Will there be a hinge update for the framework 13 pro to allow tablet mode?
It would be a fantastic addition.
I have one coming in batch 10 and would love to see an updated hinge as an upgrade down the line
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Probably not, it would require a larger redesign of the chassis, screen, bezel, cable routing and stuff as you effectively need two coupled hinges (on each side) for full 360° rotation.
And you’d get something very close the the Framework 12.
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I haven’t seen Framework mention anything of the sort. Still possible I suppose, but I wouldn’t expect it to be likely. Or at least in the near future.
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Might I direct you here?
Hi. Just joined. This is my first post here. While I have no Framework, yet anyway, my next laptop, in a year or two, might be.
Though of course Framework can’t please everyone or comment much on future projects, let it hereby be known that I for one, if feasible, would be willing to pay extra for a 2-in-1 hinge (option) in a next-gen 13 pro. How much I’d use it might be the wrong question. Like a touchscreen, backlit keyboard, SIM support or swappable ports, I think 2-in-1 furthers the state of the art by improving flexibility without adding much bulk or weight.
The 32" 4K touch monitor for my PC cost much more than a non-touch and I mostly still use a mouse. Yet, at times I find taps so handy that I no longer want non-touch screens. I even paid for a touch monitor for my non-touch work laptop and my next work laptop will likely have touch. Early RSI needs all variation I can get.
My own ageing Lenovo Yoga 9i has taught me similar lessons about 2-in-1. The few times I do use it as a bulky tablet, maybe to stand up and present or to read in bed, I find it helpful. Using an external keyboard with a clamshell, while keeping the internal screen the right distance from my eyes, is iffy at best. A 2-in-1 can just fold its internal keyboard away.
To save my neck, my work laptop sits right in front of its external screen, which is propped up higher than ideally, so the laptop screen awkwardly fits behind it. With a 2-in-1, I could fold its internal screen away or, if using it as a second screen, fold its base away, significantly reducing its footprint.
My Yoga sits on an angled stand. If bent back, my desk can’t catch the screen. Where a normal hinge might break and/or fling the device off the desk, a 2-in-1 reduces that failure mode. Corner case? Well, a small PDA I had did not even open 180 degrees, until a bookshelf speaker somehow fell on it at 3am. Bent metal went flying. It was fixable, once, and made me wary of limited range hinges.
While the Framework 12 indeed exists, I’m looking for more performance, not less, so I hope something like the Framework 12 hinge will carry over to more capable models, much like touch already has.
Hi and welcome!
I 100% agree with your use case and wanted to add my own.
I have been looking into upgrading my note taking setup and looked at some E-Ink tablets but then I realized that the 13 Pro has a touchscreen and that I might be able to use that. The only limitation to this would be that the screen only rotates 180 degrees. I would love to be able to use my Framework 13 Pro as a writing device as well as laptop because that would mean carying one less device and having everything on one device making other parts of the setup much more streamlined.
Yes. Personally I think note-taking requires the screen to (also) support an active digitizer pen, like, say, the Samsung S-pen, which is the one thing I really miss from my Note days. My later attempts at drawing (and some note taking) using an Adonit Dash 3 failed hilariously. That pen is a “finger simulator”, though battery assisted to allow a slightly finer tip, which interacts with a regular capacitive touch screen. As I tried using it on a phone, not a tablet, the small screen may have made the effects of slow response and low accuracy even worse. I soon gave up.
For some reason, I’ve never really gotten about to really use the rather excellent little digitizer pen that came with my Yoga. While I mostly prefer to type rather than write, not using it more is a bad non-habit I should get out of… Anyway, also giving a future pro 13 support for an active digitizer pen would be another of those “further the state of the art for next to no extra bulk or weight” things that could open up such a device to new categories of artists and notetakers.
Would I pay extra-extra for digitizer pen support in a ~2028 pro 13? Probably. And a bit more for OLED, while at it. I really like the contrast. For now though, in this thread, I’m hoping for 2-in-1 first. And then for RAM prices to come down a bit… In an ideal world, I’d just upgrade the motherboard in my Yoga, but alas, it’s not a Framework, so no such thing. Cheers!