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The following is just my own assumptions, take with a grain of salt.
Phones are often taken out to perform a quick task, then stashed back in a pocket/bag many times a day. As such, being able to unlock a phone quickly is a rather useful feature.
On the other hand, laptops are usually taken out to be used for larger tasks, and as such, do not need to be unlocked as often.
Fingerprint scanners add less value to a laptop than they do a phone.
2 assumptions:
You need to unlock your phone more frequently than your laptop.
It's easier to type in a password on a real keyboard than on a small software keyboard.
money. laptop assembly lines are very diversified even within the same line of laptops to include/not include components to save on price. phones are more fully integrated preventing such customization.
ie, it saves money. you want it, you get to pay for it
What about the fact that fingerprints make great usernames but trash passwords? Perhaps the poor security and extra hardware and software are enough to discourage makers, they can add a variant with a FPS and if that doesn't sell at all they won't make many others.
Right. Fingerprint is something you are. Can’t be changed. Same for any biometric.
Useful as one part of a multiple factor authentication scheme at best but never on its own. Not to mention there are cases in the US where you can be compelled, forcibly if needed, to unlock a phone. But compelling you to “say” what your password may be covered under fifth amendment protections.
Not to mention it’s very unlikely that you have secrets on the phone as valuable as your thumb.
This is why I only use biometrics for website passwords and the App Store on my Apple devices. To unlock requires a password, which cannot be forced (though at least one judge kept a man in jail for contempt of court for not unlocking a device, which should be illegal under the fifth imo).
All Mac laptops do. And my work Windows PC *looks like* it has one but the company was too cheap to pay for it, so all it has is a spot that looks like a fingerprint sensor.
It's an analog fingerprint sensor.
There are absolutely laptops with fingerprint sensors.
I'd say the main reason it's more common in phones than computers is because of the different markets. Phones are mostly consumer purchases, the business market is smaller and the software is more locked down so you can rely on a software disable better sufficing for those cases. Laptops are increasingly dominated by business use cases. Businesses have IT groups that care about security who would prefer models without biometrics.
Secondarily, you login to your phone a lot more often than laptops so the convenience factor is less impactful for laptops. So people don't consider the fingerprint sensor a mandatory requirement as much as with phones.
Most phones auto-lock after <1 minute while laptops tend to go unlocked for hours at a time so laptops don't need to compromise on their security.
Fingerprint sensors are awful for security.
Because you very rarely need to actually log in on your laptop. You lock and open your phone dozens of times per day, but you'll probably log in once or twice on your laptop and that's it. It's not a feature many people would care about.
I always lock my computer when I walk away from it so my dog can't start hacking the CIA.
Deleted by author
Needs to train their dog worse, if anything lol.
I unlock my 1Password vault(s) with fingerprint, so it’s much more useful than just logging into the laptop. which at work I log into many more times a day than once or twice.
I use the TouchID on my MacBook several times a day because it unlocks the password manager and wallet.
If you have an Apple Watch you don’t even need to do that. 😂 but yeah it’s great having a fingerprint scanner on a computer
I lock my computer whenever I leave my desk.
True for personal laptops, false for professional laptops. Might be why they gave me one with a fingerprint reader.
I unlock my work laptop a dozen times a day at least. Facial recognition FTW for that. TBH I've never felt the need to set up my fingerprint though...
Most work laptops I've seen use smart cards for this. The computer is locked unless your card is inserted and a PIN is entered, and removing the card locks the computer.
What country and industry do you work in? I’ve never even heard of that much less seen it in a professional capacity.
A lot of modern places use shibboleth and 2FA keys these days, but the military still uses smart card authentication
Where I work we use passwords but I'm in the trial for Windows hello for business.
I do know though that smart cards are very common in the healthcare industry. I know that the police also use it.
We use Windows Hello PINs. Great when you have a 10-key (numpad) built into the laptop. Too bad it takes forever to wake. God I wish I had *any* MacBook.
that's really weird. I worked in healthcare and literally never saw that once.. that was a decade ago now, but still.
I’m in the US working for a company that uses smart card plus PIN for login, then everything else is automatic SSO using those credentials.
Honestly works amazingly.
"Rarely?" This is anecdotally very false, and I don't think I'm that much of an outlier. Do you have stats on that?
Yeah either they’re unemployed, work from home, or have terrible IT practices where they work hahaha
For real. My work laptop locks after 5 minutes.
As a student, I unlock my laptop several times per day.
When fingerprint tech first hit the consumer market (I want to say early/mid 00s?) it was more common to see laptops with fingerprint sensors. I think they fell out of favor for security reasons, IIRC at one point Mythbusters had an episode where they fooled it.
My crappy thinkpad has one, but I never found the will to set it up.
It is actually quite nice. You sudo something in the terminal and can just swipe your finger to the reader without needing to type your password.
my phone and tablet both don't have one.
My dell precision beast of a mobile workstation does
PC Hardware makers/sellers think about saving every last penny they can, to improve and maintain their profit margins.
Cell phone makers/sellers don't have that same requirement as much, as cell phones can be sold or be subsidized for with higher profit margins, so they can feel more relaxed with including more features.
Finally, it may just come down to cell phone OS companies Google and Apple pressuring cell phone makers to include that hardware, where there is no equivalent organizations for PC Hardware makers.
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Also fingerprint unlock missing would probably be a big no-no for most people even in budget class.
Why I would agree with that in the past, these days I would disagree.
People are not happy about having to do 2FA and such to login (people tend to gravitate towards simplicity), so they are looking for that same feature that they have by default on their phone that helps them simplify the login process, on their computers, moreso now.
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Great answers in this thread. Lots of angles I haven’t thought about.
Laptop has keyboard, you can type your password with the same speed as pressing your finger and waiting for it to unlock.
Most casual users won't even know that their laptop has a fingerprint sensor.
When a company needs a proper security, they buy every user a hardware token like Yubikey.
But most of all, it comes down to the tradition. Manufacturers won't add fingerprint scanner because users do not demand firgerprint scanner. Users do not demand fingerprint scanner because they are used to have no fingerprint scanner. Try removing a fingerprint scanner from a phone, you'll see your sales drop like a brick.
That is what's known as begging the question.
Could also be considered a strawman in this case.
Fallacy fallacy.
Cause typing in a password on a real keyboard is just as fast if not faster than a fingerprint scan.
poop