they do have x86 surfaces too, with both intel (across their whole lineup) and amd cpus (in some of the laptops), and nvidia gpus on some higher end machines
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Huh. I didn’t know that.
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I am still a bit confused on why more people here aren’t interested in simply dual booting and using windows for only the things they have to…
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Because switching back and forth and back and forth between two OSes can be a hassle.
If the only thing you’re using Windows for is gaming then it’s easy to dual boot and switch as needed, since gaming is usually its own dedicated time.
But if one needs Windows due to professional hardware or software, but wants to keep all personal information within a Linux installation … are they supposed to save all their work, shut everything down, and switch over whenever they need to write an email or take a 15 minute break to surf the web? For a lot of use cases dual booting and trying to keep all PII out of Windows becomes unworkable very quickly.
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My preference (back when I still needed Windows for a few tasks) was to run Linux, and use a Windows VM just for those few tasks. For me, that was abetter option in many ways, but I wasn’t using Windows for anything resource intensive.
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A new PC for me is a hard choice. I would always go with Ryzen + AMD (or OCuLink /USB 4 with a non-discreet GPU option) combo. But If I want…:
- The cheapest PC, there are many Chinese brands mini PC to choose from: MinisForum, GMKtec, MOREFINE, etc. With this route, firmware quality might not be my best interest. After sale support and insurance are also out of the question, as I can only order them from AliExpress.
- The best one, as in security and after sale support (the one I can buy in my country), there are many laptops from the well-know brands (I wouldn’t buy a branded PC, I would build it myself). I would start at Ubuntu certified devices. This could be the safest option.
- The upgradability/modular to the main board level, I would go with Framework. There are some concerns with the firmware security issues, though. And the shipping is very limited to a very small number of countries (as of the latest update, it’s only available in 13 countries).
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I appreciate your reply!
I’ve been searching and I think you’re correct and that they do not have any PC Tower hardware… I’m going to talk to a Microsoft team member to see if they sell PC Towers but I don’t think I’m going to find anything…
EDIT:
I appreciate your reply!
To be honest, I’m more than happy to spend extra $$$ to buy hardware that I know is 100% safe and secure.
Is there a reason why you’d prefer AMD over Intel? I thought Intel has always been the brand that’s considered more reliable and more popular?
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I am using both Windows and Linux (mainly on Linux), and AMD has good Linux support from what I’ve read until now.
And I feel like Ryzen is better than Intel counterpart currently. It could be my preference after using Intel for so long with issues here and there in my Linux system, with SST driver, for example.
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I appreciate your reply!
So you recommend AMD over Intel for performance reasons? I thought you were recommending AMD for superior user privacy.
I did A LOT of searching and this is the closest Microsoft PC Tower I could find, but it’s an “all in one” device…
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I think there are some factors worth considering:
- The upgradability of the device. If the device can’t be upgraded easily, can’t swap to a new main board, for example. This could also lead to security issues due to a better security implementation in a newer chip that you can’t afford to buy at the time. But if money is not a problem, everything is possible.
- The device shouldn’t be hard or impossible to fix by yourself. Let’s assume, if you want to replace a broken SSD, battery, etc., as long the main board is still working, this wouldn’t be an issue. But with Surface, for example, the only option is to send your device for a replacement. What if you can’t turn it on at all? Most of the time, you must send your password, PIN, etc. (if there’s any) for the service person to diagnose your issue, at least, in my country. At that point, if you have sensitive data on the device, you might just turn it into a paper weight.
Yes, I don’t look at the number, though.
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I appreciate your reply!
It’d be great if there was a list of “most trusted PC Tower Brand” that listed the most secure brands. Eg.:
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Dell
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Acer
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Asus
Or is it more secure to just build your own PC tower?
I’ve used a Dell laptop since 2009 and it hasn’t skipped a beat in terms of reliability and Dell has in-built security measures into the firmware. I’ll try and get a list of these inbuilt security measures.
- Dell business machines
- Lenovo thinkpad/thinkcenter
- (half serious) Apple
As far as I’m aware, no one else even comes close to the hardware security of these 3 on desktop platforms
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Most motherboard options are not great, but you can’t go by brand. Even individual brands can be all over the place between their products when it comes to update frequency and maintenance. You have to evaluate it on a product by product basis. Unless it’s Apple who only makes like, 6 computers total.
You are often best off going with the most popular option sold by whichever brand you choose, because that is the product they’re incentivized to support the most/longest (because it reduces their individual user support workload the most).
It’s a shame the Intel NUC was discontinued.
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I appreciate your reply!
How would a PC Tower I built myself by buying the individual components compare to buying a Dell made PC Tower?
Bad to worse when it comes to security. That said, the average person will probably be… mostly okay if they pick out stuff that’s decently popular and gets actual updates (like jonah said)
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Here is the kind of quality you can expect from Dell (and this is for a premium priced computer).
As long as your not picking out parts with your eyes closed its going to be better. Prebuilts just do not offer much in terms of quality (especially when it comes to bang for the buck) and none of these computers are using anything special hardware wise that would make them a benefit privacy or security wise versus what you can buy and build yourself with research.
If you really want to get a prebuilt tower maybe check out Starforge. The fact that its a bunch of creators with their reputations on the line backing it seems to keep the quality in line.
Laptops are kind of a different beast as you obviously can’t build your own. This thread may provide some insights.
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Again, not true. As has been mentioned repeatedly in this thread. But not everyone needs the best security possible on desktop platforms otherwise PG would be recommending Macbooks and Dell Latitudes 
I think a couple other SIs have also gotten alright reviews from GamersNexus, if decent value and vaguely gaming capable is the aim – worth checking the whole playlist the starforge review is from.
I keep seeing people say this but…I don’t see any actual examples where buying the computer from a brand provides a security benefit or privacy benefit that you could not just get by buying the hardware yourself. Do you have a link you can provide?
the key here is “alright” reviews. SIs generally don’t seem to get past “not bad”
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Secured core[1] requirements. These requirements, when fulfilled by an OEM, will get you better security than the average consumer computer, and Dell, for example, has been tested by people in the privsec matrix rooms to do stuff like e.g., proper rollback protection on firmware on their machines. Then there’s the vPro/Ryzen Pro CPUs that generally provide system memory encryption among other things, that I’m pretty sure you need an OEM-built PC for.
honestly, MS should set the requirements even higher to be listed as secured core but it’s better than nothing; OEMs are lazy ↩︎
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