content: Some of this is true but some of it is skewed. Purism's coreboot/libreboot efforts have a roadmap: https://puri.sm/learn/freedom-roadmap/ The Talos is wonderful but far too pricey for almost anybody...and I doubt it's x86 emulation can quite run games very well yet, but I may be wrong there. me_cleaner physically removes most of the ME from the rom image, and doesn't just set the bit to turn it off - by default it just removes stuff which prevents ME from starting. The flag is a nice addition as it is doubly ensured not to function. Fact of the matter is that if you remove computrace, the network stack, and the ME, even if running a nonfree bios, you're super safe, and get to have your cake and eat it too in that you can purchase whatever machine you like best. Furthermore, if you replace the OEM ethernet and wlan cards with something by Atheros, or another that doesn't use a blob for it's firmware, and you're just as safe as using coreboot, with the caveat of having slightly less control and insight into the bios firmware itself. Beyond that it is unlikely any existing backdoors, or the management engines, for that matter, will support those free firmware based network devices as they typically only support Intel's. Coreboot/libreboot friendly thinkpads are always a decent idea, but it should be noted that the Opteron board you suggest probably supports the AMD version of AMT, which to my knowledge has yet to be as thouroughly nerfed as Intels.