Fifth update on Framework Laptop 16 Shipment Timing

Copied from the email I recieved

Fifth update on Framework Laptop 16 shipment timing

In our first four updates, we shared progress as we identified and closed engineering issues and manufactured our production qualification units of Framework Laptop 16. We’ve now shipped a large number of press units, for which reviews will start to appear later this month. Note that the issues we’re calling out below are ones that are present on press review units that are fixed on customer units. This means rather than cherry picking perfect units for press, we’ve ended up with some minor areas where you’ll see improvements beyond what reviewers have.

We’re happy to share that there are no new unresolved issues in this update. The main item gating the mass production schedule remains the CPU heatsink, which we have an update on below. Rather than doing a quick patch to get manufacturing yield above the threshold, Cooler Master spent the last two weeks overhauling their manufacturing process, building new test fixturing, and outputting validation samples. This means we have a complete solution to the original issue, but one which took a bit more time. We have the first production quantities of the final heatsink arriving at our laptop factory the week of January 22nd, and our goal is to output the first set of Batch 1 customer systems from the factory before the end of January, after which they will go to our warehouse to prepare for shipments.

This means that if the final qualification process doesn’t uncover any issues, we’ll send the first “We’re preparing your batch” emails to Batch 1 customers in late January.

New issues

No new unresolved issues!

In progress

  1. Yield issues on CPU thermal system - We’ve split this into two line items to go deeper into each. First, on the CPU heatsink, Cooler Master was able to adjust their vapor chamber soldering process to resolve the yield issue, and actually improved the thermal performance overall as a result. They also developed a new production test fixture to screen each manufactured module more thoroughly to ensure it meets the quality spec before shipping out. To vet all of this, Cooler Master is now preparing a small batch of heatsinks using the final mass production manufacturing and test process. These will be completed on 1/12, and to accelerate the system-level test schedule, will be hand carried from Cooler Master’s factory outside Shanghai to our laptop factory in Taoyuan. At that point, we’ll build them into a small number of production qualification laptops to ensure they also pass our system level manufacturing tests. To further pull in the schedule, rather than waiting for the results of the system tests, we’re “risk buying” enough heatsinks to cover Batch 1 and part of Batch 2. This means that Cooler Master is going directly into mass production, with us accepting and taking liability for the risk that we find an issue with the material during the system-level tests. This might sound frightening, but it’s a relatively common scenario in manufacturing, and appropriately balancing risks is a core responsibility of our Supply Chain Team!
  2. Liquid metal installation - In parallel to the CPU heatsink qualification, we’re qualifying the final recipe for liquid metal thermal pad and containment barrier installation. We’ve iterated on several configurations and put them through some extreme torture tests. For example, we ran Prime95 on units sitting in six orientations on a vibration table for three hours, we put systems through high-G shock while running Prime95, and we are running an extended period of thermal cycling. All of this is to build confidence that the final configuration is robust to handling and aging. All of this is set to intercept the heatsink schedule.

Resolved issues

  1. Tuning capacitor noise - We found and resolved one additional scenario that could result in a high pitch noise coming from the Mainboard when using >20V power adapters.
  2. Touchpad row sliding friction - We found and resolved a material quality issue that could result in excess friction in sliding the Touchpad Module and Touchpad Spacers on and off.
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Huzzah!

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Getting that batch 1 email would be a great birthday gift. :slight_smile:

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Yippee! Glad to hear things are going well, no new issues. And possibly actually slightly increasing thermal performance even? Can’t say I’m not OK with the short additional delay for that.

Likely doesn’t mean I’ll get my Batch 12 all that much faster, sadly. I can’t WAIT to get my FW16, my laptop is definitely needing replacement.

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I signed up just because I wanted to voice the same levels of high anticipation, excitement and confidence in the company with what we are seeing thus far.

I do wonder what could be the timeline looking like for batches other than batch 1 and 2.

A side note - I presume one day someone from the community will take Framework’s approach to almost full technical disclosure and make it into business course at some prestigious college for the world to learn about the proper way to handle the geek community on new products such as Laptop 16.

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I’m happy to hear the news, even though my I will have to wait a little longer for my late batch :slight_smile:

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From what I remember others posting elsewhere, I think Framework is expecting, at this time, to have all pre-orders placed so far to be completely fulfilled by approximately early to mid summer at the latest. I could be remembering that wrong though.

Certainly seems likely, unless some crazy new issue is found as they move forward into mass production. I’d rate it likely that as a probably later Batch 12 (Shipped Q1 estimate) that I’ll get mine probably April, maybe early May. I’m hoping sooner, in March, but given the unfortunately (but thorough!) mass production delays, that’s my completely uneducated, wild guess.

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They stated on twitter a couple of days ago that with the production capacity available all existing pre-orders will be fulfilled in H1. So by end of June.

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Great news. I’m excited to see reviews start popping up! Now to wait for my batch (15 I think) to ship in Q2…

Happy to hear! Im on B9. Hope i get it sone and trow away my desktop away xD

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This approach also puts pressure on partners to keep dealings above-board! Cooler Master would have been crazy do do anything but overhaul the manufacturing process and get things done the right way.

And if a partner drops the ball, us customers know that Framework isn’t responsible for the schedule slide.

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“Your days are numbered” - Me, looking at my desktop with a 5950x and an RTX 3090

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Hah! I can relate to this.

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Lol here first ed of amd 3600 and 6700 xt. Im going to an ryzen 9… Big jump? XD

“Don’t worry, just a couple months and you will finally be at peace.” - Me looking at my desktop with a 1950x and an RX 580

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Same with me looking at my desktop with an i5 and GTX 1050 Ti…

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Me, looking at my husk of a dead gaming laptop: “Soon.”

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i7-7700HQ and GTX1050 begging to be let go. Been dealing with a hinge that completely seperated from the chassis since the first shipment delay/email :frowning: B1 so not much longer hopefully!

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This is going to be the most quoted bit of text on this forum soon …

Sent from Dell Studio 17 Intel CORE Duo (the chip that thinks it is 64 bit but isn’t), with camera that doesn’t work, sound is dead, power button is broken, and various other niggles.

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Jeeze man, that’s OOOOOOLD.

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