The USB plugs could be improved. As it is now, there is insufficient protection against sharp bends. The rigid collars do not ‘dilute’ bend forces over a longer stretch of cable and damages are to be expected (this one is currently in RMA Edit: Support sent a replacement).
There are many cheap anti-kink options that would make the cables more durable.
On the power brick, does space allow to rotate the usb port so that the cable of an angled plug would be parallel to its long edge?
Different setup: Brick on the floor, cable upward, routed to laptop that sits close to the side edge of desk. And then someone blindly vacuums under the desk… Sh*t happens.
I have seen affordable (braided) flexible cables with a 100W power rating that don’t offer full data (a monitor won’t work over them). The cables that are rated full data and power that I have seen have all been rather stiff. I’m starting to think that USB-C cables have to compromise between power, data, and flexibility and that the industry hasn’t quite figured out a way to have all three.
It’s nice that Framework supplies a full data-rated cable (since it seems like something that can be useful), but I don’t think it’s the best for connecting power supplies. I’ve been using third party cables after two Framework-supplied ones failed after charging use, or monitor/dock supplied ones when I connect to those.
You get what you pay for, I guess. Compare:
€34.95 for 1.2m data + power + dual A/C plug vs. €10.00 for 2m data + power.
The Fairphone page doesn’t say for what power the cable is rated.
I’d rather pay a few extra €€ with the laptop order than have the hassle of replacing a cable too soon.
