So loyce mentioned he likes using a laptop for a node or wallet.
Normally, I roll with a mac mini and some dell tiny boxes, but I found this laptop at best buy. It’s got an intel i5 12th gen, a touch screen, and it's 15 inches.
It originally came with a 256 gb nvme2 SSD and only 8gb of RAM, plus it was just wifi.
I snagged it for 300 bucks, then I opened it up and swapped in a 2tb SSD and 32gb RAM.
I also did a review on the SSD at newegg since they sometimes send me stuff to review.
Check it out, it’s the one by philip a.
As a bonus for security, I decided to run Linux Mint on it.
Originally, the hp laptop was on Windows, but I took out the smaller SSD. To get online with wifi, I had to use a USB to Ethernet adapter.
If you don’t install any drivers, the laptop only has Ethernet, so when you unplug that cable, it’s effectively air-gapped.
Here are the links for the RAM and the Ethernet adapter which didn’t need drivers. I managed to load the 630gb blockchain in about 6 hours.
Here's the RAM link
And the Ethernet adapter link.
The laptop isn’t available anymore for Black Friday.
I paid 350 for the laptop,
0 for the nvme2,
58 for the RAM,
and 13 for the Ethernet to USB adapter.
So just over 400 bucks for a pretty decent laptop.
But the real takeaway here is if you get a wifi-only laptop, switch to Linux and just use an Ethernet adapter. Don’t look back.
$400 is a whopping amount in my country, and I can get a seriously nice rig with that kind of budget! But, that's a nice move by you..
well, I've got an old PC running Windows 7, just collecting dust, waiting for a new purpose. And, I'm thinking of transforming it into an air-gapped device soon.. I'll only have to get the Linux installed.
Since it's WiFi-only, I'll just need to disable the WiFi completely and use the Ethernet, just like you recommended. though I've not used eth connection before, but there's a first time for everything..
Kudos to you for sharing your brilliant idea
Okay, so without a discount the price for that laptop is $630 atm. That's expensive for a device with 8GB RAM and a 1366x768 screen resolution. I bought an AMD 6600H laptop with 16GB RAM and Full HD resolution a few months ago for less than $450. It's not sold internationally though, since it's produced by a local brand. I guess the market for each country is different, plus the brand plays a huge part here. Anyway, I'd gladly buy another one of that even if I want to exclusively use it as a node since the value is just too good here.
I like them for use as desktop too The only thing I don't like, is the limited space for extra storage. Using a laptop as node beats having to hook up monitor, mouse and keyboard to do anything on it.
Are you saying the laptop comes without Wifi? I don't think I've ever seen that in any modern laptop.
Not bad It was new, right? I like second hand corporate laptops: they're cheap because they're abundant because they're replaced every few years. I mainly like the build quality.
Note: air gapped means you shouldn't connect it online ever again. For air gapped tasks, I prefer to run Knoppix from DVD loaded toram. Or Tails.
I've never even considered keeping a permanent air-gapped device, but it could be a good option to use with for instance Electrum. It will be a big cold wallet.
That's a 45W CPU. I'd stay away from "H" CPU's for laptops, "U" usually consumes less power. Less power means lower running cost and less noise. Ideally, it shouldn't use it's fan most of the time and shouldn't feel warm at the bottom. But that's just my personal preference, since I was mentioned in the title
I know that Tails is normally amnesiac, but you have the option to set up persistent storage.
Does knoppix have persistent storage by default?
I believe the purpose of these is to run them offline, using a thumbdrive and mainly store some wallets there, am I right?
No, DVDs don't do that It's too bad Tails doesn't support "toram", because I like it: plug in external USB DVD drive, boot, read entire DVD, hear "Initiating startup sequence" from the speakers, and unplug the DVD again. You could even run it on a system without any storage, to be absolutely sure there's no way it can save anything.
That's up to the user I can think of a few uses: broadcast a transaction online through Tor, or use two systems: one online, one offline. The online system can have a watch-only Electrum wallet to create unsigned transactions, and the offline system can be used to sign them after entering your seed words.
I've been thinking about creating a maximum paranoia laptop for a while now, but never did it. I'm thinking of soldered RAM against liquid nitrogen freezing attacks, or complely immersing it in epoxy to make RAM removal virtually impossible. Physically removing all USB connectors, removing webcam, microphone, speakers and networking modules, and encrypting the disk which also gets glued in place. Before closing the laptop, all edges should be covered in glue to make it impossible to open and restore any connectivity. Upgrades? Not possible, just get a new one. Signing a transaction? Possible. Importing a raw unsigned transaction? Type it!
Looking at specification, it's great. Although bestbuy webpage currently sells that laptop only for $299.99.
Out of curiosity, how good is the touch screen support on linux mint?
I also have question about it, since bestbuy webpage mention existence of wifi and bluetooth. I wonder whether there's driver issue with the linux mint.
Good point. Although some laptop let you limit watt/TDP usage or undervolt the CPU to reduce electricity usage and heat.
I found the link. You guys pay amazingly little for hardware!
I never tried hard to get it working, but in general, in my experience, it sucks You can click things, move things and sometimes scroll, but it's nothing like I'm used to on Android.
Of course. But you could do the same on a CPU that's designed to consume 3 times less power, with better results. My spare "disposable" vacation laptop uses 4-6 W only, and doesn't have a fan.
Is it really different or have better result? For example, difference between 6600H and 6600U are only about "Clock Rate" and "Power Consumption" according to https://www.notebookcheck.net/R5-6600H-vs-R5-6600U_14086_14090.247596.0.html.
I can't tell if the only difference is in "settings", but 28W is still a lot for a laptop.
Besides, this is AMD, which usually consumes more power than Intel. With modern Intel CPUs, the low power variant has less performance cores and more eco cores.
the wifi card is inside. but it you pull the windows ssd and put in a new 2tb nvme than install linux the linux install has no ready wifi drivers. Thus you are air gapped.
my new from best buy.com laptop doe not have an ethernet port but the usb to eth adapter I got at amazon is driver less so I had a direct eth connection to the net and no wifi if I do not download the linux wifi driver.
So when I want the net just plug in the adapter . When I want off line unplug it.