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Tested: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Update W/ Intel Broadwell, Self-Encrypting SSD
MojoKid writes Lenovo just revamped the ThinkPad X1 Carbon and in this third generation of the machine, they've adopted Intel's latest 5th generation Core Series Broadwell processors, along with a few other updates. In addition, they've retooled the keyboard and trackpad area, returning back to more traditional roots versus the second generation machine, which was met with some criticism due to its adaptive function key row and over-simplified, buttonless trackpad. Notable upgrades to this 3rd gen model are a faster Core i5-5300U processor and a self-encrypting Opal2 compliant SSD. Performance-wise, the new ThinkPad offers up some of the best numbers in utlrabooks currently, though battery life is a bit middle of the road, but still able to last over 8 hours under light, web-driven workloads.
I do not want SSL busting malware nor support a company which does so
http://saveie6.com/
I still use and love my x60t. It's a great linux laptop. I could live with 8gb of soldered ram because it's 8 gb, although a bad ram chip will not be fun.
The real thing I want to know is how Linux-friendly this new laptop is, and can you get it without a Windows tax.
Those guys have already proven that they're willing to compromise the security of their hardware for anyone who waves a few bucks at them. Is anyone actually considering buying one of their machines after all that? Or maybe they just think that we have the attention span of a three year old?
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Nipple. Funny bit of trivia, some guy in IBM patented that thing and they sat on the patent for years thinking no one would like it. Every so often you'd think they don't really have their finger firmly on the nipple of the marketplace.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Pokki App Store came pre-installed on my X1 Carbon 2015. At first, I thought it was the official Microsoft App Store. It mimics the Microsoft Windows App Store, but I assume Lenovo gets a cut for apps purchased through Pokki App Store.
Pokki does not show up in control panel's uninstall list. You have to click on uninstall.exe located at /users/~/appdata/local/pokki. Besides Pokki, other programs I uninstalled were Norton, Nitro PDF, and MS Office trial.
X1 Carbon is an excellent laptop, though overpriced. I would have been just as fine with the T450s or Dell XPS 13.
Encryption is a software process, in all cases. If something "self encrypts", that means it has access to the key, and produced cyphertext from plaintext, and plaintext from cyphertext. There's literally NOTHING stopping:
> It could keep the key in some scrambled (and recoverable) form, rendering the encryption meaningless to anyone who knows how to access it physically.
> It could use an escrow algo such that the vendor or their appointed agents (aka, a distant freedom hostile government, hackers) can gleefully decrypt anything forever.
> It could use an implementation with a weakness (deliberately or accidentally) which allows anyone with knowledge of the weakness and sufficient cryptanalysis capabilities to decrypt.
Now, you COULD get around this in a few ways- but ultimately, it's just a bad idea to trust hardware encryption. It is fundamentally not trustworthy.
This is not a problem with the new lenovo, or lenovo in general, but rather with all self encrypting USB sticks, hard drives, SSD,s etc. Because nothing self encrypts!
...and it rocks. Seriously. I've got Arch Linux loaded on this thing and it screams. The keyboard kicks ass. The trackpad is easily the best I've ever seen on a PC laptop. Picked mine up for a reasonable price with a 10% off coupon (I5, 8 gigs, 128 gig SSD which I upgraded to 512 gig on my own later in an effort to avoid the extortion like upgrade prices Lenovo charges on their site) for around $1100. I'm getting between about six and eight hours of battery life in Linux at the moment.
It's a sweet piece of hardware. Superfish? Who gives a fuck? I didn't even boot the M.2 SSD the thing came with. I immediately opened up the laptop and changed out the SSD as my first order of business. Buying a laptop this nice just to run Windows 8.x probably just means you are some kind of moron. Do yourselves a favor and move onto a better operating system.
Still while it is a great Linux laptop - it's not perfect - yet. The Trackpoint buttons dont work quite right in Linux yet but numerous patches (libinput, xorg synaptics driver and the kernel) are making their way into source trees everywhere. So for now it's a trackpad only experience as the trackpoint is useless without working hardware buttons.
In any event I couldn't be more pleased with this purchase.
I love idealists not because I am one, but because they make life bearable for pragmatists such as myself.
The i3 was a 35W part and the C2Q was a 95W part.
The broadwell is doing that in 15W, and throwing down a really half decent GPU at the same time.
It's built to purpose, not win benchmarks.
How much does it cost for the password?