It would be good to know. The logical thing is that the 30-day period begins when you receive the new framework.
In addition, the frame has good support.
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Good news! Received a response from support that 30-day window will start with the replacement arrival… and also they will take the replacement into account if/when any warranty claims are made in its 1-year period.
The replacement laptop was supposed to arrive yesterday, but I guess customs delayed things, so should receive it today.
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Thank you for the follow-up, very happy to hear that. I’m personally unsurprised, as my interactions with the company have all been very positive leading me to give them the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully the new machine is 100% perfect from the get-go. Fingers crossed for you. Have a great day!
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I appreciate hearing about your experiences as well.
I think our batch 6 experience was tainted/skewed by the prolonged time it took for support to see/recognize the damaged header… perhaps they were following a script; perhaps it was frustrating on both sides… but ultimately everything appears to be moving in the right direction thus far. If about a week was shaved off the communication-to-action period, that would have been awesome.
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Fair point, and please let me be clear that my comment was not intended to diminish or hand wave away your issues.
Hopefully things proceed well for you from here on out.
If you want the full story of my experiences with two 11th gen 13" machines and one 16" machine, let me know, pop some popcorn, and we will commence storytime with lbkNhubert.
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Yes i want the full history….
It’s just good to hear folks talk about how Framework/support provides great end results… and in the end I think we can echo that statement as her replacement laptop arrived this afternoon, we assembled it without issue, input header/plug is secure, the OS is installed, and the laptop is up and running. Still have some configs/tweaks to set and apps to install, but things are looking great.
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Ok @Lupin, I finally am getting back around to this. My apologies if it meanders a bit. I will update if and when I think of additional items. Sadly that’s more common than not lately. 
Pop some popcorn, grab a cold drink, and pull up next to the fire for story time with old lbkNhubert…
I don’t recall how I first heard about Framework. Maybe somewhere in one of my news feeds. I wish that I could remember. Maybe one day it will come back to me. I can say that I heard about Linus Tech Tips through Framework, not the other way around.
So why was I interested in Framework when I heard about it? That’s a good question! I’ve been fiddling on computers for many years. My journey had taken me from Apple IIs at school, a TI-99/4a, the original Mac, OS X, linux on occasion, Windows for work, SUNs and Sparcs in school, linux servers for work, eventually to chromebooks in dev mode running linux in crostini (I think that’s what it was called - it has been a while).
So there I was, running linux on chromeos, when I heard about this thing called Framework. Disappointingly, it did not and does not have a compass in the stock, or a thing which tells time. I suppose you could try to add a compass somehow, and it does in fact tell time when it’s on. A liar am I.
I am a tinkerer by nature, so the idea of building my own laptop from scratch was almost more than I could bear. Unlike Waldo Jeffers, I had not reached my limits, so I bided my time and pre-ordered as soon as orders were open. Until I got the 16" machine, that 13" 11th gen Intel i7 was my daily driver.
Upon receipt of my batch 1 13" machine, I found that the microsd card reader would not read the UFS card that I had. I reached out to Support, who quickly sent out a replacement microsd expansion card. Upon its arrival I discovered, not for the first time in my life, and assuredly not for the last, that it was I who was the foolish one! How so, you ask? Simple, dear reader! I ordered a new UFS card, which magically worked in the new microsd expansion card as well as in the original one. The fault was with the UFS card, not with the expansion card. I offered to send the replacement module back to Framework, who kindly told me that it was ok, I could keep it. One wonders if they simply were happy to be done with old lbkNhubert, and who could blame them? To be clear, I am poking fun at myself here. There was no hint of anything but respectful and helpful engagement from Framework. But, that does not make for a good story. And, I digress.
Moving forward, little lbkNhubert had a grand old time with my new machine. My best recollection is that I set up Pop!_OS on the nvme drive and Windows on an expansion card (note, here be dragons!). I computed away, found this community, insulted the mods (ask them - I told one to go jump in a lake. Now, that was a joke, but I had fun with it, and I think that they did too. I assume so, as I’m still here, somehow). The community here is a fantastic one. None of us is perfect, but I have gotten so much support and learned more than I can imagine from my engagement here.
My next encounter with Framework was when the fan on my machine started “buzzing”, sounding like the fan blade might be hitting something. I again reached out, and after a small bit of back and forth, recordings, et cetera, a new fan was sent out. It arrived during the week, and life got in the way. When I had not returned the old fan in a week or two, Framework reached out to me asking that I please do so. Remember that this was fairly early days for their initial laptop offering. Presumably they wanted to perform a root cause analysis on the original fan. I felt shame, replaced the fan, and sent the original back. I did not, however, spend two minutes in the penalty box.
I continued computing away, at some point in time switching to Manjaro after Pop!_OS stumbled on a version update. I became aware of an issue with the RTC battery where it would drain over time and potentially put the machine in a state where a mainboard reset might be needed. Given the fragility of the RTC holder on the 11th gen board, that was a delicate procedure at best.
Somewhere along the line I picked up a batch 6 11th gen i5 13" machine for my spouse. As a surprise. That was a mistake. She didn’t want no Okie from Muskogee, she wanted a pilot, err, a Mac. All worked out well, as I wound up with a “test” machine.
So, I kept set charging limits on both machines and kept them on power to try to dodge the RTC battery issue. I was able to trigger it by leaving the test machine unplugged for a few weeks.
When the 4kg hinges were released, I picked up two sets, and replaced the ones in my 13". The test machine still is going strong on its OG hinges. I also replaced the speakers on my 13". The original ones were ok, but the louder ones work better for me.
Somewhere along the line I decided to migrate to Arch on my primary machine. I think that it was around the time that I pre-ordered the 16", so that I could prepare to run Arch on that machine.
I also replaced the RTC batttery in both of my 13" machines with the replacement module that Framework sent out if one asked. I had practiced for that by doing the re-work on one of my 1st gen HDMI cards. I haven’t worked up the courage to rework the other HDMI card, as it was pretty challenging for me, and I don’t use those cards very often. The RTC module replacement was moderately difficult, but I lucked out and pulled it off. So far so good on that front. Will see how things go if I ever upgrade the board and want to put the old one in a cooler master case.
I also picked up the grey bezel for the 13", and in a moment of extreme lack of judgment, replaced the input cover with one with clear keys. That was in prep for the 16", which I had ordered with the clear RGB keyboard. More on that in a bit.
Why was the clear keyboard a mistake? Well, this old person is not a touch-typist. It took me 10 minutes to log into the machine after I replaced it, and that was with looking at another (normal) keyboard right next to the machine, so that I could get past the various passwords. Upon logging in I immediately ordered clear stickers with white letters on them for both machines. My hypocrisy only goes so far.
I think that’s it for the 13" machines. They have served me well, knock on wood, and hopefully continue to do so for some time to come. Oh, I remember that I added thermal pads to the storage expansion cards too.
For the 16", I was a little crazy and ordered nearly everything that I could. That meant that I was impacted by the component shortage for the clear macropads that delayed some of batch one. While not thrilled with that, I tried to roll with it. When the company then compounded things by noting delays with some of the keyboards, I voiced my displeasure in a pointed but attempted-polite response to a Framework employee on reddit. I do think that they could have handled that situation better, small and growing company or not.
For me at least, everything turned out ok. The machine works fine, the fit and finish are fine - I do not expect a perfect fit and finish in a machine this modular, but I also don’t have the extremely bad fit issues that others have run into. I have had a great time doing some light programming to customize the keyboard animation, and look forward to doing more at some point.
I wouldn’t have been able to do that, or to get the trackpad to be ignored while typing, were it not for this community. Have I mentioned how awesome it is?
I’ve got pre-orders out for the dual m2 expansion bay module that one of our contributors here is putting together, as well as the color rgb input modules that another is making. I threw on a dbrand obsidian skin on the top and bottom, and a flat black one on the input deck. I also got recommendations for a bag that more comfortably will accommodate this machine.
My congratulations if you have made it this far while still remaining awake, and/or without having refilled the popcorn several times. And my apologies that the tale weaved in and out of dragnet-style “just the facts” and Hunter S. Thompson wackiness. Finally, I acknowledge that you knew Hunter S. Thompson, that Hunter S. Thompson was a friend of yours, and that I’m (lbkNhubert) no Hunter S. Thompson.
I hope that this finds you having been entertained and enlightened, if even for one fleeting moment.
Have a great day, all.
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I liked reading you. Where you can reserve the RGB input module or dual m.2 expansion bay
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Glad that you survived the screed!
and
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