This project and the idea behind it are amazing! Love the prospect of actually being able to upgrade the specs inside the machine, and repair it if necessary. If this works out, the reduction in e-waste will be immense! This is definitely on top my list to look at when my current one becomes too slow to work on.
That being said, I have a couple of questions that I’d love to get answers to:
With the founders coming from some very high profile companies like Oculus, has enough funding been raised to support this business for a few years / product cycles in order to build up a sizeable customer base to become sustainable?
The FAQ mentions that they don’t plan to charge a premium for sustainability. That being said, are there any plans for a more budget-oriented model with, say, a plastic case and non-backlit keyboard, or does it make more sense economically to just produce more of the same?
Is there a possibility (down the line) for other chassis form factors that the current motherboard design will fit in? i.e for a 15" 16:10 screen, would you just need extensions for the usb-c ports on the sides so they’d reach the points where expansion cards plug in?
About the expansion cards: Does the USB 4 spec allow for an expansion card that turns one usb-c port into two? What about an ethernet port?
Is the screen that’ll be in the kit glossy or matte?
Is it possible to set a charging limit (for example 90%) via the BIOS / charge controller somehow to extend the lifetime of the battery?
Thanks and best of luck to the team, I look forward to following this thing and hoping that in a year they’ll be selling a Ryzen 5 kit at a reasonable price
Really hope this becomes successful and the circumstances and market allow the team to stay true to their vision!
@ts.spivet You’re right, after looking around and discovering the search feature (whoops) I’ve found an answer to 6 ( Battery Charge Options - #3 by Kieran_Levin ) and some info on 4 (Ethernet is planned, and there is a discussion about splitting it into multiple ports on one card).
Matte displays typically have an added diffuser layer bonded to the front of the display to make them look matte. We don’t have that on our display, but we do have anti-glare coatings on the display to make it super usable in most lighting conditions.
I read that you’re providing a screen with 100% sRGB color gamut in the framework laptop; do you have future plans to provide a laptop variant/only screen with 100% Adobe RGB?
Plastic is (from my limited knowledge) harder to mold into shapes like this because of its shrinkage properties. Plus, aluminum is much easier to recycle at end of life. So, unlikely a plastic case would save anything, environmentally or economically speaking.