I’m thinking of ordering several more expansion cards and using my Framework Laptop as my daily driver, but due to my needs, I’d be swapping the cards several times a day. I’m not sure whether the expansion cards were designed for that, and whether that’ll wear out the inner USB-C slot or locking mechanism or something. Is the slot rated for a certain number of removals / insertions?
A possible solution might be to plug cards into the USB-C cards which are dispensable!
It should be rated along USB-C port’s spec though!
I’m guessing it should be OK - the expansion cards force the connection to be perfectly and consistently aligned. No going in at an angle and applying torque to the socket.
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I swap them all the time, while the device is running or otherwise with no issues. I’ve even gotten the hang of taking out a card one-handed, which is trickier than you might think because you have to depress the release button with one finger, get some purchase on the ridge of the card with the fingernail of another, and apply a reasonable amount of force (the cards fit snugly). The whole card interface is engineered well enough that you don’t need to be especially careful while swapping.
As for wearing out the socket, or a maximum number of insertions/removals, I would say if anything you would get a longer life out of the inner ports than a port you were plugging/unplugging a charging or TB cable every day, because the card gets inserted into the port at exactly the correct angle and there is no lateral play at all.
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For the ports themselves it’s 10,000 cycles. Same as most USB-C ports from major connector manufacturers.
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