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Comment by plandis | Hacker News Reader

Lenovo has the best laptops? Is spyware a good thing now?

Someone recently gifted me a ThinkPad. It is hands down the most awesomely satisfying piece of computing equipment I have ever owned.

Of course, I wouldn't dream of running this or any other real computer with a pre-installed OS.

If only thinkpads had non-rubbish screens and touchpads. Actually, I could probably learn to use the nub, whatever. Just give me reasonable screens on something under 2000 USD.

Doesn't matter if you re-install the OS. They spyware was baked into the BIOS.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/12/lenovo_firmware_nas...

I do not reinstall "the OS".

One charm of this ThinkPad is it works superbly with some Arch Linux on it.

>I do not reinstall "the OS".

>it works superbly with some Arch Linux on it.

These 2 statements contradict each other. Either you reinstall the OS (OK maybe you didn't technically REinstall, but most people would call installing a different OS "reinstalling the OS") or you still running the default OS.

Installing a different OS is not 'reinstalling'

The BIOS thing was specifically targeted at Windows installations, a thing I havn't bothered with since the previous millenium.

Really? Which one? I've used the T450, one of the W series ones and an X1 Carbon, and neither of them were very satisfying

It says T440p on the cover.

I am clearly not representative of anything. I was given a MacBook at work once, and forced to use it. I hated that shitmachine with a passion.

Oh, wow; why?

I read that too. Lenovo the top spot? Aaaand we are done here. I am not going to trust any "review"/"ranking" system that doesn't put Lenovo dead last. They were caught 2 times preloading spyware/malware on their machines.

IIRC, the Thinkpad line was not affected, and wasn't it a external partner that planted the rootkit?

Even if so, it reflects poorly on Lenovo.

> the Thinkpad line was not affected

Correct.

> wasn't it a external partner that planted the rootkit?

Nope. The first time it was 3rd party software, Superfish, but Lenovo installed it and installed a self-signing root certificate authority to MITM the traffic[0]. The second time it was Lenovo's own software, Lenovo Service Engine, which they also installed themselves[1].

[0]: http://www.zdnet.com/article/superfish-stop-using-your-lenov...

[1]: http://www.zdnet.com/article/lenovo-rootkit-ensured-its-soft...

Dell shiped laptops with custom root certificate that had private key available.

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