What hardware NOT to buy?

As far as I remember PG does not recommend any hardware aside of some particular phones (and I think I understand why) so I wanted to ask: what hardware (from the last 3 years at least) should I avoid? I was thinking in some simple advices, like hardware that is known for having some kind of telemetry/spyware (like those .exe files that are installed when the hardware detects that you are using Windows and runs it) or any other kind of privacy-related problems (maybe they ping some server when turned on, bypassing the OS firewall?).

Maybe there is a list out there for this that someone can provide, and if not, I think that there could be one for “what to avoid” when the opposite is not possible, at least for beginners. I’m interested in PC/Laptops right now, but it would be useful to know what other devices (brand, model, year) are known to spy on you by design, to avoid them entirely.

If you plan to run Linux, I’d recommend not buying things that aren’t on one of these lists:

Which list it’s on doesn’t matter, all distros have about the same drivers & support. If you get a device from those, you can be fairly certain that you won’t have compatibility issues.

Security aspects have quite a bit more depth, so I’ll refrain commenting on that. If security is the main goal, best is to avoid PCs/Laptops in general, as the whole thing is a mess.

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@Stiffly2505

I agree about laptops and PC’s being a mess…

I have a newer laptop I’m considering selling and have an old one kickingvaround should I need it for something.

Everything I do is on my phone anyways. Especially having a monitor and docking station for it in desktop mode.