Framework Laptops are now Thunderbolt 4 certified

Awesome! Congrats

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How will the update be distributed?

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@mahe They usually distribute BIOS updates here on the forum. At least, that’s where I’ve been getting mine.

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excellent news! just received my 12th gen today so seeing TB4 certification (along with the associated bios update) is icing on the cake.
full 4 ports of TB was actually one of the buying decisions.

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What does this mean for my 11th Gen? Are early adopters going to be supported?

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As someone who has done extensive power usage tests with the 12th gen, I can say I am delighted to hear those news, and I have high hopes it will improve the rather problematic situation of the expansion card power usage (especially on standby).

I do have to ask, however: the update will be available on Linux (yay!) but will it be distributed with the (de-facto) standard LVFS mechanism? It’s still unclear what Framework’s position is on this (cf. Framework firmware on the LVFS?) right now…

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This is like, the second or third time I have seen you be non-constructively negative at Framework on this forum. As for everything else, they prob can’t say, NDAs and all.

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Statements like yours is why I don’t hang around here much. I try to help and provide advice where possible, but extreme unwarranted negativity is why I don’t enjoy being on this forum. We’re getting pretty offtopic, though.

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@nrp This is amazing news. Can you elaborate on what firmware changes towards Thunderbolt 4 compatibility are coming to the 11th gen laptops.

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GG Framework,

Always nice to see the value of a product being backed by (Official and Respectable) Industry Certifications.

Best Regards,
Varg

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This is all amazing news! Can’t wait for the release :slight_smile:

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This is a quote from the framework subreddit

To offer some insight into 11th Generation Intel Core, Thunderbolt devices may need to be unplugged/replugged when powering on or resuming from hibernate, or after powering on the system.

Also if powering the mainboard from a thunderbolt dock in standalone mode (without battery) The dock or peripherals attached to the dock may not be fully recognized, or may enumerate at the wrong speed

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  • This is a very good news. Intel 12th gen definitely needs BIOS update ASAP. The current is not bad, it works. But since this is a brand new CPU architecture I am certain we will get many improvement in stability and performance from intel microcode. Especially on Linux I and others get microfreezes of all sorts(see forum). Would be nice to be able to deactivate the last E-core (All of them) to test for stability.

  • Concerning thunderbolt it is very welcome aswell, hopefully it will resolve issues like moderne usb charger bugging. Those certifications are certainetly very difficult, but within those thousands of test, there is maybe the case where the power adapter disconnect :wink:

  • When every users is facing one single of those thousands tiny little bugs it makes the difference between your trashable Acer and an thinkpad, Appel or Framwork product.
    Keep on the good work Framework !

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@Greg

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Great news and can’t wait to see the 3.06 FW update. Also seconding an LVFS for Linux users (I don’t much care about remote updates but just being able to use fwupd would be nice).

While off topic, worth mentioning that the forum has an “Ignore User” functionality (Reddit does as well). I’ve only had to add a few users to my list here, but it’s made my experience here a lot more pleasant. Give it a try.

Also, this is Discourse’s default FAQ, but honestly, I feel like it’s worth mentioning it because I think most people haven’t ever read it, and it really does thoughtfully distill a lot of best practices for how to build/act in a online community forum like this one: FAQ - Framework Community

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Hi,
Will this help resolve the problem I and others have had with the DP modules?
Framework support kindly sent me replacement DP modules when the ones delivered with my laptop stopped working after a couple of days. Unfortunately, the replacement modules also failed after a couple of days and I have a support ticket open about it. The USB-A and HDMI modules are working perfectly in the same expansion bay. I wonder if it’s a firmware issue?
Bye,
Tony.

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I’m a little disappointed 11th Gen failed TB4 certification. Not surprised mind you - 11th Gen USB4 / TB4 has been a bit of a point of jank ever since I got the laptop and I figured it would fail - but disappointed nonetheless.

It’s nice that 12th Gen is officially TB4 compatible :smiley:

Will this mean future releases (such as a 13th Gen Intel, for example) might have the little TB4-compatible insignia on the Mainboard or Chassis somewhere?

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Good news for the 12th Gen guys :grinning: but bad news for the 11th Gen pioneers. :slightly_frowning_face:

You’d think the 11th Gen was Intel’s first stab at CPUs or was it Frameworks first stab at laptops?

Ah well. :expressionless:

I’d second that request, it would be useful for 11th-gen owners to know where they can expect limitations in TB4 performance (and implicitly, where they can expect things to work without fault). Pity that some things were not solvable in firmware, but that’s the reality of hardware design, of course :slight_smile:

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Glad to hear FW has official TB4 cert on the 12th gen. As an 11th gen owner, it’s a minor bummer that it’s not official… but honestly not a big deal. Every thunderbolt accessory I’ve used has worked fine for me.

Like others, I would like to know what limitations exist as far as not meeting certification standard just to know what issues I might encounter.

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