honestly, this country would be a better place if we went back to pre-9/11 levels of security with locked/reinforced cockpit doors. But this seems minor in the grand scheme of things -- it's just a better version of the 1990s x-ray scanners.
Thinkpads made in the last 10 years or so don't check hard drive ID's -- I've had no problem swapping drives on a Thinkpad T4xx or T5xx. On the older ones, I think Lenovo updated the BIOS to allow booting from an "unapproved" hard drive after keying through a nag screen.
See if there's a newer BIOS for your laptop.
Ticket/ID check is generally at the head of the security line or (rarely) at the boarding gate. The guy/girl looking at the X-ray scanner screen isn't going to know your identity. The images won't be tied to an identity -- too many bags being dropped on the belt by random people to make this efficient.
Yep, short-sighted investors demanding short-term profits as opposed to long-term stability can be blamed for a lot of ills in the US and the world as a whole.
Looks like the i3452, which was some kind of poor Dell attempt at a netbook, since discontinued. 2GB of RAM, 32GB soldered SSD, barely a laptop...
I don't know if one can call Surface a major player -- their market seems to be style-conscious people too poor to afford Apple, not serious-minded users.
Surface is copycat junk from Microsoft designed to ape Apple's more stupid decisions. Inspirons -- maybe some low-end models, but the ones I've seen have removable SSDs, if not RAM.
Ironically, the GPD Pocket is still less crippled than Apple's hardware. At least it has a USB-A and micro-HDMI port built in, no dingle-dongles needed:D
That's why you don't buy just any Lenovo, but a business-grade Thinkpad. X- and T-series are dirt-cheap when the come off lease. Slightly bulkier is an acceptable compromise for the thing actually being fixable.
The problem is that the "WiFi routers" that come built in to cable modems are often terrible. Slow configuration interfaces, often backdoors to allow the cable company to change WiFi settings remotely, random routing glitches like wired devices not talking to wireless.
The best way to deal with a WiFi-enabled cable modem is either to disconnect it and replace with your own "dumb" modem plus router, or to put it into "bridge" mode, turning off all WiFi and routing capabilities.
Interestingly, the trend here is to go back to separate devices. Time Warner/Spectrum is now giving users dumb modems for free and renting a WiFi router to those who pay an additional $5 per month.
Verizon FiOS uses a modem (called the Optical Terminal) plus their own external WiFi router if the customer pays for it. If not, then the customer brings their own router.
Are those USB sticks truly encrypted at all, or is the front-end merely acting as a "gatekeeper" to the unencrypted flash/NVRAM chips? i.e. it's an air-gap unless it's given the right password.
MOST non-Apple laptops (with the possible exception of Surface crap) use either M.2 or SATA connectors for their SSDs. Business-grade laptops typically mount the SSD under a cover, where it requires (at most) a few screws to remove.
If anything, this has improved -- I remember certain old HP laptops being virtually built around their hard drives. Come to think of it, same with old Apple iBooks.
Well, Micro$oft with their $murface line of junk, but they seem to be in the business of compulsively aping Apple. Follow, the leader, the leader, the leeeeeaaaa-der.
Think about this: McDonald's is a multi-billion dollar corporation which made its billions selling food that isn't fit to be pig slop. Volume of sales doesn't imply goodness -- it often just speaks to the stupidity and vapidity of their target market.
My point is that it shouldn't NEED to be the norm. Also, it really depends on the employer -- if your company is a large company or a startup flush with hot Wall Streeter VC money, then maybe. If it's a public university or a small business, not so much.
As far as "greenie" concerns, we're not talking about energy use here -- we're talking about physical devices being thrown out and polluting the Earth. Yes, even recycling pollutes -- the best model for the environment is long-term use.
Yep, it's sad when a company that used to market to technical professionals (scientists, educators, designers) waters down their product line to cater to retarded hipsters with large trust funds.
Being able to upgrade a computer's RAM or SSD for $150 instead of being reamed for a new computer every few years to the tune of $1500 isn't an edge case. Upgradability and repairability are important for the environment -- changing an SSD or RAM card generates much less e-waste than throwing an entire laptop away.
The engineers and marketeers who create this kind of junk should be forced to drink water that has percolated through an e-waste dump for the rest of their lives!
Assuming your workplace is a firm with a lot of employees, sure. If you're a freelancer/1099 or it's a startup, not so much. Even public universities sometimes don't have that kind of money.
I'm not a technical idiot, I can recover my own damn data if I need to, thanks very much. I don't need a Crapple "Genius" or Breast Guy Geek to tell me what's what. Just don't saddle me with crippled hardware in the first place.
Not everyone needs or wants another damn dongle. Especially on Macbooks where some of them only have one USB port, which is also used for charging.
Instead of kludging via an external drive, why not have a swappable internal drive, like most real computers have? Use the computer at home or at work, keep the "normal" drive. Travel to Russia or China, swap it for a "clean" drive. Easy, peasy.
What if I'm abroad and on a bandwidth-limited connection running at 128kbps? I do back up, but give me the damn CHOICE to recover data by other means if I need to, please. Also, I like the choice to upgrade my storage cheaply, not by buying a new fuckin' laptop.
This can be solved by requiring a passphrase of a certain length and complexity to allow boot. Design it so it decrypts a key that in turn decrypts another key that gives access to the drive. Make the entire initial process take a second or five to drastically slow down attempts at forcing encryption.
It might be able to be brute-forced in a few years...
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honestly, this country would be a better place if we went back to pre-9/11 levels of security with locked/reinforced cockpit doors. But this seems minor in the grand scheme of things -- it's just a better version of the 1990s x-ray scanners.
Thinkpads made in the last 10 years or so don't check hard drive ID's -- I've had no problem swapping drives on a Thinkpad T4xx or T5xx. On the older ones, I think Lenovo updated the BIOS to allow booting from an "unapproved" hard drive after keying through a nag screen. See if there's a newer BIOS for your laptop.
Ticket/ID check is generally at the head of the security line or (rarely) at the boarding gate. The guy/girl looking at the X-ray scanner screen isn't going to know your identity. The images won't be tied to an identity -- too many bags being dropped on the belt by random people to make this efficient.
If they can effectively screen baggage and prove it, it might reduce some of the other security-theater TSA nonsense.
Yep, short-sighted investors demanding short-term profits as opposed to long-term stability can be blamed for a lot of ills in the US and the world as a whole.
Looks like the i3452, which was some kind of poor Dell attempt at a netbook, since discontinued. 2GB of RAM, 32GB soldered SSD, barely a laptop...
I don't know if one can call Surface a major player -- their market seems to be style-conscious people too poor to afford Apple, not serious-minded users.
Surface is copycat junk from Microsoft designed to ape Apple's more stupid decisions. Inspirons -- maybe some low-end models, but the ones I've seen have removable SSDs, if not RAM.
Ironically, the GPD Pocket is still less crippled than Apple's hardware. At least it has a USB-A and micro-HDMI port built in, no dingle-dongles needed :D
That's why you don't buy just any Lenovo, but a business-grade Thinkpad. X- and T-series are dirt-cheap when the come off lease. Slightly bulkier is an acceptable compromise for the thing actually being fixable.
Buy a Thinkpad X-series, run MacOS on it. You'll have a better computer and the satisfaction of sticking it to Apple. Win-win.
The problem is that the "WiFi routers" that come built in to cable modems are often terrible. Slow configuration interfaces, often backdoors to allow the cable company to change WiFi settings remotely, random routing glitches like wired devices not talking to wireless.
The best way to deal with a WiFi-enabled cable modem is either to disconnect it and replace with your own "dumb" modem plus router, or to put it into "bridge" mode, turning off all WiFi and routing capabilities.
Interestingly, the trend here is to go back to separate devices.
Time Warner/Spectrum is now giving users dumb modems for free and renting a WiFi router to those who pay an additional $5 per month.
Verizon FiOS uses a modem (called the Optical Terminal) plus their own external WiFi router if the customer pays for it. If not, then the customer brings their own router.
Both lessons apply:
(1) Don't buy non-repairable junk.
(2) Back up frequently. Even a removable SSD or HDD can fail in a catastrophic manner.
Are those USB sticks truly encrypted at all, or is the front-end merely acting as a "gatekeeper" to the unencrypted flash/NVRAM chips? i.e. it's an air-gap unless it's given the right password.
MOST non-Apple laptops (with the possible exception of Surface crap) use either M.2 or SATA connectors for their SSDs. Business-grade laptops typically mount the SSD under a cover, where it requires (at most) a few screws to remove.
If anything, this has improved -- I remember certain old HP laptops being virtually built around their hard drives. Come to think of it, same with old Apple iBooks.
Well, Micro$oft with their $murface line of junk, but they seem to be in the business of compulsively aping Apple. Follow, the leader, the leader, the leeeeeaaaa-der.
Think about this:
McDonald's is a multi-billion dollar corporation which made its billions selling food that isn't fit to be pig slop. Volume of sales doesn't imply goodness -- it often just speaks to the stupidity and vapidity of their target market.
My point is that it shouldn't NEED to be the norm. Also, it really depends on the employer -- if your company is a large company or a startup flush with hot Wall Streeter VC money, then maybe. If it's a public university or a small business, not so much.
As far as "greenie" concerns, we're not talking about energy use here -- we're talking about physical devices being thrown out and polluting the Earth. Yes, even recycling pollutes -- the best model for the environment is long-term use.
Yep, it's sad when a company that used to market to technical professionals (scientists, educators, designers) waters down their product line to cater to retarded hipsters with large trust funds.
Being able to upgrade a computer's RAM or SSD for $150 instead of being reamed for a new computer every few years to the tune of $1500 isn't an edge case. Upgradability and repairability are important for the environment -- changing an SSD or RAM card generates much less e-waste than throwing an entire laptop away.
The engineers and marketeers who create this kind of junk should be forced to drink water that has percolated through an e-waste dump for the rest of their lives!
Assuming your workplace is a firm with a lot of employees, sure. If you're a freelancer/1099 or it's a startup, not so much. Even public universities sometimes don't have that kind of money.
I'm not a technical idiot, I can recover my own damn data if I need to, thanks very much. I don't need a Crapple "Genius" or Breast Guy Geek to tell me what's what. Just don't saddle me with crippled hardware in the first place.
I'm not jealous of Apple users -- I have no interest in owning their crippled products.
Not everyone needs or wants another damn dongle. Especially on Macbooks where some of them only have one USB port, which is also used for charging.
Instead of kludging via an external drive, why not have a swappable internal drive, like most real computers have? Use the computer at home or at work, keep the "normal" drive. Travel to Russia or China, swap it for a "clean" drive. Easy, peasy.
What if I'm abroad and on a bandwidth-limited connection running at 128kbps? I do back up, but give me the damn CHOICE to recover data by other means if I need to, please. Also, I like the choice to upgrade my storage cheaply, not by buying a new fuckin' laptop.
This can be solved by requiring a passphrase of a certain length and complexity to allow boot. Design it so it decrypts a key that in turn decrypts another key that gives access to the drive. Make the entire initial process take a second or five to drastically slow down attempts at forcing encryption.
It might be able to be brute-forced in a few years...