Hello all,
My wife and I are blind and are considering the FW laptop 13 for it’s easy upgradeable components. We can do most upgrades ourselves but will also get sighted assistance when needed. We’re looking for a reasonably priced laptop stand in order to use a desktop keyboard and keep the FW cooler by having it elevated. This one looks good but since I can’t see it, can anyone let me know if it will fit the FW? It has a knob to easily adjust the height and sounds like it is built well.
Rain Design iLevel2 Adjustable Height Laptop Stand
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LSU4QD8/?ascsubtag=AwEAAAAAAAAAAI--&th=1
Thanks everyone!
Regards
Jay
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From the dimensions on the vendor’s website, it should fit. The Framework laptop has nearly the same dimensions as the MacBooks that this stand is made for. The placement of the Framework’s feet does not appear to be an issue.
If you only intend to use a desktop keyboard with this stand, then I’d say it’s fine. I wouldn’t want to type on a laptop while it’s on this stand. I also wouldn’t expect any significant cooling benefit.
I would describe it as “angle adjustable” rather than “height adjustable.” The front edge of the laptop will always be the same height, which is about 3 inches above the table.
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Although it might not be what you are looking for (no pun intended), there is also this device: Optima
Basically a laptop without screen, but with 40 braille cells instead.
Also features a FW mainboard, 4 ports and all the rest. Availability from Q1 2024.
Since you mention you’re blind, I wanted to point it out, but, I have very little clue of wishes for users with limited/no sight, so it might not be what you need at all.
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Hello @Jacob_Padgett and @FlorisNielssen
Thanks for the great description of the stand.
It sounds good, are there any others that you’d recommend? Do all the stands out there adjust by angle instead of height? Are there also any that might help with heat dissipation?
I’m in touch with a few blind folks that have an intel and they say the fan spins up a lot when nothing is going on and that it can get quite loud. That doesn’t turn me off of it at all though.
As I’ve mentioned I am very intrigued by the amount of configuration you can do at purchase and later on. Too bad it couldn’t run win10 as I’ve heard some horror stories about win11.
I do wish that the 64GB ram and 4TB SSD upgrades were available with pre builds and not just DIY. Since my wife will mostly be doing remote work, meetings, the SalesForce CRM platform ETC, the pro pre build would be find for her. I on the other hand would want to go a little crazy. I do understand that I can always upgrade later.
Regarding the Optima braille model, I think that will be my next machine. As I will be doing remote work as well, I like to have braille in front of me along with the speech from my Screen Reader. Larger braille devices can be expensive and it’s just another thing to carry around.
@FlorisNielssen: Does their website have a picture of it? It sounds like the case might be specific to this model since there might be some braille navigation keys on the front edge. So even if the braille display is a module (which I assume it is) might not be able to fit it in to an FW 16. At least the other components can be swapped. The largest ram/SSD on something like this with braille built in would be awesome.
The no screen thing bothered me at first because there are times when a friend or family member wants to use my machine and they need a screen! Guess I could just pick up an HDMI card or USB adapter or something.
Thank you again,
Jay
Their website does have 2 (small) pictures of it. It was by the way also (shortly) featured in the Framework Next Level Event - Behind the scenes video over here.
In short, it is just a slab with included keyboard and indeed the braille cells on the front. What do you mean with braille navigation keys? I am not familiar with these kind of devices…
The Optima case is indeed specific for FW 13 mainboards. What they did is design a Braille laptop, which fits the FW 13 mainboard and uses the same components as the FW 13. And of course integrated the braille cells.
That means, it will not work with the FW 16 mainboard, since that one has a different size. (But, the same goes when you buy a FW 13: you can’t move the mainboard to a FW 16 at a later point.)
You could however plug in a HDMI card if you so choose according to Orbit Research’ site. The pictures don’t clearly show if they use the same Framework expansion cards as the FW 13 and FW 16 though.
I wouldn’t consider myself knowledgeable on the subject, but searching Amazon for “adjustable height laptop stand,” I see there are some options with more variable height. Most don’t raise it enough to type while standing, but it doesn’t sound like you were looking for that.
This Coolwill Laptop Stand is one such example. This product has a slit that should line up with the Framework’s bottom vent, which is at least intended to improve cooling.
This DJ Laptop Stand has a bit wider height range (about 13 inches above the table at max), but it requires assembly.
Here’s another with a bit more of a height range and holes for vents.
Since I haven’t tried these, I can’t vouch for any in particular.