Minifree Reviews 69

Minifree saves a lot of time for people like me who don't have the time or expertise to install Linux on a new computer without proprietary firmware. As seemingly a one-person operation, communication and support can be slow, but Leah's messages were helpful and thorough in my case and any delays were made in the interest of delivering the best item possible.

The computer arrived very quickly once shipped, and so far has worked great. Maybe if I were more familiar with Linux systems or the hardware/firmware challenges involved I'd have even more of an appreciation for the quality of the work -- all I can say for now is that the experience was great and I'd recommended Minifree to other Linux beginners.

I recently purchased the Libreboot T480. The customer service was brilliant, real responses from someone who knows their stuff and cares. Very happy with the product. Great quality, exactly what I ordered and a great price. Payment was easy, shipment was speedy and well packaged.

Getting rid of proprietary bios was my last step in technological freedom. I won't be going back, the boot speed and simplicity it gives you is only something you appreciate when you use it.

Minifree will be my first stop from now on for all future machines.

S.

Great product and great service! Much thanks to Leah for the follow through and excellent customer service.

Great ! Bought a t440p, no regrets, amazing machine.
Would buy again in future.
Minifree knows what is doing, probably more than others.

Cheers !

Very fast delivery and Leah is very helpful and very knowledgeable on computers

I sent my X200S to Leah to have Libreboot installed. I needed this doing quickly as I had only a week in the UK before I had to return to work abroad. Leah pulled all the stops out to get my machine back to me before I had to leave. Upon receiving my machine back I installed my SSD (OS Linux Mint xfce) and the Laptop booted without any problem. Fantastic service and Leah also upgraded my RAM for free. I will definitely be recommending Minifree to my friends family and Colleagues and will be using again in he future. Thanks Leah !

This lappy is fast, and has replaced my System76 AMD Ryzen (Thelio) as my daily driver :-). Very happy with this upgraded T440p.

Specs from my order/Minifree invoice:
Libreboot T440p, 14" 1920x1080 Full HD, 16GB RAM with T450 synaptics
touchpad. - 4 cores, 16GB RAM, 480GB SSD X 1

From OS/About:
Intel® Core™ i7-4710MQ CPU @ 2.50GHz × 8
Mesa Intel® HD Graphics 4600 (HSW GT2

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Ordering and shipping went smoothly - Minifree (Leah R.) provided updates on ETA/delays.

Shipping was very reasonable, and the work is obviously well done. This looks better than my Fry's "refurbished" T440s did!

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I did replace the battery with a new Lenovo battery as the one shipped was at ~50% of design capacity. But, that will be a decent backup battery for now.

I purchased an X230 and the screen and keyboard and general computational parts of the laptop are in fantastic condition. These are used laptops but Minifree has carefully made sure all the physical necessities are in perfect condition. I aspire to a day when I can buy new laptops this way.

Seller communication was timely and informative. This helps when buying from another country.

Keep up the great work and Thank You!

Good service, good (and almost unique) product. I was kept informed of the slight delays that occurred and the computer (T440p) is more than living up to expectations. I am not an expert user so still getting used to some things but great that Debian is installed by default - very useful and very good choice.

Excellent laptop, excellent communication from the vendor, excellent after-sales service, absolutely no problems whatsoever. Very happy with the device, especially given its older age AND all the problems that could go with it. It does require some hands-on learning (it's not mac/windows), but that's part of the fun. learning linux and privacy is very fun on this device.

Waiting for a refund. I'll change the review if Leigh ever gives me my money back. Obviously the transaction did not go well.

Laptop was shipped promptly and was in excellent condition. Minifree's service is great as well. I will certainly buy here again.

I have requested a custom order for an x230 laptop charged at no additional cost. Upon receiving the laptop, it was found that were no modifications made and laptop didn't work unless plugged into the wall. Judging by the positive reviews below, it appears that I may have just been unlucky.

Upon informing Leah of this, she gave me a partial refund to cover the parts for the modification, the battery, and the shipping. Replacing the battery is just a matter of buying it from ebay, and plugging it into the laptop, very straightforward and easy to do.

Customer service was excellent, whenever I had an enquiry for Leah she responded almost immediately and was very helpful and professional.

The laptop was packaged securely and arrived in good condition. When plugged into the wall, it performed all the basic tasks I needed for it to do, which was web browsing and preparing documents.

Overall, despite running into problems, I found the customer service to be excellent and Leah to be very honorable and helpful in the way she conducts business. Perhaps I might buy another laptop from her down the line.

So i ordered t440p with osboot, there was trouble with wire transfer from my bank, but Leah sent it anyway, that’s called customer service! Overall communication was good but i think there should be more, easier and safer payment options than wire. Laptop was shipped really quickly, only bad thing i could say about it, is that i didn’t get wifi card that i asked for, it’s not a problem tho because i can get one for 5£ to 10£.

Je suis très content de cet achat ; Mon T440p fonctionne a merveille, le démarrage est très rapide et, grâce a la résolution d’écran très élevée, le bureau Gnome de débian 11 est très beau!
J'ai eu quelques soucis de dédouanement en France (depuis le brexit?) car, entre DPD, La Poste et le service des douanes françaises, on ne sait pas qui s’occupe de quoi!
Amis anglais, arrêtez de faire chambre à part! L'avenir de l'humanité est dans l'union, l'ouverture et le désir des autres.
Merci Leah pour les efforts que vous avez déployés pour m'aider à résoudre ces problèmes de douane et pour l’intérêt que vous avez manifesté à mon égard.
Je recommande Minifree chaudement!

Very happy with my x230 and the service provided by minifree and Leah! Will do business again. Cheers

Ordered a T440p, and the process was relatively straightforward. I actually made a mistake with my initial order entry, but minifree was able to handle the change that I wanted and quickly updated the order. It took maybe a few weeks, an extra bit of time because parts were needed, but I received multiple updates while waiting. The laptop arrived well packed, and didn't have any major issues. It was well used, but overall not terrible for a laptop that is almost a decade old!

No issues with the laptop, it performs well, does what I expect, and has all the software that I expected. Very convenient for my first laptop with coreboot. I would definitely recommend this to others who want to order a laptop that is built with free/libre software, including the BIOS/UEFI.

I ordered a T440p. It did take a month to get it, but it arrived and i'm using it to write this very review.
The laptop is obviously used, but in good condition.
During the somewhat long wait of a month, communication was kept up, so it was OK for me.

I ordered an X230. Arrived within about a week. Good communication from Leah. I wanted to deal with an ethical company, committed to security, which Minifree is. Very satisfied with the hardware. Highly recommended.

I've been aware of minifree.org for a few years and I decided I wanted to upgrade to a more secure laptop, but wanted to avoid problems with maintainability and upgradability.

With the options available at minifree I decided to go for the Lenovo X230.
There were a couple of reviews relating to lead times, so I contacted Leah who got back to me straight away confirming she had laptops in stock and could get one out to me within a few days.

Ordering was straightforward, although an option to pay by card instead of BACS would help streamline the process.
Leah emailed to confirm payment had been received and that she'd sort the laptop ASAP.

A few days later I received confirmation it had been collected, but there must have been a mix up with the courier as I received confirmation from Leah that it had been posted a day or 2 after.
Roughly 7 working days after payment I had my new little laptop and was excited to get it unboxed.

The laptop is in great condition and Leah even desoldered the webcam/microphone (for free) as I never use them. Leah also gave me a great battery (96% capacity) which I can easily get 5 1/2 hours from, which is miles ahead of my old Dell laptop. I also bought a dock separately and my workflow is almost perfect now. The Lenovo feels sturdy and dependable and I'm definitely a Lenovo convert!

Overall I'm really happy with the laptop and the service received from minifree. I don't envisage any issues with my X230, but I'm confident Leah will be happy to help and I'll definitely be back for upgrades and maybe even a new laptop in the future.

I think Leah is doing great work for Free Software and I'm happy that my purchase is helping in a small way.