I have an interesting idea for an expansion card (which I’d like to note I have yet to see it on the forum but I’m not claiming I’m the first with this idea). After the revelation of extended expansion cards being a thing that can happen(i previously never considered it), I had an idea for one that could house an M.2 2230 SSD. I have not done any cad work or modeling with this, it just came to mind and I’d thought I should share it. It seems to be like there could be promise in doing some sort of internal USBC to M.2, then being able to slot your own drive in through a removable lid on the card.
I will say that it does seem a little unnecessary since there are already drive expansion cards, I just think it would be interesting for modularity and compatibility with other systems. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Would want to take this on but thermals and silicon shortages will be your issue as I know the silicon required are most of the time either very expensive or out of stock. /
When you say “extended expansion cards”, do you mean double-height, or extending past the side of the laptop?
I wonder if a double-height card could house a 2280 or even 22110 card… it would have to extend further “in” than the normal “back” of the slot, but if it’s under the body, that might be feasible? (For that matter, you could steal some additional room to the sides also, as long as you don’t block the release tab…)
@matthew3 Initially I only considered it extending out of the side of the laptop, but not increasing the height. Increasing the height sounds mildly interesting, or at least lengthening the side with the port on it with more room for larger ports(ethernet??). I imagine that a card to fit something like a 2280 or 22110 would have to extend under the laptop inwards. I like that idea a lot actually, I wonder if it is something they have considered.
I’ve enquired to a few manufacturers of the silicon required to create an expansion card like this, if I am able to get datasheets and purchasing options without an NDA I will continue with this idea.
If you want PCIe, the most obvious solution is to leverage thunderbolt. Intel is the only manufacturer of thunderbolt controllers. And their datasheets are… nothing but product briefs. I suspect you need to sign an NDA with them to get the full datasheet and documentations.
USB4 can be a way out as it supports native PCIe tunneling. But it is an optional feature by the spec. I am not sure if Framework Laptop supports it. Plus the only USB4 controller (ASM2464PD from ASMedia) that has announced support is still a demo. Rumor has it that it will be shipped in Q4 this year.