How are starlabs systems laptops?

Questions
1

i’ve been looking around for a new laptop, and i came across this company (starlabs.systems) which allegedly manufactures some decent looking laptops that come with ime “neutered” and coreboot flashed, which are some pluses. however, are there any concerns i should have with their implemenation, if it’s necessary at all, as well as just general issues? to my knowledge disabling ime and flashing coreboot may have just been to market fud so i’m also considering just getting a thinkpad, which comes with having to settle for amd psp.

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2

Here is a recent post I made about the Star Labs Systems Horizon on the Qubes OS Forum:

Here is an older post from me referencing Star Labs’ (lack of) Coreboot payloads on the Purism community forums:

If you are specifically looking for Qubes OS compatibility, the StarBook Mk V is Qubes-certified, although it is now discontinued and succeeded by Mk VI:

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3

Not sure about the other ones but Frame.work is doing great ones: upgradable, fixable and has a nice Linux support overall. :+1:t2:

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4

Framework has not implemented Coreboot in their laptop product lines for years now:

5

Never mentioned the security aspect, I know they’re not as hardened as others. :smiley:
Might still be a selling point for people doing some more casual things on their laptops.

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6

Terrible like Purism.

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7

I can’t believe no one has mentioned System76. They make some great products and Linux obviously works really well on it.

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8

I did not suggest any other manufacturer in my initial post because I prefer to explicitly address the OP’s questions to stay on topic.

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9

Normally I check the device track here:

Most Star labs devices don’t seem to be reaching HSI level 2. Normally desired for a secure device.

Second, I check if they receive firmware updates in here: LVFS: Vendor Status

Star Labs seems to be pushing firmware updates.

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10

The reason Star Laps devices has HSI level 2 is because they don’t have Intel Boot Guard.

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11

It is not only that, they don’t have: TPM Reconstruction, BIOS Capsule updates, Firmware BIOS Region, etc…

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12

There is currently another issue with Star Labs against qubes-fwupdmgr at the moment: