[pmlnr]

Reading this always makes me sad. It's like computing got utterly corrupted post-2008 and there's yet to be a fix.

The tragedy of all this is that a 2008 laptop should be more than enough for today's needs if web development wasn't greedy and was resource aware.

[davidovitch]

There are modern alternative systems with an open firmware stack, for example the Talos II running Power9. Granted, it is not available as a cheap, slick and slim power efficient laptop, but it is real, only twice as expensive and very capable. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/POWER9

See performance benchmarks incomparison with AMD/Intel at: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=power9-t... https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=power9-t...

[smcl]

There's also the Blackbird which is even more affordable - https://raptorcs.com/content/BK1B01/intro.html. It's still sadly more than I could justify spending - for my non-portable needs I use a ~5 year old Intel NUC which was cheap as chips and still going strong. But if that ever changes a Talos POWER-based system is at top of my list.

The Talos guys pop up in the comments on HN now and then and they're very pleasant.

[znpy]

> https://raptorcs.com/content/BK1B01/intro.html

That motherboard + cpu bundle costs $1732 (plus shipping, I guess).

I mean... Okay, it's super cool, but... I doubt that most people can affort that.

[smcl]

What I was saying was it’s more affordable than the Talos II mentioned earlier in this thread. I agree that it’s not exactly cheap, but I don’t think it’s for everyone.

[cookiengineer]

> It's like computing got utterly corrupted post-2008 and there's yet to be a fix.

The ironic thing is that OP's posted article were news from 2009. Now, a decade later, we almost expect another total Intel CPU failure every year due to all the problems the architecture had while still promising sandboxed security.

But, as with all self-claimed "secure systems". If there's no audit, it cannot be seen as unsecure. Security through obscurity is pretty much the definition of how the hardware sector protects their IP these days.

And, of course, RISC V will be the solution. But honestly, I stopped believing in it years ago. As long as there's no computer system available in the same price range as the market leaders (aka Intel and AMD), you can forget about it.

[jchw]

I think the market for enthusiast machines shrinking might just help make the case for lower but still meaningful volume of RISC-V machines. That said, I do think it’s unclear how there would ever be a pathway for them to go from hobbyist machines to competing with AMD and Intel.

[yvdriess]

RISC-V has found a niche in anything embedded that needs some decent performance, especially in storage and networking. With a little imagination you can see some products there merge with other functionalities and take over larger markets, e.g. a NAS product line incorporating smart home and smart speaker functionality, evolving into 'home box' systems.

[jchw]

I would be willing to overpay a fair bit for NAS and other network equipment running open source hardware and software from the ground up. That’s an application of RISC-V I truly believe in.

Still, looking at the struggle ARM has had in spite of its ubiquity in even now fairly high performance devices, I will probably remain skeptical, for now, about such a transition. We have ARM NASes, routers, even competent servers! And yet... no real desktop towers. (At least a few exist, but I am thusfar unable to find any that are sold B2C retail or even second hand that look enticing.)

[papermachete]

System76 sells coreboot and ME-disabled computers at quite a mark-up. Yay free market.

[actionowl]

coreboot utilizes binary blobs though

[Lammy]

Post-June-2007, but yeah I guess that would round up:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_(1st_generation)