but I don’t think that really ever got implemented.

    • Corroded@leminal.spaceEnglish
      7·
      9 months ago

      Well you can find a list of Libreboot compatible hardware here. I feel like your biggest issue, especially if you are relying on a prebuilt Windows PC, is all the bloatware they come with on top of Windows itself.

    • const_void
      4·
      9 months ago

      Lenovo uses proprietary, closed source firmware. There’s no way to know what it’s doing.

      • BobGnarley@lemm.ee
        1·
        9 months ago

        So you just have to buy an openWRT router and it would stop it automatically or is this something you would have to be knowledgeable about how it looks in a system log to block it? Also, do you have to have some sort of custom modem as well or just the router being openwrt is enough?