laptops then and now - are we slowly losing control?

So I just replaced my 5 year old laptop and I'm quite surprised what happened over the time. My new machine comes with

Secure Boot, UEFI, TPM, AT, HECI (Intel MEI: DAL, IFR, ICLS, LMS)

Those technologies suggest us great security, but aren't they in fact taking away the control from us over our devices?
For now all those things can be disabled while the PC stays fully operational. Looking ahead 5 more years I'm not too sure about it.

 

Mine has UEFI and Secure boot, but no Vpro, and i can disable both UEFI and Secure Boot if i wanted to, it's called rootkit protection.

 

I surely don't think so. In the end we fight against more vicious attacks them we did a few years back, thus we need more security, its the cold war without a deterrent.

you are saying that we may lose control of our machines due to the security that we need to keep those going, what I see is a need to stop the attacks, and how to stop those attacks. basically I can't think of anything, otherwise I would be very very rich

I do have a type writer to sell to you, but unless its on your mind, there is nothing that you can't lose, ah it comes with a congratulatory fake tooth filled with cyanide

 

I don't think you had any control in the first place.
You essentially get what the manufacturers design/implement FOR you, and what THEY perceive to be is cost efficient and of course profitable for them.
You are nothing more than a consumer, and they seemingly do things on their own regardless of how some people may feel.
In order to possibly affect change, you'd need a large group of people 'voting with their wallets', and I'm afraid, the amount of people exposed to relevant information and critical thinking in the general population is too low right now to change anything.

That, and manufacturers can still introduce token changes, while not really changing anything of relevance to appease some people, because in the end, they effectively go after the money (to our own dissatisfaction).