Feature Request Megathread

I really like the interchangeable ports, too. :slight_smile: Since getting my laptop Iā€™ve found that I always have usb-c expansion cards in the top left/right slots. At least one is always needed for charging, and I only change out the bottom two slots.

I would trade some flexibility on the top two ports if I could get more ports. Iā€™m imagining having a usb-c plus a usb-a port on one side and a usb-c plus an HDMI port on the other plus still keeping the bottom two expansion slots.

Iā€™m waiting for a WUXGA+ matte screen.
Donā€™t want to bother with fractionnal scaling !
And matte, because well itā€™s a (work) tool, not a toy. I need it readable, not shiny :slight_smile:

AMD version without pluton
deeper chassis
matte screen
trackball
built in intel ethernet
more expansion bays
2nd nvme slot
wwan slot

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Posting as someone who has been using the Framework for slightly more than a month: I did not expect this coming in, but I find the lack of physical trackpad buttons extremely jarring. Thatā€™s pretty much my only gripe with this laptop.

An alternate input cover with trackpad buttons would be a day 1 purchase.

I think I have the solution for you (It might not work as well, but itā€™s definitely buttons). Use a raised square sticker, half the width. (It sacrifices the trackpad space for a raised bump, in effect uses the touchpad as a button)

Could work, but still does not solve the lack of dedicated right and middle click buttons. While working (mostly programming) thatā€™s just mildly annoying, but I find it impossible to do any casual gaming without an external mouse.

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Iā€™m just gonna add my +1 for a touchscreen upgrade/option.

They have it in their pipeline anyways ā€˜cause the display connector has the right pins for touch already, but maybe the amount of people asking for it will push the RnD forwards.

Itā€™s just a nice to have though, Iā€™ve always had Surface devices but touchscreen has always just been an extra luxury for me anyways. Iā€™ll be buying the laptop regardless once it becomes available.

(Also, thanks Josh for keeping the forum clean with this megathread)

@Dheera_Venkatraman

Nirav has been quoted saying that more than 4 expansion slots would be too complicated because some features like display (via alt-mode) or power delivery (to and from the laptop) would only be available on some ports instead of all. (Itā€™s also really confusing having some ports available to plug in HDMI or PD and some not) These are purely limitations with the intel chip(set) delivered with the laptop and wouldnā€™t change with modifying the mainboard.

Also have to factor in physical restraints with two extra expansion slots.

Thatā€™s really zero issue for me at all, I can deal with knowing the front 4 have PD and the back 2 do not. This is a laptop for devs after all, and having PD on all ports is not even anywhere on my list of considerations. Having 1 PD on the left and 1 PD on the right is a kind of nice feature but even that isnā€™t critical for me.

They could always ship it default with the non-PD ports being USB-A modules by default, that would still be immensely useful to have 2 additional USB-A ports. I almost always have a Yubikey and an external mouse connected to my laptop so thatā€™s 2 USB-A ports right there. That way there would be zero confusion unless the user actively swapped out the USB-A modules.

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A dual USB port for data and hopefully USB power, kinda like a USB-C Hub expansion card
Some kind of display input to use framework as a secondary monitor
ARC laptop GPU option
Intel Ethernet daughter board
Upwards firing speakers

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CPU:

CPUs without black boxes/backdoors Intel ME, AMD PSP (wish not request!)

Coreboot

Screen:

Matte screen option.

Personally I feel 14" screen is the ideal size for a laptop display (portability vs screen size) but besides that a larger display would actually help with all the following requests.

A higher resolution screen to avoid the need for fractional scaling.

Keyboard:

Dedicated PG UP/DW home end keys, alternatively but less desirable a second fn on the right hand side to allow one handed operation of PG UP/DW home end keys.

Better arrow keys. If we must have half height up/down arrow keys please at least make them curved where they meet each other and the same hight for the other arrow keys.

Greater resolution in backlight control for the keyboard.

A fn lock indicator.

Otherwise the KB feels good to me!

Ports:

I love that I can choose my ports however considering 1 is essentially a mandatory USB-C for power we have a 3 port machine which is a touch limitingā€¦ Dual port cards perhaps? I know the limitations but Iā€™m not sure what other options there are.

Fixing the additional power drain issues with the cards that are not type-C.

Battery:

It is EXCELLENT to have a charge limiter I would also love to also be able to slow charge the battery so it doesnā€™t get so hot during charging.

A greater capacity battery would always be welcomed.

Speakers:

They sound poor to my ears and inferior to much smaller phone speakers having them downwards firing is only making them sound worse.

A bit louder max volume but if it is a choice between better quality and volume then they are loud enough.

3 Likes

Since you brought it upā€¦

Iā€™ll just go ahead and take this opportunity to plug my own personal desire that goes in Tandem with this - Coreboot support

Not only will this please your Linux users, it will also ease a serious pain point for some members of the forums, namely the hold up on BIOS updates. With Coreboot, Framework will be in the driverā€™s seat and wonā€™t be beholden to Insyde any longer.

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I meant to add that too! I have now :smiley:

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Pluton isnā€™t an AMD tech, itā€™s Microsoft and ALL processors are going to have it unless something changes. The AMD equivalent to IME is PSP, which as far as we know isnt nearly as bad as ME in terms of security exploits, but is still a black box. If 12th gen Intel doesnā€™t have Pluton yet, 13th gen will. ARM already has it (mostly Mediatek)

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The way I see it, itā€™s an iteration on TPM and just like Secure Boot, it can be used to restrict users in many ways. Alternatively, it can be used to secure PCā€™s better than current TPMā€™s can. I will reserve judgement until I see the implementation. The IME and PSP however are completely different, as far as Iā€™m concerned, they are nothing but security flaws that allow better enterprise control over ā€œfleetsā€. Features that as a home user, I will never use.

EDIT: I now see even less concern

" Microsoft pioneered Pluton first in Azure Sphere, its Linux-based microcontroller, and in Xbox. In a January 4 blog post, Microsoft officials noted that Pluton can be configured in three ways: As the Trusted Platform Module (TPM); as a security processor for non-TPM scenarios like platform resiliency; or inside a device where OEMs have opted to ship with the chip turned off." (Emphasis mine)

ā€œOEMs can choose to ship with Pluton turned offā€ per Microsoft

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Itā€™s also remotely updateable by Microsoft and theoretically can prevent installation or use of ā€˜unapprovedā€™ (by Microsoft) OSes and software.

Not if it ships turned off, I imagine that section is fused off at the fab or at packaging

Plus that would open Microsoft up to anti-trust litigation, something they are pretty wary of and antithetical to their current direction

@Peter_Schofield thank you for the correction, you right I mixed up PSP with Pluton. I actually completely forgot it was a MS creation.

I know IME and AMD PSP are a part of modern x86 processors but unless im mistaken there has been some success disabling it in previous generations, I suppose that was more of a wish than a feature request.

for IME yes, Iā€™m not aware of such for PSP, but my understanding is that PSP is a lot more recent.

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