Framework 12 display sub for higher resolution

I’d suggesting contacting support or tagging an employee if you actually want visibility

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Not quite sure who to tag. Any suggestions as to specific staff members?

Currently fighting with my framework 16 - gets stuck at 0.55GHz on the CPU (Not power or thermals… Only happens in specific software.)

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The issue you have isn’t uncommon. As for who to tag…You could start by visiting

https://community.frame.work/g/Framework

And

Then scrolling to the “Who We Are” portion to find the relevant employees. Perhaps Adila, the senior supply chain person?

or you could just tag the CEO but idk if he would see your tag, he may get tagged pretty often. You could also tag the customer support people and see if they could pass this along to the correct people within the company. Or start by messaging support directly but you’ll likely get frontline support and they may not have a way to contact the relevant people.

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Any updates on the screen or contacting framework team? Really appreciating the research effort you’re putting here!

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Any news? I’d really love a good display on this goober and appreciate your effort mate.

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Heya, what’s the capital requirements for this, and what’s the per-unit cost they’re estimating? I am irrational about wanting a better screen for this otherwise awesome laptop, and I’m prepared to pony-up significantly for my irrationality. :slight_smile:

The screen, particularly the color gamut, is what’s been the dealbreaker for me every time I’ve configurated a Framework 12.

Would love to chat and try to help make this happen!

-Kelsey

The big catch here is the lack of data lines on the connector. a 30 pin connector really limits data rate so we cannot get high-res or high refresh rate displays. This also severely limits compatibility with better displays. I really wish framework had put a 40 pin (double the data lanes) here like in the framework 13 and just used a custom ribbon to drive the lower quality display.

The best MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) I have been quoted is 200pcs. LCDs are very cheap in bulk, something like $120/pc in low quantity is reasonable so $24k in LCDs. (MOQ is driven by customizing the display just to work with the limited lane count on the FW12.)

You are then looking at custom cables to match the pinout of the framework connector (likely - slim chance of finding one that just matches) so a few k there in NRE of the flat flex cable (even if I design it myself, testing signal integrity is time consuming.)

Then you have the real gotcha - losing pen support. To get pen support you almost have to commit to 1k MOQ with some manufacturers quoting even higher.

You are looking at $25k to $100k capitol to do this properly and even then you likely aren’t getting higher resolution, or higher refresh rate (going to 75hz seems possible) and are just getting better color gamut.

From an engineering perspective, it just doesn’t make sense with the current options. Maybe in a few years some OLED panel will fit nicely but I doubt it given the bandwidth limitations of the connector.

From a business perspective, it doesn’t make sense to try to raise that amount of money under the assumption that framework will come out with a replacement screen someday that is just better (like they did with the 13).

At the end of the day, I hoped to find a good solution but I am not surprised to come up with the same conclusion framework likely came to - there isn’t a better display option at this price point. I just really wish the motherboard had been future-proofed a bit more with the extra lanes (since we know the intel processor has them.)

My guess is that the actual cost to develop a better screen is in the range of $100k to $300k. Given an estimated 1M laptops sold between 2020 and 2024 (spec found online) let’s estimate they are doing closer to 300k per year now (growth - conservative). That means $1 of each laptop for a year would go to developing a better screen. (just an engineering dev batch.) It makes SO much more sense to just wait on framework.

I think they accomplished their goal as best they could and are dealing with the everyday struggle of engineering tech. cost-benefit analysis while also trying to be consumer and environmentally friendly.

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Yeah, absolutely disappointing that they didn’t use 40pin. Nrp said they choose 30pin for both space and cost reasons (community.frame.work/t/67250/2). I’m hoping for the next FWL12 mainboard they squeeze in a 40pin connector. As you say, a cable can covert to 30pin for the current existing display. All the cables are custom anyway, since no mainboard-side standard pinouts seem to exist.

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