I'd assume that their promise (https://puri.sm/posts/pioneering-cpu-efforts-to-liberate-lap...) to "ship with an Intel CPU fused to run unsigned BIOS code" means precisely that they leave Boot Guard disabled.

Which is much less than they market it, but that's part of the issue some people in the coreboot community have with Purism. They present it as some groundbreaking success (while it's nothing but clicking a different checkbox in a tool), and I really doubt it's the "first [laptop] to ship" that way. Chromebooks come to mind.

Side question: "...Coupled with their desire to include an Nvidia GPU..." that's the first I've heard this. I know Nvidia was hoping to get an x86 license from their lawsuit vs Intel.

Nvidia setted their lawsuit without an x86 license, http://www.anandtech.com/show/4122/intel-settles-with-nvidia...

alright, I thought for a moment it was about something else.

Originally the Purism laptop was supposed to ship with nvidia graphics. They later changed that part of the design.