I pre-ordered my FW16 and all the gadgets on day 1. The input modules excited me the most.
But after using this daily for about three months now, I would prefer to have a seamless, single-piece top panel like my FW13. Perhaps two versions of it—with and without the num pad, with the mousepad centered for both.
My reasoning:
I have the macro-pad, but I don’t use it. The num pad and the keyboard all use QMK firmware, so you can repurpose any key for any task, including macros… which is what I have done… a few keys that I don’t need have been repurposed for a few macros… I don’t need 20 macros.
I also have the led matrix spacer things… very cool, for 5 min, but they get annoying quickly. And I can’t find any use for them that isn’t done more practically in some other way.
The price we pay for that modularity is several additional seams on the palm rest. Framework have done an amazing job of making those as tight as possible… better than I ever expected them to be, really. But thin and light + lots of pieces + no flex or alignment issues is a LOT to ask. You can feel the seams as your palm passes over them. And the locking tabs at the front corners are often directly under my wrists… and they pull hair
I do get that there are some people for whom this level of modularity is a huge benefit… but not for me, and probably not for 90% (or more) of us. I would gladly purchase a single piece input module.
Unfortunately I don’t see this becoming an official product as I think framework has put a lot of thought into its existing design and will stand by it, but they will have to fix some fit issues for sure. Maybe we could see these single modules coming as a community project, and some company could print them in aluminium or whatever like JLCPCB and other PCB makers that usually also do 3D printing / metal 3D printing. That however would be cool but we have to keep in mind framework’s goal here I assume is modality over anything else. I believe cool projects we don’t see coming are just around the corner for framework modules, and that they will obviously put a lot of effort into fixing the issues they have: charger of 240W not packaged out of the box, fit and finish issues, fans too loud and not programmable (very bad), but on the new units only. The cool thing is that you will probably get these upgrades fro free/reduced prices when they come out from what I’ve seen of framework track record. They just have a lot to do right now, so it will be better, I think it will be a true competition for market leader two years from now on.
If they can get their manufacturing tolerances right, it won’t be as much of a problem. But that’s a complicated process when trying to be ethical and somewhat earth-friendly because it involves either really high-cost manufacturing - and I mean really high cost - or throwing out every single piece that doesn’t match, so at least 60% of the production. If you ever bought mugs with something on them, for your 1 mug, 3 were made, 2 are actually in the trash right now.
This wasn’t intended as a complaint about FW’s manufacturing nor their response to feedback. I’ve had a FW13 for years now and have always been impressed. I’m genuinely surprised at how good my FW16 is, even the palm rest that I’m griping about is better than I expected it to be, given the complexity of it.
I would also argue that Framework’s goal is not “modularity over anything else” but rather “upgradability and reusability over anything else”… which they do incredibly well.
Survey 100 FW owners about how they configure their 6 (or 4 for FW13) ports, and you’ll get nearly 100 different answers. Modularity there makes sense. But survey 100 owners about how they configure their input modules, and I suspect there’s just not much variation… especially if only considering the palm rest and touchpad area… It’s centered or left-aligned, but a right-aligned touchpad seems like an extremely odd choice for 99% of us. There are no pins where the spacers go, so there is no way to enable any smart functionality in those spots; they are just spacers.
They manufacture two parts now (touchpad and spacers). That could just as easily have been a full palm rest with the touchpad centered and one with it left-aligned… and no seams. That would require me to make that decision at purchase (or purchase both), but it’s not something I can imagine anyone swapping out on a regular basis… we put it where we like it, and it stays there.
I love my FW16 in almost all areas. I use it daily, but when it comes to actually touching it, I much prefer my FW13. For the last two months, I have been working remotely, not at my own desk, with a monitor and keyboard, but actually using the laptop as, well, a laptop… and by the end of an eight-hour day, my wrists are a bit raw from constantly sliding over those seams, and worse, the locking mechanism.
The locking mechanism doesn’t clip me much but yeah the left side seam on mine is a bit peaking… I have been debating buying another touchpad bit and then trying to file this one down on the underside or something, see if I can find why it’s being lifted.
A contiguous touchpad bottom would be nice, the keyboard and side runners have perfect fitment for me and what I see others.
Yeah, for me technically modularity means that you have modules that are independent, and that you can buy and replace at will, so it goes hand in hand with reparability of course. That’s what I meant.
I agree, most user won’t, although the framework users are more likely to be nerds that like to change often, but it stays in the 1% of users.
It’s just that I just don’t see a world where it is even viable for them to make this with the small the number of people that would buy it given the increase in price (solid block of material + specialized tooling = €€€), maybe it will be made by an external company though, with something like a kickstarter.
Honestly, I came on here to request a similar thing. I don’t care about the spacers being attached to the touchpad, but it would be awesome if we could have a single dual spacer for when the touchpad is offset. My two spacers are just different enough that there are obvious seams. It’s not a huge deal as I mostly use an external keyboard, but I could see it causing dust and stuff to get trapped.
On my keyboard side I got the macropad and numpad, but just daily drive the numpad because… 10 key. The fit of those is fantastic and I have no issues with them.
