Does Google know which device I am using w/fresh cookies & a standard LCD?
 

Say I have a desktop & a laptop using the same monitor, OS, & browser. Can any kind of fingerprinting discern the difference between them?

Of course.

Was there more to the question than yes or no?

"Of course" is a start.

How else is the difference discernable?

If OS, monitor, & browser are identical, what else is known?

There are many techniques which they can use besides cookies. See discussions about browser fingerprinting. Back when the EFF used to cover digital rights, they had a demo called Panopticlick: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/11/panopticlick-30

There are other, better, demos out there now but I cannot recall the names at the moment. However, you can probably find them if you search around a bit.

So they both have “fresh” cookies?

When you visit with one computer, the site plants a cookie on it. When you visit with the other computer, the site sees that the cookie isn’t present. That’s the most obvious way to tell that there are two different computers being used. Note that this does not require Google to know anything about either computer.

As for “what else is known”: I admit I had to google it, but apparently the amount of memory and number of processors.

https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ex...ences-in-2020/

The IP is also known, obviously.

If I remember well it was already told, but here is it again:
MS can detect all the hardware changes, not only part replacements, but additional disks/ram (for example). And they will decide if the license is still valid or not. They can even detect if you plug your monitor into another port (like hdmi -> displayport).
I don't think only MS can do that and only MS monitors your system. Other companies also have software tied to the hardware.
Obviously the exact details are not published.

My browser cookies are sparce & always in ram, so cookies will be planted fresh at least each boot on the same computer.

On either device the new cookies process is the same.

It seems like another demanding whole new field of expertise.

If the majority of the Internet is based on for-profit profiling for advertising & information power, an accessible way to grasp the essentials is attractive.

MS can determine our devices in Linux?

It is indeed a whole (niche) field of expertise and you'd be surprised just how much stuff the right code can detect.
FYI anti-fraud systems use these techniques - it's a very specialized field ofc ...

You can try googling 'device fingerprinting' for a start ...

https://amiunique.org shows pretty comprehensive information exposed by your browser