As someone planning to budget build the 16, just wondering if there’s info on when the chassis and top plate will be available solo? With the current shipping dates for built 16s, I’m thinking early next year at best…
Cheers
EDIT; I’m a dumbass, they’re already available 
They are available now in the “parts” section:
Framework | Framework Marketplace | Parts
Oh damn 
Thank you, I thought I scoured the marketplace
Would you happen to know if I need to buy the hinge kit or if it’s included with base or top kit? It’s not mentioned on either listing
Cheers
I am just curious. Why buy all the bits separately. Why not save up the money and then buy it all together?
By the time you have the money saved, their might be faster mainboards available, so you will get a better, more upto date laptop when you do get it.
Also, if you change your mind, you can then spend the money elsewhere.
Bear in mind, there are not much demand for the bits separately, so selling the bits later would be a problem.
For the warranty, you are buying bits, before you can use them, so wasting warranty time.
I dont think either comes with the hinge kit and may have to purchase separately. I am building a machine for my wife and purchased it separately (but all the parts have not shipped yet). You can reach out to support to check.
PS: If you need any help putting it together send me a DM as I will start putting the machine for my wife together in a week or so.
You have a good point. You don’t have to buy it separate if you don’t want to. But there are many who like to build it on their own and/or have parts laying around they can utilize, so they have that option too.
Example: I am building one for my wife as I ordered the new board for my current machine and I will use the board from my current machine to build her machine. For her use case my current board is more than adequate. I am thinking about going up to 96GB of RAM so my existing 64GB I will put in my wife’s machine. Same for SSD that I am thinking upgrading and the existing one can go in my wife’s machine. I am upgrading the Wi-Fi card to 7 sothe wiFi6 card will be spare and can go in my wife’s machine. I found a couple of other parts for a great bargain. All this comes with the risk you mentioned but I will own that risk that is the decision I made 
Yes, there are inherent risks that come with putting it together on your own as you alluded to it but that is the risk that you take ownership of if you choose to build it yourself.
If you don’t want to build it you can buy it pre-built.
FW also sell the whole thing except the mainboard, that I thought might help you.
But looking now, that might only be for the FW13, and not the FW16.
They did it to help people use the deep computing RISC-V mainboard.
Just higher financial priorities. If I were to save up for a DIY along with my other responsibilities, I’d afford it by, probably, end of next year. This way lets me buy at least 1 piece a month.
Cheers for the intel, I’ll reach out to FW and see if they have any timeline for that bc thatd be perfect; all the cheap, necessary bits then I can actually save a month or three () for the mainboard. Quite new to laptop configs, is the same of true as with PCs, best to spend on the graphics than the C*PU or is that flipped bc of soc cooling restrictions in a laptop and an egpu not being as powerful as its pc counterpart?
Cheers
this is why budgeting exists 
since this is the second generation it’s unlikely that chassis updates will occur while you buy each piece, but it’s very possible
Another thing to consider is postage. If you buy in bits, you multiply up the amount of post you pay. Also, be careful, sometimes the parts are not available in the shop (out of stock) and are only available for warranty. So you might not actually be able to buy the whole thing as parts.
Another person tried to do the same as you, buy it in parts, but it turned into a very sad story, because they changed their mind half way through, and tried to sell the parts, that no one wanted, so never got their money back.
So, in summary, we are trying to warn you not to take the approach you are taking. It might not end well for you.
@Rexis_Aurel update on my build using parts…
All the parts arrived yesterday (about 18). Took about 8 days to arrive from the day I placed the order (I live in USA). I realized that I did not need 2 parts as the kits included them so I contacted support and they said I can send them back (if unopened) within 30 days for a full refund and I will send them back this weekend.
I am waiting for 2 additional parts that I purchased on eBay for a great bargain and free shipping that will arrive by Monday. I will start my build sometime after Thanksgiving.
Basically, putting together, a machine for my wife (using some components) as i am upgrading my board on FW16, SSD, RAM, WiFi Card so all those will go into my wife’s machine that I am building. I will provide update once I start putting it together and comment on any “lessons learned”, issues, hurdles etc… so anyone who wants to put it together from parts can refer to my experience. As @James3 mentioned there are inherent risks, cost over runs etc… but this was my decision to do it this way and I own the risk and extra cost. Cheers!
Hmmm, cheers for the intel. Definitely food for thought
Thanks for the updates, much appreciated