I can definitely relate, but I’d rather wait a few months and get QD-OLED instead as it’s objectively better in every way, especially power usage.
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Wow! My sympathies, I thought my laptop was on its last legs, but this is something. My 2015 13” MBP is failing on me very badly and the repair costs are not worth it.
I was holding back as Framework wasn’t shipping to my location (not really holding back ad being held back).
Finally, but the bullet and bought one through a friend in the UK and waiting for them to now come here.
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If I was to buy the framework, it would be to support the company and maybe flex it to fellow nerds that also know what it is.
In terms of the actual product, I really struggle to see the value in it, especially at the price point. I am currently using an x250 from 2015. Obviously, not everyone can do with an old laptop like that, but for me it’s a clear choice. The battery lasts me for about 12 hours while working, it has all the ports I need (minus an hdmi, which i use a dp dongle for). Going from a laptop that consumes about 3.5W while browsing to one that:
- takes 1.5 watt just to have an unused hdmi port plugged in
- you can’t really just throw in a backpack without worrying
- has a very “meh” performance for the pricepoint
- has no external battery
- has reports of mainboard parts randomly melting with no solution yet
- I am unsure about the promises of upgradeability so far.
It just feels like such a massive downgrade that I would struggle to justify it. Framework also prides itself on repairability. However, I dont think that there is anything more repairable about it than any old thinkpad prior to the XX80 series, where some still beat the FW in perfomance if you need a “modern” laptop. Plus, you can get parts much cheaper and have a great selection from multiple vendors.
I am incredibly greatful that framework exists, as there is a lack of current gen products with a promise of repairability, but my next laptop will probably be a cheaper, sturdier and more performant t480 from 2018/19 for less than 500€ or something like an T14. Those are probably even more upgradable than the framework (e.g. heatsinks, dGPU, magnesium case…) Unless aesthetics and an additional 5mm of slimness are that important to you, I feel like it is only the “brand” that would make anyone choose the framework over these.
If I was shopping for a paid for work laptop or had a high income I would buy the framework, but I currently can’t afford paying a 500€ premium for ideological reasons. Plus, I believe a used laptop will always be more sustainable than a new one. Maybe there will be an aftermarket for a potential framework pro in 3-4 years.
EDIT: I agree with the posters above that the lack of customization upon ordering is also a sustainability problem. If I ordered a FW now that is not my dream config due to current availability and then have to throw away a working screen/ keyboard/ mousepad to get the one I would like, I would just not upgrade it
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Coreboot
Ability to disable Intel ME/AMD PSP
Qubes support
It would be a massive bonus if you could specify coreboot and which O/S is shipped with the laptop.
Open source everything possible and the community will grow exponentially. This would become the go-to laptop for those who want to step up their security/privacy/tinkering game. I’m asked pretty frequently which computers I recommend in my social circle and this would be it without hesitation.
I just want a real CPU and some interesting expansion cards.
So far there’s been nothing going on with the cards and it seems that there isn’t TB certification still.
I’ll definitely consider it when we can get more than 4 cores and a decent igpu or dedicated option. As of right now there’s not a pressing need to replace my current laptop (ya know, and create ewaste), since going from 4c8t to 4c8t doesn’t feel great, especially when there’s no cool cards to catch my eye.
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Loose hinges & screen wobble being conclusively addressed. nrp has commented on reddit/r/framework that tighter hinges could be available on the Marketplace. But AFAIK there’s no ETA for these yet. This is a must-have for me. Having a stable screen is far far far more important to me than one-handed opening.
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Improvements to battery life. Possible gains from firmware updates, understanding why expansion cards draw abnormal power when not in use, etc…
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Availability of a matte screen option
Basically I want to be able to feel fairly confident I’m getting a solid laptop I can get work done with as opposed to a cool tinkering project that happens to have an ideological objective I align with.
I’d love for there to be a centralized changelog document for the hardware revisions where we can keep up to date with what fixes have been made based on feedback/issues since release.
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Would like AMD and wired ethernet.
But mostly the pre-built options don’t fit my needs very well and don’t want a DIY (I’ve been thru that in the desktop world and had hassles with defective components and Windows setup getting confused by the bios and/or hardware combination). Would prefer a system built and tested before shipping.
If I were DIY-ing I’d go for large storage and medium-low CPU. If standard I’d get the high-end and add 1TB card, MicroSD card or external thumb drives…
How about offering build-to-order? Some extra cost would be ok, especially with complete and documented testing.
I want an AMD version. I refuse to support Intel any further.
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Mainly that there’s no Norwegian keyboard available. Other than that, I have two laptops that work fine, but their age is starting to show. I’d sell both of them and get a framework laptop in a jiffy if other language keyboards became available.
Still gathering information; I’m moving pretty soon so I’ll need to know how long it’ll take to arrive in order to figure out whether to send it to my current or new address. In addition I like to know typical points of failure for laptops since I’ve had some kinda weird things happen in the past.
In addition to what other users have said, I would love to see an option for “dud” expansion cards – something that would cover the large holes that the expansion card slots leave if left unplugged, but don’t draw power like the memory sticks or other cards do. I’ll probably only be using one USB-C port and nothing else day-to-day, and maybe occasionally plugging in that extra memory drive when I need it, so being able to maximize efficient power usage while minimizing the amount of large chunks of my laptop being missing would be nice :]
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quite simple: a 17" body. although it being a 3:2 screen 16" would be acceptable, but it still has to fit a full keyboard (including num-pad and preferably full height arrow keys)
Being that big, I do assume more than 4 expansion slots would be possible and wired Ethernet should fit easily.
It has to combat the connectivity of my gen 1 i7 XPS 17 (Dell):
2x USB-A
1x USB-A/eSata combi
1x fire-wire
1x Ethernet (rj-45)
1x HDMI
1x DisplayPort
1x VGA
3x audio (mic, headphone/line-out)
1x ExpressCard slot
1x full-size SD-card slot
1x dvd ±RW slot (space better used for a spare battery though)
1x Barrel-plug POWER
During its lifetime I used about every slot/connector. Including the EC slot to put an additional 2 USB 3.0 ports on it for high-speed data transfers. (other USB-A ports are 2.1 iirc)
so with only 4 ports and one fixed 3.5mm mic/hp-combi-plug they would be full in a base setup, without any spare room to plug in anything extra:
- 1x USB-C for charger
- 1x USB-A for mouse (no wireless mouse allowed)
- 1x USB-A/C for a RJ-45 network ‘dongle’ (no wireless ehternet allowed)
- 1x DP/HDMI for a secondary monitor (bare minimum)
no room left for the required RSA key-fob, no free room for a thumb-drive or sd-card reader or any other quickly switching media or temporary devices like a usb conference speaker-phone.
So I need at minimum 2 more ports to be barely workable.
With the key-fob needing to be plugged in and having at least one port free for sw
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The #1 thing to me would be a larger screen (15.5 min, 17 best)
My 6 year old Lenovo ideapad 700 is about to die, I managed to expand it’s life for maybe another year, but I would have bought a framework if a larger screen was available.
I’m a developer, so I would love something that was more of a workhorse.
Features I’d like
- More ports, I’d like 2 USBC, 1 USB3, 2 HDMI, 1 Ethernet
- Faster processor, I prefer AMD over Intel
- Dvorak keyboard, extra-duper-double-take-my-money points if the layout is the same as my typematrix 2030
- Ship with ubuntu (I’d probably still install from scratch, but that at least would mean that it was fully tested with linux)
You cannot increase the ports, its a limitation of PCIe lanes. Most modern laptop CPUs don’t have many lanes.
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You can very definitely increase the number of non-TB USB ports - a USB hub chip will allow that.
I would rather keep the 4 TB ports that can do anything… but since I use a dock (only 1 cable for everything) I guess thats a different use case. The only time I use the other ports is when I am on site testing something and there is an adapter for everything I test in my 
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Intel consumer CPUs have been PCIE starved since Haswell in an attempt to get people who care to pay vastly more for the enthusiast models. Ivy Bridge had 44 lanes, subsequent consumer models have barely enough to run a gpu at full tilt and nothing else. AMD missed a trick because if consumer Ryzen had 36 or 48 PCIE lanes Intel’s CPU division would be howling from the pits of irrelevant oblivion already.
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Not really.
It’s very rare to need that many lanes on desktop. Even less common on laptops.
but it’s not rare to need more than 16, which is all you get on consumer cpus. A decent gaming gpu and that’s it, you’re tapped out. With NVME drives getting more and more common, more lanes are needed.
That 16 is direct to CPU lanes. There’s also PCI-E lanes that go to the chipset and on to other devices there. Kaby Lake (7th gen) had 16 direct lanes and 24 lanes to the PCH, so that’s more than enough for most things. And that was long before NVME was the norm.
CPU’s these days look to have at least 20 lanes direct. So GPU and 1 NVME, then everything else goes through the chipset.
The 1270p is capable of 20 lanes at 4.0
Not everything needs direct CPU access.
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Ordered by importance for me:
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Too small at 13,5", at least 14"-15" would be better
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Still no AMD Ryzen (or even better: an ARM option)
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Reports about battery not lasting long
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No way to test the machine hands on before buying(?)
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Some questions regarding long term quality (hinge, trackpad)
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No Coreboot or similar open Bios
In conclusion, there currently appears to be not much of a tangible benefit over buying some other laptop with configurable RAM, except for better repairability. I don’t understand how this laptop is “more Linux” than others, when there are reports about less battery life with Linux and there is not even an open Bios or any other way to enhance your privacy (e.g. turning of ME).
That being sad, I am still excited about this project and will be watching it’s progress. I really hope you succeed!
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