In our first three update emails, we shared our progress as we closed out engineering and began manufacturing on Framework Laptop 16. We have final candidate builds for firmware and drivers along with material staged for production. We’ve also built all press units, which are now at our office to get redistributed out to reviewers around the world. We’re down to a small number of remaining open issues that we hope to close shortly, detailed below. The factory is currently closed for the year-end inventory audit and will reopen the first week of January. We’re keeping these updates to a bi-weekly cadence. If we’re able to close the remaining open issues over the two weeks, we’ll begin the manufacturing ramp in early January and proceed directly into Batch 1 shipping preparation emails. If not, we’ll send you another update email at that time.
New issues
Yield issues on CPU thermal system - We set strict criteria for thermal performance on Framework Laptop 16, and we have a station on the production line that both tests for system stability and performance over an extended period of heavy benchmark load. When producing the first set of mass production systems for press reviews and internal use, we found that some had CPU performance results that were lower than our threshold. We first found an issue with liquid metal pad installation on some units. After adjusting the assembly process to resolve that, we found that about 20% of units still had CPU performance about 5% lower than expected. We determined that the issue followed the CPU heatsink, and that the failing heatsinks have higher than expected thermal resistance. We’re now taking two actions in parallel. First, we’re validating that the change in liquid metal assembly does indeed fully resolve the issue there. Second, we’re working with the heatsink vendor Cooler Master to understand why their outgoing quality control didn’t catch the thermal resistance issue as it should have. We expect answers on both of these within the next week.
In progress
Power adapter compatibility - Our adapter supplier Chicony and USB-PD vendor Weltrend were able to release new firmware to resolve the main issue. They also provided reflashing fixtures, allowing us to update adapters that we already had in inventory for system production. There is a minor compatibility issue we’ve found when using the adapter with a Power-Z USB-PD measurement tool, but we don’t plan to block shipments on this while we investigate and resolve it.
Resolved issues
Compatibility issues with a few games - AMD was able to pull in the schedule on fixing this bug, and it is incorporated into the release version of the graphics driver for Framework Laptop 16. There are still a few remaining graphics bugs that will land in post-launch driver updates. One is a stability issue with WebGL acceleration in web browsers that can sometimes result in problems with camera effects in Google Meet or Microsoft Teams. AMD has a fix for this issue in early testing.
Fan production schedule - Our fan supplier, Cooler Master was able to bring in the fan production schedule, and with ongoing supply of the new IC, we don’t expect this to become a constraint for further production.
BIG thank you to everybody at FW for keeping up with regular updates in such a transparent fashion. As a details geek, I love the amount of granularity and statistics given.
Question: I imagine those reflashing fixtures (for the power adapters) are somewhat specialized… is there even a remote chance of getting those (or something similar) into the FW marketplace so that any future firmware updates for the adapters can be loaded?
Being candid, likely not. Our manufacturing partner utilizes those fixtures in the factory and they are not meant for public use. Should that change, we’ll definitely let the Community know.
Are the drivers going to be FW16-specific or the fixes will it be rolled into the general driver we can download from AMD’s website for their 7000 series GPUs?
These regular updates and this level of transparency are such a breath of fresh air for this market / industry… It makes waiting for the product release so much easier. Just wanted to express my continued gratitude for that.
We all read different thinks in this update. I personally see that :
I’d like to learn a few thinks from these reviews : how the trackpad spacers look like on a full-production unit (my « biggest » concern about aesthetics), how the 7700s scores in games, and the screen color precision for a photography work… and the battery life!
Do you plan to keep the specific driver bundle throughout the lifetime separate or will the driver incorporated some time in the near future into official drivers?
I’m thinking that all these issues are happening now during the manufacturing process. What happens when we receive the products and new issues start happening. Do we send it back for repair or replacement? Is there going to be some software batch to fix it? This is just too unreliable
this is normal procedure for a new product. like, there is nothing out of the usual here except the fact they are telling us about it. while most companies hide this crap, they’re being open and transparent about their challenges and the solutions. treating us as the investors we nearly are, instead of just unimportant customers who are to be fed lines of BS and expected not to question it.
you would prefer to be lied to about what’s going on with the spin up process for a new product? there’s plenty of companies out there who’re happy to do that. you also have to remember that this is an INCREDIBLY small company. i believe the figure i last saw was 45 total employees. worldwide. they are performing miracles for that level of staffing.
So, if people are cancelling their pre-orders presumably does that mean potentially the rest of the batches may get shipped sooner than what they would otherwise?
It hasn’t even been delivered yet. How could it be judged unreliable?
Do you know what any other manufacturer, faced with 20% of the units being 5% under (5%!!!) spec on thermal headroom when run flat-out maximum load?
They would ship it. As is. And never say a word.
Framework has made a choice to be better here.
If Framework doesn’t play hardball with their suppliers, they will get steamrolled with substandard factory seconds, the final product will be unreliable junk, and that will be the end of everyone’s hope for a repairable, upgradable laptop with discreet GPU.
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