I think it would be amazing if they could make a USB-C expansion card with volume up and down buttons to either side of the port.
5 Likes
Chrome OS option would be awesome tbh
The Framework 12 has just launched basically, and it is glorious. I love this thing! I really think Framework has knocked it out of the park with this.
My wish list would be:
- backlit keyboard
- aluminum enclosure
- thunderbolt
-
- all of my wishlist items are probably things that would have been possible had the education market not limited the cost of the laptop. As hop up items they provide Framework with a great way to allow the Framework 12 to be a more premium product as well.
The TPU based enclosure now is actually great, and I do think it has the potential to be more robust and damage resistant than aluminum. So if I had to get rid of one of my ideas that would be it.
Let me just add, that I am not saying all of these items are necessary to make the Framework 12 great. It already is. I am VERY happy with mine. These are just hop ups, if you will, that I would love to buy for mine.
3 Likes
Here’s my wish list:
- High refresh rate, Color accurate display.
- More powerful APU
- EMR display and Battery-less stylus
- Backlit Keyboard
- Volume Button expansion Card
4 Likes
eGPU support
3 Likes
Thunderbolt that I mentioned would address this as well on Intel based mainboards.
3 Likes
Or USB4 or whatever, but yes; I think a small, sturdy, mid-powered laptop is perfect for this use case.
1 Like
Agree with this. The current configuration options spread is too narrow, understandably to target the [relatively] lower cost market. If the configurator can have additional premium configuration options, that could satisfy additional audience / market. (cough better gamut, 120hz VRR, better speakers, larger capacity lithium-ion battery with silicon-based anodes…)
3 Likes
Good point. I’d be curious/hopeful to see battery life and thermals with boost off. From what I can tell, the 1315u is essentially an N150 with some P-cores added. Wonder how close these chips can get to the N series with some fiddling.
2 Likes
That sounds like something that wouldn’t be too hard. Worth asking in the expansion card forum. I am sure someone could make that.
- matte display
- backlit keyboard
- fingerprint reader via expansion card OR inside the power button
2 Likes
For Thunderbolt, I can understand a base model not having that. Perhaps the i5 model could include the retimers?
3 Likes
In order of priority:
- Mobo with duel channel RAM if at all possible. Probably the hardest and the one needed by most people the least, but would still be nice for speed. An AMD CPU would also be fantastic.
- Better screen! Pretty please. The current one is…acceptable. I’m not an artist, but on a small screen the quality of the screen is very important.
- Backlit keyboad.
- Accessories? Pen holder, bag, etc. It can be hard to find some of this stuff.
2 Likes
- What are the top-requests you have for the FW12?
- What are no-go-issues that have to be resolved (please don’t name technical problems that have to be done like the cracking-thing, as I hope those will of course be fixed)?
- What do you really want to have in rev.2 ?
To me: the thing that really makes me crazy about the FW12 is the keyboard. I don’t like the feel, I don’t like how the keypresses feel and I really miss the background-light.
What’s also an issue to me is the display, but not the color accuracy or the light-bleed (which is also a bit annoying), but the resolution. Native makes things to small for my eyes, and 200% is much to big. Fractional scaling brings some issues in linux.
1 Like
My main request would be a more efficient chip, so that battery life and fan noise would improve.
And the coloured expansion cards for all types (hdmi and such) as a cosmetic thing(the aluminium look matched to the plastic drives me a little crazy).
7 Likes
Better color accuacy screen option
Higher sensativity pen (I know we dont even hsve access to the current stylus but 8192 levels of preasure sensativity feels great)
More effecient chip archectecture for better battery life (the current choice generation is infamously power hungry)
Backlit keyboard option
Usb4 for at least 1 port
Camm memory would also be nice if we are stivking to single channel memory
1 Like
Outside of fixes…
- AMD mainboard
- Dual channel RAM
- Backlit keyboard
- Improved display colors
- Improved thermals (poke some holes in the bottom cover)
I’m sure some of these are just not possible due to the lack of space, but it would be neat if they released a new generation down the road with a slightly thicker bottom cover for better components.
I like the older style plastic MacBooks and it would be a nice throwback.
Edit: Thinking how the F12 is a device for education, I think it be a great way to teach kids and teens to take things apart and put them back together is a newer bigger bottom cover was released
1 Like
Im highly against the idea of a bigger shell „upgrade“ as it would be a complete 180 of everything Framework stands for.
Bigger shell would mean redesign of almost every component (battery, speakers, antenna array etc.) to utilize the bigger space. And even if some parts would stay the same like mainboards and processors that would make the product even more unnecessary.
A new chassis creates a new product to maintain, with different components, which have to be restocked for both versions, while providing the same chips and mainboards as well as screen size and features. So the same laptop basically just two versions that are unnecessarily different and non compatible, which isn’t sustainable in any way.
It would be not only unnecessary, but also anti consumer, as people who bought the original miss out on the new improved parts specially designed for the new chassis.
And it would just be a waste of framework’s development and production teams.
Just improve the components on the same footprint.
1 Like
As others have said, a better color-accuracy screen would be nice. Realistically, they can offer it as an option and keep this one for now as well, similar to what they’re doing with the new matte screen and 2.8k screen that FW13 has. An option for either would be great for those that don’t need it to save on some cost while the users that do (artists/editors, etc) to be bale to get the device they dream of.
As for RAM: Dual channel is nice, but may require a rather major change in board architecture. If they are able to squeeze it, I’m all for it. But it’s not necessary honestly. The build I have includes 48GB. It’s overly plenty. I have not tried rendering or compiling yet, but everything else I’ve done has had zero performance issues whatsoever. DDR5 is substantial enough to compensate imo.
As for the keyboard: yes, this is one of the things I’m actually most “disappointed” in, if that’s even the right word. A backlit keyboard would be nice, if possible with the current pogo-pin setup on the mainboard. Maybe an option on the next board to include more pins? not sure what the solution would be. More pins for light power would break the backwards compatibility for that potential new backlit keyboard option, but it wouldn’t be the first time something like that has been offered, like the intel and AMD Wifi chips. But honestly, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.
For next gen upgrades, remember that the FW12 is destined to use “last-gen” chips to save on cost, which is simply fine. AMD as an option, imo, could solve the stupid intel-ucode problems i have with Arch on rare occasion, but the bigger kicker is battery efficiency with AMD.
And speaking of battery, as FW designs better cells, a higher capacity battery for FW12 (and 13 and 16!!!) should be offered ASAP. It is the #1 thing when I talk about the device to others that pulls them out of the magic of the ecosystem. Everything is perfect otherwise, but they are afraid of leaving their HP or Macbook 16-20hr battery life for something thats 8-14hr stretched. I have zero issues with it myself because my workflow is mostly desktop, and the laptop is rarely used for more than a few hours max before going back home to charge etc, but that “i need best battery life” mindset really hits people harder than you think. It’s the single issue holding many back from purchasing. I think Framework is heading in the right direction with everything and I am hoping the battery capacity (recycled materials are more difficult to get working for high capacity without compromising the recyclability I’m sure) gets better over time.
USB4/Thunderbolt would be nice on each side. Alongside that, shelling the current loadout of their port expansion cards to be color-matched I’m sure is coming, but USB-A seems to be pretty important these days still with thumbdrives being almost entirely always USB-A. It would be cool to have them all match and not just USB-C on all 4 slots!
Finally, a color suggestion: BLUE! We’ve got a beautiful cotton-candy color, scheme, and even swapping those colors or just using that blue would be awesome. As an aside, my entire PC setup and hardware selection right now is all-white, so I went with the closest FW12 to that, the light gray. It’s less aluminum-looking than my FW13 (i have a white skin for it, thanks dbrand), but I am really liking that sage green a LOT the more I see others with it. A shell upgrade could be really fun in the future. even color-mixing parts!
P.S. the screen, while pressing on the side to open it (the hinge is sturdy but more force is then required), I sometimes feel like I’m risking damaging the screen edge. Guess I should always just open it from top center.
1 Like
No problem as far as the pogo-pins. Framework included backlight pins in the design! They try to plan for a long life of for their platforms. github.com/FrameworkComputer/Framework-Laptop-12. There is also usb pins near the power button, for a fingerprint reader possibly.
2 Likes