More than just the cellular radio.

https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/27/qualcomm_covert_operating_system_claim/

I think this was built into the SOC itself, or the GPS module, but it runs 100% independently of your OS, even on custom firmware.

I’m actually all for this. If you’re driving your #1 priority should be paying attention to the road, and any distraction should be avoided if possible.

The Germans had it right not having cup holders in their cars.

If you’ve got a thunderbolt port on your laptop and a thunderbolt dock on your laptop then there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work.

I’m not familiar with thunderbolt on linux, but on windows you plug it in and it just works™️ and shows up as if it was inside your machine. Your DE on linux might automatically do it, but if you’re command line only you’ll probably have to run a command first.

The worst laptop you can find could probably be better than even a reasonably specced VPS. Low end VPS are dire, and you can get some pretty decent laptops for almost nothing. If it’s pre 8th Gen. Intel they’re basically worthless on the used market. But they’ll still easily get the job done.