Purism Librem 15 Linux laptop blends high-end hardware with totally free software

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We dont normally cover crowdfunding campaigns on PCWorld, but sometimes one comes along thats just begging for a deeper look. The Purism Librem 15 notebook is one of those.

Purism, which launched a drive on Crowd Supply on Wednesday, is seeking at least $250,000 to make a high-end Linux laptop that only runs free, or open-source, software. This means no annoying closed-source driversor binary blobsnecessary to make the hardware work. Make no mistakethis is a serious, slick Linux notebook, not a bit of kit for hobbyist hackers.

Linux laptops can be hard to find. Even harder to find are Linux laptops where the hardware works perfectly well with free software. Even Linux laptops that look nice and slick might have closed-source binary blob drivers running in the Linux kernel.

Enter the Librem 15, which claims to be the first laptop in the world that ships without mystery software in the kernel, operating system, or any software applications. This claim may be a bit overblownwere sureRichard Stallman and his Leemote YeeLoong would disagreebut it certainly does look like an awesome, high-end laptop that blows systems like the Leemote out of the water.

Purism claims the laptops hardware has been meticulously designed chip by chip to work with free and open source software, saying its the first laptop to reinstate your rights to freedom and privacy. Marketing the privacy angle is probably a smart move in this post-Snowden world, but this campaign may be just as exciting for any Linux user or developer looking for a solid piece of well-supported hardware that doesnt require potentially unreliable closed-source drivers.

The system will ship with the Purism GNU/Linux Operating System, a Linux distribution based on Trisquel. Trisquel is Ubuntu-based, but includes only free software. If you prefer another Linux distribution, it should be trivial to switch.

Theyre not lying when they say they want to make high-end hardware, either. The Librem 15 includes a 15.6-inch 1920x1080 display, an 8-core 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU, NVIDIA graphics, 4 or 8 GB of RAM, Wi-Fi, a 720p webcam, and all the other goodies youd expect in a high-end laptopincluding a brushed metal exterior. The price is high-end too, with the cheapest retail configuration starting at $1899, or $1499 if you commit to buying it during the crowdfunding campaign.

Price and configuration options for the Purism Librem 15.

Purism says theyve put together final prototypes, and now theyre seeking $250,000 to make it a reality.

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Purism Librem 15 Linux laptop blends high-end hardware with totally free software