Clevo are a nice brand. I’ve never bought one myself, but if I was going to buy a laptop ever again, then I’d buy a Clevo. I think it’s a big South Korean brand but I could be wrong. PCW sells them in France along with other computer brands, and Eurocom and Schenker sell them from Germany. I’m not sure how I feel about the Swiss company Why. I haven’t compared their prices with the others but they have no right to charge higher.
That’s called “free market”. 
Seriously: From what I read in this topic, they at least claim more to offer more service and support. That of course comes at a price, as it involves high labour costs.
Judging from the posting by @Roboe (Nov '18) of course, they do not seem to (completely) live up to their promise.
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It’s a pity the person who initially posted the question on what computer to buy back in 2015 hasn’t posted back since July 2015. I guess we’ll never know what he/she decided to buy in the end. Based on the early posts, my guess is that he/she bought a second-hand Apple Mac or Lenovo laptop. There’s nothing wrong with that decision I suppose.
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Insurgo’s PrivacyBeast has been on QubesOS Certified Hardware ‘list’ - it is the only laptop that is certified, to be exact. A refurbished X230, sturdy and reliable hardware that should work well for years to come (unless you video edit…), an OS that has a learning curve but is one of the most secure ones around. Highly recommended by Edward Snowden. QubesOS also runs very well on a Librem laptop by Purism, provided that enough RAM is installed.
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Cool!
Never heard of it before.
That’s what I really love about this forum. I learn something new every day.
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Pine64 is releasing a 2nd generation of its laptop line. This time it’s not just a tinkering toy, but aim at being a compelling alternative to mid-ranged Chromebooks that people convert into Linux laptops.
Pinebook Pro : « A Powerful, Metal and Open Source ARM 64-Bit Laptop for Work, School or Fun »
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As it is priced quite reasonably, would that be considered a good choice for the first steps in Linux or is it a tool for the experienced user?
Can I install Debian, Suse etc. ?
It seems this would be an easier way for testing/switching, than transforming my running laptop, cause I could go on with a working machine while taking steps in linux.
You should be able to install any distribution which has an ARM port (Debian and Ubuntu have, not sure about other ones).
A good tool to learn Linux is VirtualBox (or another hypervisor) with VMs. Alternatively, grab a Raspberry Pi.
As for Insurgo’s PrivacyBeast, I don’t like it when companies take a product, refurb it (so far, so good!), and rename it without referring to the original product. The following rubs me the wrong way:
- Intel Core i7 3520M 3rd Gen. 2x 2.90GHz-3.60GHz (Turbo) (4MB L2 cache) CPU <- very slow for 2019 (take into account all the CPU bugs costing about 20% performance on Intel!)
- Brilliant 12.5″ IPS LED HD 1366×768 Panel <- very low resolution for a 12" laptop in 2019
- Original Lenovo Working Battery (60% capacity, guaranteed for 14 days upon delivery) <- I’m just mentioning this without further comment
However it also rubbed me the wrong way because it says on top $1,581.00 which is in CAD (and part of that price is due to the $500 CAD labor required to disable Intel ME). In EUR, that is approx €1.075. Which sounds a lot better and reasonable. Being Qubes 4.x compatible is a Big Thing!
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I hate when companies rename a product and then sell it under their own name too, like the first laptop that Purism came out with. Insurgo don’t exactly go out of their way to hide their product’s origins though:
“ Insurgo‘s PrivacyBeast X230 is an Eco-friendly, repurposed Lenovo X230”.
The old logo is still plastered all over the laptop too.
It does indeed have a rather old processor, but at least Insurgo explains their choice:
“The Lenovo ThinkPad X230 was chosen for its unique trustworthiness, being the most recent Intel chipset still fully initialized by an open source solution (no FSP). It is also one of the last models permitting the neutering of Intel ME…”
As for running other GNU Linux or indeed BSD on ARM, here’s what I came across recently from Fedora anyway in case you happen to be a Red Hat fan: https://arm.fedoraproject.org/
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For those who want to lessen the environmental impact of buying a ‘new’ laptop or desktop by going for a refurbished one, I want to give a thumbs up for Dell. I bough an old laptop from 2014 to replace a 2016 Acer Switch 11V that refused to boot properly after having upgraded to Windows 10 version 1903. Ever since I’ve bought that Acer new, there hasn’t been any updates to it’s drivers nor BIOS, not even to stop the Meltdown/Spectre vulnerabilities it’s Intel core processor makes it vulnerable too.
The refurbished Dell Latitude laptop from 2014 however (as well as the Dell Optiplex refurbished desktop my father bought for my mother) still gets updates in 2019 to drivers as well as BIOS, which I, having always had Acer laptops and never bought a Dell, has made me much more trustful in Dell than Acer now, being very disappointed in the latter for their lack of keeping their devices updated.
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My method of choice was using the PCs in the “pool room” of my university for years.
- They are already running.
- power saving by using an already running PC instead of plugging another one into the power grid
- no need of caring about the system; it’s maintained/administrated by the SysAdmin.
- Normally it’s powerful hardware.
- Also the software amount is extended compared to a “private software stock”.
- If you’re already there (for lectures, e. g.), it’s less complicated looking something up quickly (or whatever).
Just for my interest: How old is
in years? Did you hear about the possibility that Free Software often will notably increase the lifetime of your device? (There are also Free Hardware alternatives, btw. You can also think the penguin way. 
)
Or buy a fair mouse, too if you choose to.
The Tomato’s Parable - or: What ”connects“ vegans (I’m not) to Free Software.
@Techaddict @erlend_sh @Vincent iameco.com btw, uses Ggl to track you in at least four different ways…
Ubuntu is based on Debian, which is way more powerful and much faster (at least with my PC). After my PC slowed down too much from Ubuntu, I switched to Debian and it was as fast as I was using that PC for another 3 years without recognizing any performance loss. Just saying…
Wouldn’t “reading a book” be a more sustainable hobby…?
Also @JeroenH: It’s not the only one: OpenWRT or the already mentioned shop e. g.
I can recommend the GNU Hurd and GNU Linux-libre.
At least, it’s something.
I can recommend a user account on an already working maching (e. g. in your school, work, university, …) and trying out the daiily usage. Then install it on your “second computer/device”, which none of us obviously has 
(because it means more ressources). As far as you realize you can face it, back your (primary) system up (or enjoy the spirit of data recovery afterwards) and install a Free OS, a completely 100% Free OS or a mostly Free OS with the possibility to add non-free/proprietary software.
And to annoy the rest of you: It’s GNU/Linux.
PS: Reading this thread took me over three hours… So nothing for a quick reply
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I don’t think they are. I think they are offering a bundle deal with their new phone with a portable touch screen monitor and an attachable keyboard (perhaps a Bluetooth keyboard but maybe it’s wired).
This is an interesting idea though - the phone itself can be used in desktop mode using the external monitor. It saves buying a second computer. This might be an example for Fairphone to consider. Desktop mode would need more RAM than phone mode though.
By the way, I do not trust Shiftphones but I find their products interesting.
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For information purposes; here is a link to this product:
Specifications not yet available, but they already claim:
Alles in Einem also: Leistungsstarker Computer, mobile Tableteinheit und Notebook!
Translation (by me):
All in One: powerful computer, mobile tablet and notebook
That’s showing off a bit in my opinion. But who knows; they might even deliver.
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Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 envisaged by Shiftphone. Purism’s Librephone was mentioned elsewhere on this forum too. I’ll bet Fairphone can go one better than Shiftphone and propose a sufficiently powerful computer phone on open hardware for a lower price-tag, and of course all that with more credible efforts to do so in a fair way too.
F(x)tec Pro1 seems like a cool smartphone. It sports a qwerty slider keyboard. Main use is landscape mode. Snapdragon 835, 6 GB RAM, 128 GB flash. Of course it is not a fair phone… nor does it aim for a FOSS stack. But it can run Sailfish.
I’d say it is for people who cannot get used to touchscreen typing. I’m one of those… I realize that I am a minority for that in the smartphone world… oh well 
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It got renamed to Systemd/Linux the other day 
A VM is much better than a user account on an already working machine. You can screw up things on a user account, and it isn’t your computer. A VM you can return to a last known state via snapshots. You can also easily try out various Linux distributions that way. And these days everyone can run a VM on their desktop or laptop, regardless of the OS.
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Aaaaand learned even more new things today.
I really love, that I get to know so many things, I never would have stumbled upon.
Btw.
That’s why Fairphone is using resellers, so customers stumble upon this new phone they otherwise never would have realised to be existing.
Glad you like it. You know, I’m following trends like these cause it interests me a lot. We can learn from competitors and market trends. I’m currently writing a draft on my ideal smartphone (ie. what I would like the FP4 to be, ideally, but ideals like that never get fulfilled even though I am super happy with the FP3 specs).
Yeah I’m aware, that’s why I added KPN to NL reseller list (who I otherwise think are wayyy overpriced).
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For those looking into a modular, (semi-)rugged laptop this might be interesting.
https://business.panasonic.co.uk/computer-product/products-and-accessories/Notebooks
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