Just curious. Anyone happen to decide to return their laptop, If so, why?
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Not even a little bit. The hope of a modular repairable laptop is the dream I bought into. The problems being highlighted now are software in nature and not hardware.
My laptop is fully functional. I have every confidence Framework will be able to address most if not all of the issues being highlighted. What they’ve been able to accomplish is truly impressive.
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I’m returning mine… but only because my cpu was DOA and I’m getting a replacement one shipped out to me first.
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IDK what you think, but I honestly think that not only it’s great that this is possible because everything is modular, but this would make RMA’s sooooooo much easier, “Your battery is inflating? Let me send you another one! Woops, one of the speakers doesn’t work since the device arrived? No problem, new speaker coming right up!”, not only the company saves in shipping costs (is not the same sending a tiny USB module than an entire freaking laptop, but is way more ecofriendly due to all the packagement and e-waste saved
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I would imagine that right now as they spool up availability that they might not be able to do this just yet, but are they sending you a new mainboard, or do they need to send you a whole new laptop?
In the end it doesn’t matter that much because what you sent back can be repaired thanks to the design and will be like new. Not wasted or thrown away.
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Nope they already shipped it out, it will be here tomorrow. They shipped me a complete unit and I’m going to send my original unit back to them so they can diagnose it and keep the parts.
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That’s some pretty good turn around and service. Kudos Framework.
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Honestly with a year long warranty I’d rather just ship it out to them and have them do it. It’s better to have them touch everything so you don’t accidentally break something and void the warranty.
Really, the replaceable stuff it for when you’ve gotten out of warranty and need to replace or upgrade something. Just my 2c
Yeah, I’m “trying” to return but only due to temporary financial constraits (college bills). I hope to get back on track in the future. Love the concept.
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IDK if you’ve actually opened yours up, but it’s stupid simple to replace most parts in there (yes, the WiFi cables are a bit tricky). Especially the common stuff (RAM, storage), but even some of the other things are relatively straightforward, especially if you’ve ever built your own desktop (or even just opened up a desktop).
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Not a thought in my mind. Like others, I bought into the repairable/serviceable/upgradable idea. Having received mine, I am loving it. Any of my issues have been either software, or my fault, so can’t fault Framework at all. I bought it to support Framework and the idea, and as a supplement to my other hardware. I have found myself using it more than my other hardware actually, but we’ll see in the coming days if that is just because it is new, or not.
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I wish I had returned it, lol.
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Why? Are you having problems?
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I’ve had mine for 10 days and it has been a pretty display brick. No one seems to be able to resolve the AX210 vPRO radio issues. I successfully installed both Zorin and Fedora, and only Fedora worked out of the box, but Fedora is not my preferred universal OS, and not being able to run it without using my phone as a hotspot is a deal breaker.
It is a beautiful machine, although I have had a few challenges even with it as a stand alone box not connected to the world. Back lighted keyboard? Seemingly not the case on my laptop, irrespective of my order details. The touch pad has to be clicked dead center to activate an intended function. And I never thought I’d miss the touch screen but I do. Mind you, the touch screen is not a function of the laptop, nor did I ever expect such, but the touch pad is (in my experience) not a good match for this version. Lastly, while charging this thing gets uncomfortably hot on the bottom.
So yes, mine is going back, and maybe round two will produce the results I was hoping for.
Is the Frame Work an amazing concept, absolutely! Is it for everyone, no, but what tech solution is?
This has nothing to do with Framework.
I’m not familiar with the AX210 vPRO model, but if the intel supplied drivers aren’t work on your system, then perhaps a bit of research before purchase, especially since you wanted to use Linux, would have been in order. I don’t see how Linux not properly supporting the AX210 is the fault of Framework.
This seems like a legitimate issue, and one I would have been talking to Framework about. They could have shipped you a new keyboard and trackpad.
Although have you doubled checked your keyboards connection to the mainboard? It seems like your cable might have been damaged, or not properly seated.
At any rate sorry you are not getting along with it. Perhaps time and perspective will ensure that round two is a happy one!
Not blaming Frame work. I read up on it for four months and found few compatibility issues, none of which discussed the AX210 vPro, or even mentioned it. In my assessment that comes across as a “ok to proceed.”
vPro is a remote management vehicle most normally associated with Windows, but works with most Linux variants.
Since I spent most of my adult life in software development, systems, IC and PCB design, data centers and implementation, having the vPro functions is a massive benefit.
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I returned my batch 5 unit after a few days. I loved the hardware, loved the DIY build, everything. Sadly the battery life just isn’t where I need it, and Linux compatibility wasn’t quite ready. I tried Fedora 35, Manjaro Gnome and KDE, and PopOS and none of them were really 100%. The HiDPI support is just bad, and the battery life and sleep performance is not what I wanted.
I will likely buy one again in a year or so once they have time to get everything really dialed in. At this moment it just wasn’t for me.
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I think that’s entirely fair! Personally, I’m coming from a setup which basically had 0 hours of battery life (the laptop’s battery is entirely shot but I couldn’t easily get a replacement from the OEM) and I’ve never had even close to 5 hours of battery life, so getting about 7–9 hours of moderate work time is amazing (I mostly do coding and stuff, so it’s not super intense).
As for HiDPI, I’ve actually found Sway to be really good with HiDPI (fractional scaling “Just Works”), though Xwayland programs (obviously) are a bit blurred (which I’ve decided I can mostly deal with for now). I think a lot of the papercut issues with Gnome and KDE come from the fact that they’re effectively retrofitting Wayland support into X11-first systems, and a lot of the assumptions around graphics and displays and stuff changed dramatically between the two. I think this is why a Wayland-first compositor like Sway (and there are others) had such a relatively easy time getting stuff like fractional scaling working quickly, while Gnome still struggles (and KDE is having an even tougher time).
And as for sleep performance, I’ve just decided that I’ll mostly rely on hibernate since booting and resuming are so damn quick (especially compared to the time it takes me to enter my LUKS passphrase) that it’s only a bit more inconvenient than sleep/resume (while having far fewer issues with battery life). FWIW, deep sleep does reduce battery drain, but you’re right that it’s still not fantastic.
What I will say is that out of all of the laptops I’ve owned, this probably comes near the top for OOTB linux experiences I’ve had. I use Debian unstable, so literally everything worked OOTB (including fingerprint reader, which is amazing) and I’ve had basically zero issues other than the aforementioned deep sleep battery drain (which I’ve found a suitable workaround for). But even with that battery drain, this laptop far surpasses every other one I’ve owned in terms of battery life, but that just might be the kinds of laptops I’ve owned in the past 
.
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@Chiraag_Nataraj Makes sense. I was hoping one distro would “just work” out of the box, and none of them really did. They were SO close, but not there yet.
I’m coming from daily driving a M1 Macbook Air, so I’m completely spoiled with insane battery life, top tier track pad, etc.
I do have to say that I loved the screen on the Framework, and the keyboard was really great too.
I look forward to trying them again down the line a bit more. They are onto something!
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To be honest, at this point, Debian unstable pretty much works OOTB 
Of course, the main remaining issue would be battery life (and as you said, you’re heavily spoiled by the M1 MBA 
).
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