HP to implement CarFax impressed knowledge collector to log lifetime use and well being of PCs

July 9, 2025

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Shopping for secondhand laptops and PCs is likely to be about to get rather less scary as HP is trying to roll out a brand new function that collects knowledge across the use and lifetime of a PC for future house owners. The brand new function can be carried out at a firmware stage to retailer these life-cycle information securely on the SSD contained in the gadget. Thus permitting new customers the possibility to see simply what this PC has been via earlier than touchdown of their laps.

In keeping with IEEE Spectrum, HP obtained the concept from the motor trade’s CarFax experiences. These enable potential patrons the possibility to examine the upkeep historical past and utilization of any car earlier than shopping for. By making use of the identical form of obligatory report retaining, HP is hoping to make reusing outdated machines slightly bit simpler, and thus lower down on e-waste.

Fashionable PCs are already monitoring themselves continuously and reporting knowledge, so all of the censors required for this new PCFax are already in place. HP solely needed to work on a strategy to accumulate and retailer the info securely, so it might’t simply be edited by anybody trying to make a fast buck flipping machines. To do that a write-locked part of the SSD has been set as much as retailer the gathered knowledge which is powered by the Endpoint Safety Controller firmware already included within the model’s business-class computer systems.

However the log system is not simply restricted to knowledge collected inside the PC. It can even have entry to different data HP deems vital reminiscent of provide information, diagnostic logs, buyer assist information, and extra. It even contains knowledge from companion corporations in case of third social gathering repairs. Hopefully this can paint a transparent image of the situation and historical past of a machine for whoever will get their fingers on it subsequent.

That is clearly designed with enterprise options in thoughts, given the usage of business-class PCs. It makes quite a lot of sense for a enterprise that probably owns lots of of computer systems which are continuously handed round customers to have a device like this to allow them to examine the standing of those units. HP’s want to chop down on e waste right here can be fascinating, hoping the info will empower companies to hunt repairs for particular faults or outdated components versus changing the entire system.

However I am unsure this matches up with the excessive turnover of consumerism in principally all tech units. For a lot of companies it is cheaper to purchase new machines due to tax write-offs than it’s to get them repaired, which is particularly true with how briskly expertise strikes. Until HP is trying to launch much more modular laptops and enterprise PCs, like what they’ve performed for the OMEN gaming PCs, I am unsure how a lot this can assist.

Nonetheless, I like the concept of with the ability to examine the earlier use of a PC and really get some strong solutions that is likely to be reliable. With people on the market nonetheless mining crypto regardless of how unprofitable BitCoin mining has turn out to be, it might be good to have some peace of thoughts that my secondhand unit hasn’t been hauling ascii in a mining rig earlier than making its strategy to my house.