Hello! I appreciate the help as I’m “very” new to this all. lol.
I’m reading the book Extreme Privacy by Michael Bazzell and setting up a new computer I recently bought. I noticed that he recommended to purchase computers with the IntelME already disabled. I didn’t understand that part in the beginning and just bought a used laptop for about $250. It is a HP laptop 17-cp3005dx.
Can I still easily disable the IntelME through the BIOS? What would happen to my privacy journey if I didn’t disable the IntelME?
Thx very much for the support guys. Super appreciative of this platform. 
I have a more nuanced non answer for your post/question. I hope others can answer it more directly because I do not know.
Since you are new, please read up on threat modeling more. Not every piece of advice MB has is for everyone. So, if you don’t follow select things he recommends, it’s not the end of the world for your online/digital privacy.
There’s always enough nuance with privacy and security so you should decide what you really need and don’t need with the tools and products and services recommended.
Just keep this in mind is all.
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Does this have Intel or AMD?
No.
I’m a SW and going through the privacy journey because I may be a target to predators or starkers. I will be on a lot of SW sites. I also don’t want to be tagged as SW which might come back to haunt me one day if laws change. There are a lot of people out there that don’t support this type of work. That’s where I’m at with this at the moment. I also don’t know what I don’t know. lol
I think it says it’s a AMD
It would not have Intel ME then, although it would have AMD PSP which is similar. Neither can be disabled by the user.
I would not worry about AMD PSP if I were you. ME and PSP are security problems that Intel and AMD should rectify, but for now the problems are mainly theoretical and not practical.
These aren’t the sort of things that a regular predator or stalker could attack. It’s the sort of thing that a nation-state actor might attack if they were hunting you down specifically, like if you were Edward Snowden, which you aren’t.
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I see. That’s good to know. I’m trying follow the book as much as possible but understand that all the recommendations might not be necessary for my goals. I just don’t know. I sincerely appreciate you answering my question. :))))) This is a lot of fun anyways and I feel like a 007 agent reading this book. lol 
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Oh, I just thought of another questioned I should have asked. If I’m a SW who needs to stay private for safety and also to help not being flagged as a problem person. Does anyone know if getting a IntelME disabled Lixus computer from System 76 important? MB said they’re over $1000. I could do it if it’s truly helpful to my cause. Thanks for any tips or recommendations.
Oh, I just thought of another questioned I should have asked. If I’m a SW who needs to stay private for safety and also to help not being flagged as a problem person. Does anyone know if getting a IntelME disabled Lixus computer from System 76 is important? MB said they’re over $1000. I could do it if it’s truly helpful to my cause. Thanks for any tips or recommendations.
This is not really a different question:
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