I’ve been a long time user of the Framework Laptop 16 and about 4 months ago I started having issues with my shift key among others. Many people have had their keys stop working even on replacement keyboards (Link). I’ve been reluctant to buy a replacement keyboard myself in fear that the issue will come back after some time. Spending ~$75 for a keyboard that will likely break again is not something anyone would want to do. I just want the framework team to be aware of this issue and hope that a fix will be made soon.
Have you tried to solve the issue with frameworks warranty?
Yeah I tried but it had already ended several months before I tried working with support
Read the linked post of others having the issue and the similarity is gaming. This puts abnormal stress in a unique area of any keyboard. There is a good reason a lot of electronics companies only have a one year warranty on their products and this use case is one of them.
Likely heat is a contributing factor here. Thinking about the average stress being put on a keyboard from decades of (my) gaming underscores why there are keyboards that are specially designed for long term pressing of the same keys over a long period of time. There is nothing wrong with this, it is how games are played.
Most laptops out there do not fare well to gaming unless they are designed with this in mind and have a more robust design to handle this use case.
Thankfully the replacement part is inexpensive and readily available. Other laptop manufacturers are not in this mindset for the most part.
(Corrected for some grammar and spelling)
Handling heat from the laptop is a basic expectation for any built-in laptop keyboard. The Framework Laptop 16 is designed to handle gaming as you can install a dGPU for that. I’ve used a cheap $500 gaming laptop from Acer for 4 years and never had an issue with the keyboard. I even used to game on a 2013 Dell Latitude and never had any issues with the keyboard. Also $75 is pretty expensive for a simple membrane keyboard. I shouldn’t have my laptop keyboard only last a year and a half after moderate gaming and mostly web browsing/school work. If heat kills the keyboard then that’s a major design flaw.
I agree with your points. It may just be a combination of things: heat, repeated use of the same keys, modern stuff that just is not built like it used to, everything getting more expensive etc.
There are a surprising number of older laptops (like your 2013 Dell) that are really durable. So many things today feel like they are not designed to last. Some better than others.
There are probably some things to investigate for the next version of keyboard when the resources are available to update it. Just like the webcam, 256 GB storage module, top cover, 7700s expansion bay, 55 Wh battery, etc.
I’m surprised how that cheap Acer gaming laptop I have still works. The screen is barely functional as some of the backlight is broken and the whole laptop case is pretty destroyed and held by tape. The keyboard and palm rest area is somehow perfectly fine. The laptop was pretty much ewaste when it came out in 2018
. It’s an Acer Nitro 5 an515-42-r5ed if you’re curious