NovaCustom NV41 laptop review

General Discussion
81

MKTME is not supported on Qubes OS btw.

Do you have any information on when they might start working on adding support for it?

82

Since Qubes OS does not support S0ix yet but is available for testing, what happens if I have S0ix enabled in the firmware settings while running Qubes OS? Will the laptop just not suspend?

83

The laptop will just not suspend or even crash, it is untested for now.

84

The MK part doesn’t work but I don’t see why the TME part wouldn’t work - it is transparent so it should work regardless of OS.

85

Sorry, I wasn’t clear. I was referring to the “multi-key” part. Total Memory Encryption works fine.

86

Just to make clear, as the initial discussion was about the NV41 Series: the NV41 Series does not support Total Memory Encryption (TME) as it is not supported by the processor.

2 Likes
87

S3 is working on the NV41 Series, I’m wondering why you would want S0ix instead?

There has been some progress on this lately: Support for the S0ix sleep state ¡ Issue #6411 ¡ QubesOS/qubes-issues ¡ GitHub

88

Mainly just because Suspend To Ram yields a failure on the HSI specification.

89

Ah yes, I didn’t think about that.

S0ix is a priority for both Qubes OS and NovaCustom devices, I don’t expect that the NV41 Series will be an exception in working S0ix support for a new Qubes OS version.

This is not a promise, just a shared thought.

1 Like
90

@novacustom Do the RAM modules provided support ECC or are they Non-ECC modules?

91

ECC internal memory is not supported by the CPUs:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/132221/intel-core-i51240p-processor-12m-cache-up-to-4-40-ghz/specifications.html
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/226254/intel-core-i71260p-processor-18m-cache-up-to-4-70-ghz/specifications.html

92

Hey @novacustom!

Planning to go remote for a couple of days and just realized that the nv41 could be charged via usbc through the left usbc port with a usbc pd 100w lighter plug charger and a booster pack I own, while not up for the task.

My booster pack being really old, I would love to know what wattage is expected from usbc as power input to drive the laptop in full performance.

I found scarce data saying pd 35w would be enough, but I want to make sure since booster packs are varying in those specs as well. Would be awesome if you had a quick answer to that, since I’m planning of working from a remote area in the next couple of days and I need to replace my booster pack with something that will give me days of work.

Thanks!

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1 Like
93

There is this line in the specs, isn’t the answer you are looking for?

PowerDelivery (PD) support for charging via USB-C (min. 87W)

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94

The min. required power is 87W (Power Delivery, PD). While charging with less power and using the PD protocol might work (although slowly), it is officially not supported.

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95

I didn’t know it was possible to change this setting. I’ve just done it, and it’s much better with this option!

96

NV41 Series 14 inch coreboot laptop - NovaCustom → click Firmware options (Dasharo coreboot) -> click the ?belowYes - disable the Intel Management Engine (HAP disabling)` → quote:

*Limitations Intel ME disabling

Disabling the Intel Management Engine (ME) results in the following features no longer being available:

  • Remote Management
  • fTPM (the hardware TPM is still available)
  • Thunderbolt*. USB-C, Display Alt Mode (for video signals) and USB-C charging (PowerDelivery) are still supported.

In addition, modern standby (S0ix) is affected: suspend mode consumes about 3 times more energy than with ME enabled. You can workaround this issue by setting up a suspend-then-hibernate policy.

* We are testing Thunderbolt support in combination with ME disabling.

You can easily switch ME disabling on and off in the UEFI firmware settings (UEFI only, not for Heads).

I understand the consequences of Intel ME disabling

The third bullet point is confusing.

The bullet points are in context of:

Disabling the Intel Management Engine (ME) results in the following features no longer being available:

Among these are:

  • Thunderbolt*.

But then the line continues with

USB-C, Display Alt Mode (for video signals) and USB-C charging (PowerDelivery) are still supported.

I had to re-check that Thunderbolt and USB-C are the same port. Almost thought all of

USB-C, Display Alt Mode (for video signals) and USB-C charging (PowerDelivery) are still supported.

also break when disabling Intel ME.

1 Like
97

NV41 has

  • 1 Thunderbolt port
  • 1 USB-C port

I have edk-ii coreboot and intel me disabled. I am using thinderbolt for USB-C power delivery. I use that port for using my USB-C 100W power brick.

1 Like
98

I agree, I was also confused the first time I read it.

99

Question for NovaCustom and other custom vendor customers.

How can we be sure the vendor isnt backdooring the hardware somehow. Arent we inherently transferring trust from a manufacturer like Dell to a smaller niche company that attracts privacy and security cautious users?

How do we know companies like NovaCustom arent some government honeypot?

100

exactly

you can’t, same for Lenovo, Dell or any computer maker :woman_shrugging: