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by TeMPOraL 3519 days ago
> The addition of the fingerprint scanner alone is a win

Interesting. Every other laptop has one these days, but I haven't really seen people using it much. It seems more like a gimmick.

Fingerprint scanner on a phone makes more sense, because it lets you to unlock it almost as quickly as if you didn't have any lockscreen security, which is a big convenience.
3 comments
AndrewStephens 3519 days ago
Every laptop I have seen with a fingerprint scanner has used one of those cheap swipe-your-finger-across-this-slit style devices. They are slow, unreliable, and insecure.

TouchID (at least on my iPhone) is 100% more usable and I would love to have it on my laptop as well.

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bbcbasic 3519 days ago
The phone finger print scanner is sweet. Can't live without it now. Can single handedly unlock the phone and browse HN. :-)
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reustle 3519 days ago
> It seems more like a gimmick.

Don't you use a password manager? Aren't you tired of constantly typing your master password in to unlock your keys?

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belovedeagle 3519 days ago
Because having your password manager unencrypted (so that biometrics can "unlock" it) is a great idea.
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r00fus 3519 days ago
What do you even mean by that? On iOS any app can request a TouchID authentication for upgraded privileges. Would be surprised if something similar weren't possible. 1Password on iOS uses TouchID. It's certainly not unencrypted at rest.

That's the goal - I provide my TouchID + maybe a PIN (or if for added security, combined with separate channel factor).

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