Why is there still no news of an oled screen for these two laptops? It’s also disappointing to see the laptops only being sold in silver, like you offer a black bezel but why not a black palm rest/base plate?
I’ve been convincing myself to get a framework laptop but these are huge deal breakers, and when I compare the price to performance against other laptops on the market, framework isn’t even in the podium.
all of these have been covered previously, especially the color thing.
yet no progress… 
To summarize:
Why is there still no news of an oled screen for these two laptops?
Because framework currently doesn’t sell enough laptops to justify designing and manufacturing custom screens. The ones we currently have are repurposed screens that ware originally designed for other devices and then FW could buy them from the original screen manufacturer (which usually isn’t the same as the laptop manufacturer).
We might at some point get an OLED screen but only if some other company makes one that is just the right size or if FW grows enough to be able to afford a custom design.
why not a black palm rest/base plate?
Because colored aluminum is really expensive and bad for the environment. According to the team, this will probably never happen.
Noone makes oled panels in the right size (jet hopefully) unfortunately (at least for the 13, don’t really care about the 16 personally)
Probably because the main purpose of this brand is to be sustainable and repairable. OLED doesn’t fit into that when they only last a couple years before you notice the burn-in (specially with static menus on screen as you have on computers).
I know I couldn’t care less about any oled option. I have owned enough oled phones to know that technology doesn’t last.
Even if I had to replace them every year (which isn’t really a problem with modern oled panels, especially if you don’t run them at max brightness) I’d still want an oled display.
Yes after years of using non oled monitors and laptops, once I switched over to a proper oled monitor I just can’t return back to non oled stuff.
Many people bring up the burn in argument however I’ve used mine for 6 years now and I have never ever cared about letting my taskbar go into auto hide or other care measures and my monitor is still up and running. On phones it might be different as the user above has said.
I can (and am) but would prefere not to have to. Going from an oled to the display in the 13 would be pretty brutal.
I had oled phones since they were a thing and never had burn in but I am also not a heavy phone user and don’t tend to blast the brightness.
Apart from the potential burn-in disadvantage oled also has some durability advantages like the harder glas surface that will not cause bright spots when squished by the keyboard in a backpack and stuff like that.
But the problem remains there not being any suitable panels available so
I can understand OLED being a dealbreaker, but if the body not being available in other colors is a huge dealbreaker for you, well, I’d suggest you look elsewhere. Framework focuses on more than pure looks. And that’s exactly what draws most people to Framework.
If you are including the body’s silver color in that, Framework has said they have no plans or desire to do color anodizing.
TL;DR, the anodizing color dying process creates toxic chemical waste, bad for the environment. Framework is not interested in contributing to that.
And I don’t recall other laptop makers offering different color anodizing options. So it’s silly to expect that. Also, Framework bezels and expansion cards come in an array of colors, including translucent colors now. Far more personalization than others.
Again the lack of an OLED option being an issue I can understand. Others have pointed out that no OLED exists in the size needed. And note that having custom displays made is massively expensive, so that’s not possible at FW’s current size.
Oled screens uses PWM (Pulse-width modulation) and that causes eyesight fatigue and headache for a lot of people. Having only an oled option would be a deal breaker.
Hi @oledlover2025, as someone who has actually previously modded his FW13 laptop with a different screen, and has been on the lookout for a modable OLED screen, my view is that the number one hurdle for FW 13 is the form factor (3:2, 13.5"). 16:10 is the new norm, with 13.3" or 14" being the size that is most brands are going for. This is the biggest hurdle FW faces in finding a manufacturer that has the forms for the size/shape required for this laptop.
Second, getting a decent OLED made (>60Hz, > 400 nits) is expensive, and if you check the market, very few OLED laptops actually have more than 60Hz refresh rate. I’m not sure the vocal OLED crowd here will accept this.
The last bit is the cost - not just to manufacture but also the final price for the consumer. We are currently looking at upwards of $400 for OLED screen replacements (based on current market replacement prices for OLED screens for surface / lenovo laptops).
In conclusion, yes, I would pay for it, but no, I don’t think it there is a big enough market yet for a niche player to make a custom OLED screen.
The black base plate is honestly not a necessity I just found it weird how framework has existed for quite a while now yet they haven’t come up with a full black laptop. I didn’t know about how harmful this process was for the environment and why it goes against the team’s ethics.
The oled however is an incredible necessity. If I’m paying $1000+ for a laptop it should have something more to offer than just repairability, especially when the competitors have crushing price to performance.
I have found laptops that have 120hz OLED displays below $1500. However I do get your point of the aspect ratio.
So it’s just wise to skip on framework and purchase another laptop praying that in future revisions framework will get better?
Yes, if having an oled screen is more important to you than everything else Framework offers, another brand is the correct course to take. And saying “get better” is a very biased take. Oled is one of those things that is better to some and worse to others.
It does; FW machines have upgradability and you can install the components you want. If you want lots of ram or a big drive there is no price premium for FW machines. You can also update the wifi card. Also, if FW does come out with a new display you can upgrade it without throwing out the machine.
I don’t think that is true. If I price a machine out the way I need it, they come out the same. This is especially true if you run Linux because you don’t have to waste money on the Windows license. Also, FW computers and components hold their value much better than competitors and have longer lifetimes.
I have the 2880 120Hz display and it looks fantastic, so “better” is very subjective. Just because a display is OLED it is not necessarily better than LCD. For an example outside FW, take a look at the Apple displays, there are plenty of non-OLED that look better than cheap OLED panels.
I’m sorry yeah it was immature of me to phrase it that way, no insult to framework love what you guys do out here I understand it’s difficult and you can’t pay attention to stuff like this now, but in the future when you guys have more backing I hope you are able to pay attention to nitty gritty stuff like this!
Would you say the 2880 120hz display is better than what apple offers on their macbook air m4?
I doubt the 2880 is as good as the Apple display, but IMHO it isn’t that far behind.