Apple refugee looking for a new home: High PPI when?

Framework Laptop 16
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I’ve run 15–16" MacBook Pro Retinas as my main machine since the first was released. Before that I have (somewhat painfully) had Linux on laptops on and off since the late 90s. A lot of what Framework does appeals to me: modular, upgradeable, not locked down. The one thing that has kept me on Apple is the display. Every time I look at switching, the machines from other manufacturers look great on paper but end up not feeling quite right or having a display I don’t like. I have a great desktop with an amazing display. However I find myself on my laptop coding or working or visiting customers often enough that my (aging, haha) eyes demand clarity.

Regarding the Framework 16: The current display is great in some respects. It’s a proper matte, high refresh panel with good colors.

My reluctance to switch therefore comes down to two things:

  1. The biggest issue is pixel density. The current 16" MacBook Pro has a resolution of 3456x2234 is about 254 PPI. The Framework 16’s only display at 2560x1600 is about 189 PPI. That is the first thing a MacBook user will notice. For me it is most noticeable in terminals and IDEs where text sharpness is the whole job. Images also look fantastic at this PPI. One can actually see more of the pixels we capture on our cameras!

  2. The second issue is contrast: Apple’s mini-LED has up to 1600 nits in HDR. This gives images a punch that regular IPS can’t match.

What I want then is pretty simple: A higher-PPI matte 16" screen. Sharp text first, good color and contrast second. OLED would be nice, but I don’t need it. A dense matte IPS or mini-LED would do the job. I’m not after a glossy gaming panel. I want something sharp, matte, and color-accurate on a machine that I spend most of my working life looking at.

I’d pay extra for it! I doubt I’m the only one. Seems like a high-PPI display is a strangely absent Framework shaped upgrade. I’d think there are many MacBook holdouts who would switch to a repairable, Linux-friendly hardware platform in a heartbeat. The display is the only deal killer for me.

So: is a better display on the 16" roadmap? Even a rough “yes, eventually” might be enough to get me to hold out a bit longer. Otherwise I’ll inevitably cough up far more than I want to spend on laptop from a brand I’d rather not keep throwing money at. Everything else is an easy sell for me.

Thanks,
j

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You have good eyesight. My work machine is a 16" MBP and while the difference in colour rendering is obvious, the resolution not so much. My only gripe with my FW16 is the display uniformity really.

The panels Framework is using are manufactured by BOE Technology. I’ve scoured https://www.panelook.com/ for a better display and I have to say the people at Framework did a great job at finding the right part.

Overall for now, unless they get someone to design a custom panel, this is as good as it gets. There were attempts at cramming in a mini LED display there:

But it plainly doesn’t fit.

Framework doesn’t make ahead-of-time announcements, but it’s reasonable to assume that eventually there would come a FW16 Pro, possibly with a better display - the 13 Pro got it and it’s 266PPI, so perhaps the 16 will as well.

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Until now, Framework had been relying upon using existing display panels. This ran into an odd situation where one screen option for the Framework 13 was high-res but had non-functional corners… even though the Framework 13 doesn’t have rounded corners.

However, with the new Framework 13 Pro option, they announced that the company has expanded to the point where they can order custom panels, resulting in high-res panel for the 13 that doesn’t have dead corners.

As previously mentioned, they don’t announce things too early in advance. I wouldn’t be surprised if a new panel is in the works for the 16 (maybe even a 16 Pro option), but we won’t know until they announce it.

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