I am looking for a laptop (or a tablet with attachable keyboard) that does not come with or allows for physically removing/disabling/destroying of all wireless connectivity hardware. Something cheap, around 200€ would be nice. I would only use this device for word processing, file management, and creating backups on LUKS encrypted drives. Should be able to run gnu-linux.
The closest thing I was able to find was the pinebook by pine64.org, which has killswitches for wifi and bluetooth. Sadly, these are controlled through software and not through a hardware switch.
Does anyone know of a cheap device with hardware killswitches, or a device that allows removing/destroying wifi and bluetooth components on the motherboard (without breaking)?
EDIT 1:
I am looking to buy a new device, not used, and with good enough performance to run a modern desktop environment such as gnome, kde, or cinnamon.
EDIT 2:
Following the advice of some commenters here, I have looked for models that I like, and tried to find a image/video of the motherboard. So far, every motherboard that I could get an image/video of, had the wifi/bluetooth chip soldered onto the motherboard. If anyone knows a brand that offers cheap laptop with modular mainboards, please let me know.
EDIT 3:
Some people here suggested buying an old ThinkPad. I checked for newer models made by the same company (“Lenovo”), and according to their hardware manual, the “IdeaPad” model also allows removing the wifi card, just like the ThinkPad did.
Here is a link to the manual for anyone who is interested (see page 43): https://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mobiles_pub/ideapad_1_hmm.pdf
This solution will work well for my use case and budget. Thanks you all for the advice.
You can probably find something cheap from 1998.
I already tried using old hardware that does not come with wifi/bluetooth. The performance was terrible. 5 seconds to open a minimalistic plaintext editor, and I had to use a very simple desktop environment that was almost unusable due to lack of features. I would rather buy something new, with OK performance (and also I like having warranty). I should have made that clearer, sorry. I updated my post.
In most laptops you can remove the WiFi/Bluetooth card if you are ok with a permanent solution.
This would be great, thank you. A permanent solution is what I am looking for. I already looked into removing stuff from the motherboard a bit, and I must have misunderstood something. The information I found was suggesting that this would likely result in the device not functioning anymore.
Dang near every model laptop has a teardown video on YouTube. If you had some models you’re interested in, look for a teardown video and see if the wireless module is socketed.
I can’t think of a modern laptop I’ve owned that didn’t have a socketed wireless card. Maybe one Alienware I owned.
See if you can find guides for “Wi-Fi card replacement” for the model that you are looking into. For guides, try https://www.ifixit.com/
If it is a simple matter of unplugging a card (like the image above), it should be easy enough to undo if something goes wrong. Then instead of replacing the Wi-Fi card, just leave it out.
Nah, this is a super common thing for laptops that go into secure areas.
Wireless cards (bluetooth + wifi) go into an m.2 Key E slot on motherboards, so they’re technically upgradeable to newer WI-FI standards. Some desktop motherboards have this as well. Typically, the chip has two thin cables going to the IO panel on desktops to COAX for antennas to connect to.
Well, most laptops have removable WiFi cards, but if you want to go the extra mile you could try an early-2000s or late-90s ThinkPad (from back when they were made by IBM).
why hardware kill switch? with Linux u can disable them and unload the associated kernel modules. is that not good enough for u?
Just take out the wifi module. If you need wifi just use a USB adapter. That’s your kill switch.
