I’m in a program right now for therapy for my health, and I thought I would write about laptops today. In particular, nobody really talks much about cheap technology except for nostalgia purposes or because they need to for a logistics reason (so to speak) because of legacy hardware that needs to be supported for expensive projects or so. However, sometimes cheap technology is also disposable. An expensive workstation laptop might be fine for telecommuting in safe places, but if I want to walk around sketchy areas of town and take my hotspot with me for internet or walk around places I haven’t been before and don’t know who might be around, I can protect myself and my data with an inexpensive laptop that if stolen can easily be replaced.
You might think, well, cheap hardware will be slow and not do the things I need. I recently purchased a Latitude E7470 because it had a 1080p screen, a sim card slot, and a fingerprint reader (and USB 3 ports, an SD Card reader, and a webcam). It may not have USB-C and it has the older Windows 10 without the ability to upgrade (this model can’t have the TPM firmware upgraded), but I purchased it for the price and to help support a project that works best under Windows 10. However, when my circumstances put me in a situation where I was relying on my laptop in a hospital environment and resident situation where anyone can take my laptop, it is safe enough to have because it’s 1/4 the value of my phone. It has 16gb of RAM and I added a 4g LTE modem for cellular, and although I broke the connectors to the modem, it does work with the bracket I found and ordered that holds the connectors to the modem in place, it just has reduced sensitivity (which I’m not sure if is because of older technology, the damaged connectors/cables, or something else). More on that later. This laptop only has a dual core CPU, but it has an NVME SSD which is plenty fast and although the CPU pegs booting up, it’s plenty fine for web browsing and even Portal 2, and I even had a Gitlab docker instance running on it, so don’t rush to the conclusion that older technology will leave you with a pile of junk. The main thing is, don’t let the system swap to the page file (I turn mine off completely), and it’ll be fine if you run tasks on it like docker instances or virtual machines too large for a machine this small.
I have two standalone wifi hotspots. One is an unlocked AT&T Netgear hotspot I bought a while back and use with a prepaid plan which has a shared data line with an esim for an AT&T iPhone. I have a second locked Verizon hotspot with Ultra Wideband which can also act as a portable battery. Both hotspots have ethernet ports and so does the laptop, and with IP Passthrough I can have a direct IP on the laptop, however although the 4g modem I added does that natively, I’ve found that the problem I had with performance of my standalone hotspots wasn’t the hotspots but the signal at my house when I first got them. I think I have aluminum siding which interferes with cell signals. Regardless, the modem is handy in situations where I don’t want to carry a separate hotspot because I don’t have to carry a separate device, turn it on/off, charge it, etc., so it’s more stealthy in situations where that’s important.
Laptops with Sim cards or even eSim card support are available but new systems are typically not cheap and readily available so refurbished systems with these options are not common. I’ve not seen a vendor that specifically sold refurbished laptops with this support which is a bit of a shame, most of the time such support is stated as optional and without the modem so whether or not you’ll have the ability to even add the modem is a gamble (Sim or eSim). Finding lists of laptop models with support for Sim/eSim cards (or harder yet, eSims with 5g) is not readily available, so it takes some research which is why a standalone hotspot is more simple and perhaps a more practical alternative if you want to share an internet connection with many people in a car or hotel room on phones and laptops.
One thing I’ve noticed is that data plans for Sims/eSims varies widely and can be expensive. In the United States, there does not appear to be any truly unlimited high speed 5g plan without a data cap after which data speeds are throttled. EIOTClub offers plans that aren’t subscription based like a typical monthly plan with a data cap, with the ability to have auto-recharge, for situations where you might want data for emergencies or the occasional travel, however I found their latency high and they didn’t have IPv6. Verizon has Ultra Wideband and great latency on their higher level hotspot plans with unlimited data that’s actually pretty reasonable bandwidth even when limited when on UW networks after you hit your cap. EIOTClub has global plans that work in just about all countries, which is good if you just need data for a short while for a trip somewhere else (provided you have the right hardware). EIOTClub is data only, not voice, but you can use something like Google Voice or Voip.ms to make phone calls with a soft phone which is convenient if you want a phone number from your own country while traveling. The Verizon hotspot is only a few dollars per month as a device with the installment plan and is protected by the warranty for theft and damage along with my second iPhone. On a related note, Verizon phones unlock after 2 months of ownership even on an installment plan, so I can use my prepaid plan on my Verizon phone. Both of my iPhones are unlocked, which is quite handy. I keep one as a backup for emergencies (and don’t carry it or keep it on), and have the Verizon eSim on my AT&T iPhone. You could also use forwarding which I sometimes do with Voip numbers, but without a way to identify where the call is coming from it’s a bit finicky.
I’m a little concerned about Windows 10 not having support anymore and I’d like more RAM and storage space, but regarding storage space, I have an OwnCloud instance for file storage on a VPS which I use for backup and version control so I don’t need much in the way of storage. With Bitlocker I can encrypt the drive so if the laptop is stolen nobody can get the data that is on the drive. Luksfs will do the same on Linux.
Although I do plan on buying another system, this one does everything including Spotify, Discord, Telegram video streaming, Portal 2, Ikaruga. It does push the CPU a bit, but there’s nothing wrong with high CPU usage. On a laptop used for travel, having a high powered CPU isn’t really going to help when you’re bogged down by lagged out wifi or a cellular connection but with the 5G here everything is snappy and quick even in Firefox with YogaDNS for NextDNS and a few extensions like uBlockOrigin for ad-blocking.
Don’t forget VPNs. I have a Wireguard server for wifi networks I don’t trust or for situations where services are blocked but the VPN isn’t. Services like ProtonVPN even have a stealth mode which (I think?) is a Wireguard VPN that attempts to bypass attempts at blocking services such as that on networks that block or monitor that type of activity, however that is a paid service.
The only issue with this laptop is in fact the wifi, because on my network at home I use WPA3 on my main network, however that was out of paranoia that WPA2 would make my network insecure. The E7470 has 802.11n, however if I wanted I could swap out the wifi card, but I don’t see the point even with the UW hotspot because nothing really needs the bandwidth of faster wifi. The advantage of WPA3 would be nice, but when in public it wouldn’t benefit at all which is where the VPN comes in. One of the reasons for the hotspot is reliable and safe internet. The VPN with a cheap Sim is an alternative but slower.
Remember, play it safe, not just with your internet, but with your hardware and the data on it. Protect not just the data that connects you to the world, the data that you need to live and work, but also protect the hardware from theft and damage, and then, in the event that said hardware is lost, protect what’s on it from prying eyes.