Purism is known for the great security features that come with its proprietary smartphone and laptop mdoels. The first Librem 13/15 laptops were released back in early 2016. These were running PureOS based on Linux and a custom Coreboot firmware in order to allow for maximum security measures like hardware kill switches for mic/webcam and wireless/bluetooth, disabled Intel Management Engine and carefully selected hardware that does not “spy” on the user. Just recently, Purism announced that it updated the Librem lineup with new gen 7 Intel ULV CPUs and a few new hardware upgrades.
The crowd-funded company initially planned a CPU upgrade for late 2017, but, apparently, it had some supply and funding problems and was forced to postpone the upgrade. Sure, the gen 7 Intel Core i7-7500U that was chosen as the current upgrade may seem a bit antiquated compared to the newer gen 8 i7-8559U that has double the cores / threads and offers up to 40% increased performance for only US$30 more, however, the other components and features balance things out. In addition to the aforementioned security features, users can choose to include between 4 and 16 GB of DDR4-2133 RAM, and the storage options can integrate combos of up to 2 TB NVMe SSD + 4 TB SATA SSD.
Both the 13.3-inch and 15.6-inch models come with light black anodized aluminum chassis and mostly the same configurations. The only difference between the two models is that the Librem 13 integrates a matte FHD display, while the Librem 15 packs a 4K matte display.
Prices for the Librem 13 start at US$1,399, whereas the Librem 15 is selling for at least US$1,599.
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I first stepped into the wondrous IT&C world when I was around seven years old. I was instantly fascinated by computerized graphics, whether they were from games or 3D applications like 3D Max. I'm also an avid reader of science fiction, an astrophysics aficionado, and a crypto geek. I started writing PC-related articles for Softpedia and a few blogs back in 2006. I joined the Notebookcheck team in the summer of 2017 and am currently a senior tech writer mostly covering processor, GPU, and laptop news.
> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2019 01 > Purism updates the Librem laptop line with gen 7 Intel ULV CPUs
Bogdan Solca, 2019-01-15 (Update: 2019-01-15)