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Qubes OS will ship pre-installed on Purism’s security-focused Librem 13 laptop

(arstechnica.com)
154 points walterbell | 1 comments | 15 Dec 15 07:52 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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bechampion ◴[15 Dec 15 09:29 UTC] No.10736756[source]▶
the base model is 1600 usd? for an i5? It looks pretty neat but i feel like it's over priced right?
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TuringTest ◴[15 Dec 15 09:44 UTC] No.10736805[source]▶
Where else can you get a security-focused preinstalled laptop with higher specs for less money?
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analognoise ◴[15 Dec 15 09:59 UTC] No.10736849[source]▶
If you don't own the system, from boot to microcode, you only get the illusion of security.

You're essentially paying a premium to have someone else install an OS for you - color me unimpressed.

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1. nickpsecurity ◴[15 Dec 15 17:56 UTC] No.10739231[source]▶
Security is relative to certain threats. Many people worried about Chinese or Russians stealing IP will be less worried about US subversion. Likewise, for Chinese companies the open Loongson systems probably reduce risk of Western subversion. High assurance like separation kernels reduce risk against high end attackers or kernel 0-days whike mandatory controls contain app-level attacks which are max skills of many damaging attackers.

So, all or nothing is wrong way to look at INFOSEC. I mean, if it's nation states, best to avoid computers in favor of trusted people, paper, and memory. ;) However, many methods provide a meaningful increase of security or just recoverability. Worth remembering.

This particular product: too much risk in it for me to say if it does. People are probably safer with OpenBSD or hardened Linux/BSD on high-end embedded board or old workstation.