Librem 15, fully open laptop with adequate features

The project campaign has collected the required amount

Librem 15 is a laptop project that the authors claim respects the user's freedom. Its software components are completely free. About 2.5 days remained until the end of the crowdfunding campaign , and Librem 15 has long received the required amount of funds - more than $ 380 thousand out of $ 250 thousand requested.

Today, the most radical open source fans are forced to settle for the most often rather mediocre laptops. For example, Richard Stallman uses the Lenovo Thinkpad X60 from 2006, it was the first commercial computer that was distributed with an open source operating system and an open initialization program. But Stallman cannot make concessions and return to a machine with a non-free BIOS. The product from Purism tries to provide both freedom and attractive technical characteristics, and this is reflected in its high price.

The laptop has the following "iron":

• The screen is a diagonal of 39.62 centimeters / 15.6 inches with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 (FullHD) or 3840 × 2160 (4K). The dimensions of the device are 375 × 244 × 22 mm, the base weight is exactly 2 kg.
• Intel i7-4770HQ, 4 cores (8 threads), 3.4 GHz. The Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200 integrated into the processor is available.
• From 4 to 32 GB of RAM.
• It is stated that a 48 Wh battery provides up to eight hours of operation.
• As a permanent memory, 500 GB and 1 TB hard drives and 250 GB, 500 GB and 1 TB hard drives are available to choose from. Instead of an optical drive, you can put a second storage device or a second battery.
• Conclusions: 3 USB 3.0 ports, one HDMI (no version indicated, but this is unlikely to be 2.0), one RJ45. Of course, the laptop can also work over the network using WiFi (802.11n, ath9k).
• 720p camera.
• Full-size keyboard. An engraving is available to choose from, but there is only one language of the countries of the former USSR in the list - Russian.

There is also an SDXC card slot in the pin list, but it doesn’t mention how it works without the exFAT proprietary file system driver. In general, the electronics were chosen in such a way that non-free drivers and other components were not required for its operation. The project claims that all other devices with Linux pre-installed have binary blobs in the kernel, and Purism has avoided this.
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But the main value of the project is not in the "iron", but in philosophy. For any software - kernel, BIOS, other programs - free code is used. Priority is given to free software and quality electronics. If you believe the information provided on the project page, no other company produces laptops with a completely free BIOS. Purism in BIOS has only AGESA inserts from AMD and FSP from Intel, which will be disposed of.



Trisquel is chosen as the basis for the operating system. This is quite understandable solution - this OS is designed to use only open and free code and is based on Ubuntu, one of the most popular Linux distributions.

The price tag of the computer begins with the mark of 1849 dollars. Another 80 laptop will be sent anywhere in the world. As you can see, freedom isn't free , freedom is not free. On the other hand, many fighters for openness and freedom of code will easily be able to part with the necessary sum for the sake of the device with their own philosophy.

Deliveries will begin in April of this year. The authors of Librem 15 are not going to stop at a fifteen-inch model: if successful, a laptop with a screen diagonal of 13 inches will be created, among which differences there will be no built-in optical disc drive. Librem 15 crowdfunding campaign is coming to an end.