New Z - Power-on Fingerprint

I was studying the BIOS of the new Z during my "advanced menu" explorations and I found out that the New Z is missing fingerprint module from the BIOS.

This is the reason why we cannot get power-on fingerprint scan. Simply put, the executable code required for this is just not there.

I have German CTO, which has both TPM and Fingerprint scanner.

Now, there are three possibilities that could explain this lack of feature:

1 -- Sony finalized the BIOS in a hurry, and forgot to enable this feature. It appears that all Z models share the same BIOS.

2 -- They just ignored this feature. Which is strange as well, because Old Z and even TZ before had it. Old Z also had Insyde EFI, so I doubt this feature is not available from the BIOS supplier

3 -- There is something preventing the new Calpella platform from having this feature... Maybe new fingerprint hardware does not have EFI driver which is required for power-on fingerprint support?


Anyway... I guess the only thing we can do at this point is to complain to Sony and if enough of us complain, mabye they will consider putting this feature in one of BIOS updates...

 

I must say that the security features of this notebook leave much to be desired.

Quad custom SSDs, RAID, carbon fiber whatever, i7 procs, HD screens, milled aluminum blah... The list goes on...

Yet the most simplistic and trivial (not to mention COMMON) things are missing... Seriously.. It isn't like TPM and Power-On fingerprints are "new" by any means.

- No TPM for USA (Which means no BitLocker for a non-geek)
- No power-on fingerprint
- Windows 7 Ultimate(?) what's the point?
- BitLocker - have fun with a USB key

On an unrelated note I was just thinking... USA laptops come with a 1 year warranty though you can extend for 4. I can see the headlines with SSD failures start happening shortly after the first year...