Batch 8 owner. I think the laptop is severely lacking in rigidity compared to e.g. a macbook and I also have issues with the finish wearing off.
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Hopefully MK-II will correct some of these earlier issues.
I honestly donāt know how you treat your equipment, but all my laptops etc. look like new after 5 years of use. This said, I donāt eat & drink on them, I donāt throw it around etc.
The things that tend to break over time, are the āusedā ports (USB or power) of low quality.
My FW 16 looks like on its first day (Batch 1 here).
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+1 here. Same about the finish. It seems to be widespread enough
ā¦I donāt know how to feel about the first part of this statement. Frankly, I think the implication that people Who are having build quality and QA issues are all treating the laptops wrong gives me some real āyouāre holding it wrongā vibes.
Sharing my experience - I treat my laptop well, same as you, and I have had multiple RMAs related to build quality issues and obvious QA failure. I also get issues with the paint on the bottom case wearing off, it seems like itās where you rest your hands.
It also doesnāt help if the parts that are used as replacements are scuffed from the start. I got a replacement for my bent bottom cover, and it was another bent bottom cover with a visible dent in one of the expansion card holes. It this is the quality of the parts that are used as replacements, I think that explains the build quality issues. Note: this is not the first time a part I get from the support or repair center appears to be a downgrade or more defective than the previous one. Another example was my keyboard, which had gotten bent due to chassis flex issues, and it was replaced with a new keyboard with really uneven backlight, which was never recognized as defective.
The implication that this is somehow caused by the user feels a little insulting, especially since the problem is so widespread.
Overall, I am sad to have to reiterate the same feelings I had at thread creation time: 2 RMAs later, and still having screen wobble and basic structural issues, and seeing an attitude to support that basically boils down to seemingly doing anything but actually replace a laptop with a fresh unit even 1 RMA away from the 5 RMAs number when European lemon laws get unlocked, which I get it sustainability and all but at the end of the day itās the user that pays for it, I must agree with the other user that build quality is lacking, and this laptop feels a lot like a prototype that should have not been released.
I currently have other purchases to do, but it pains me to say that, whenever those are out of the way, I will almost certainly be back in the laptop market: with the PTM cooling, the performance level of this laptop Is more than alright and the concept is very cool, but it has just gotten so annoying to work with, I think itās already time to look into an upgrade.
I hope to be back on this lineup in 5-6 years, seeing a far more refined situation.
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I think itās the bottom cover. For the brief amount of time my replacement one was not as bent as the prior one, the device felt much stiffer. Nowā¦ back to the same.
I am beginning to think this device is just poorly designed.
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SalemTechsperts video on Framework 16. He first noticed the bent panels as well, but in his excitement, glossed over it. I did the same when I got it, so a lot of us probably have too. After a while, it bothered me - a little at first, the I just couldnāt NOT see or feel it. 
I hope his display is as good as his first impression - mine was until I used it in certain lighting conditions.
This video made me regret being impatient and preordering the laptop. The specific unit The Greatest Technician That Ever Lived got, even from camera, looks much better put together than the one I have
Yawnā¦ I have had my batch 1 16 for a long time and donāt have any problem with it. It may not be perfect, but it really is the best laptop I can imagine. You gave up and sold yours off so I donāt understand why you are even wasting any more time posting about it?
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Iām guessing itās partly because Framework does make improvements of the same generation model as feedback are gathered over multiple batchesā¦as such, sheās keeping an eye on whether things got improved and can jump back onto the bandwagon.
Or at least, thatās what Iām doing. I love the philosophy and the missionā¦ Itās just the execution, IMO, isnāt quite thereā¦yet.
For example, someoneās best isnāt the best theyāll ever be. Itās the best at a point in time.
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Nailed it. Zero people here actually like being screwed over with soldered crap and repair-hostile designs, we are just craving better execution, which is why we care and keep up
I still use my fw16, but I did give up after the last RMA
Bingo, you hit the nail on the head. Still loving the concept, and want to succeed. I want to to hear the people who ARE having issues and work on getting better. Those who are content with the little issues, thatās great. But if you tell the people who are had issues to āshut upā, Framework will take that as permissions to continue to keep going as is - and maybe even backslide since their customers accept the flaws. Unfortunately, that means they wonāt grow (or worse get less customers) and then close shop.
As a fan of what they are doing, I am keeping my eyes and ears open on FW. Been stung already with System 76, and now with Framework - both companies trying to fill a niche. In System 76 case, their laptops are cheap rebrands of Clevo machines - which unfortunately also means they fall apart very quick (and also cost more than equivalantly specād laptops). Framework 16 seem to have quality issues that doesnāt justify itās cost too.
For those who say we are funding their niche, thatās great if you can. There are a lot of us who canāt. The price I was willing to pay was the ability to constantly upgrade a forever laptop, not beta testing every component and be part of the QA process.
am looking to see if the build quality gone up by still checking up on videos of new FW customers and t heir products. Also checking in to see if anyone has issues with their customer support.
I wanted to jump back in when the 7840U FW13 was available but their site declined by card. I checked with my bank and they said no charges were attemped, so it wasnāt my bank that stopped the payment. Unfortunately, because their customer support is email only, by the time they responded 5 days later, it was sold out. Then, it was discontinuedā¦
Another time I got stung by Framework. And as I stated before, I may have dodged a bullet.
I figured a FW13 have been out for a while now and so most of the kinks should have been worked out. Unfortunately, even if they ARE issue-free, their customer service and support is still the achilles heel.
Support and customer service is very VERY slow, and itās only by email. If you have an issue that requires a lot of back and forth (and they make it that way because they keep asking for photos and videos, and then more photos and videos, and small questions that could have been answered completely if they asked EVERYTHING at once rather than treat the email like a back and forth conversation) - and each back and forth takes 5 days in between - making the back and forth into a year long process JUST TO REPLACE A DISPLAYā¦
Yeahā¦ PTSD as I was recalling the memory while typing this outā¦ I just remembered why I quitā¦
Butā¦ then I keep looking backā¦ becauseā¦ like an abusive exā¦ I just want them to get better.
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Can you buy Clevo laptop directly?
I think so:
Itās been a long time, but yes, Iāve actually owned a non-branded Clevo laptop before. It was an unbranded Clevo AMD Turion 64 laptop chassis (bare bones, no memory or storage).
I owned another but not directly from Clevo - it was a Sager laptop, who also uses other ODMs for their custom laptops (including Clevo).
And as Second_Coming linked, yes you can get it directly. But as you can imagine, an AMD Turion is OLD, so itās been too long and I donāt recall how I actually bought it back then, lol.
I was kind of excited to see this thread got new posts to see where other people were atā¦ but nope still Zeddieās flame boardā¦
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Agreed on that.
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Thanks @Techie_Zeddie for sharing your experience. I am glad most folks have no issues which is great.
And itās also great that Framework Support keeps working with me even though Iām well out of warranty now. But I just received my 5th mainboard and it doesnāt fit, just like the 2nd mainboard didnāt fit. (Or maybe 4th, the two different times it went in for service they never told me what they did other than they āfixed itā.) I havenāt felt like support has blown me off.
I absolutely freaking love the transparent keyboard and macropad. I love my full dbrand wrap, I love the flexibility of I/O, I didnāt mind spending an extra $200 for the 7950HS since repairability is the future I want to see.
But dang, after >100 days without my computer across two separate trips to the service center, and seeing continued major issues, it makes me so exceptionally disappointed every time something new crops up.
My Framework 16 sits on my desk 99% of the time, every other laptop Iāve had has lasted until I gave it away after 10+ years even while I was a university student chucking it in my backpack every day for years. I have a degree in mechanical engineering and do electrical design and program industrial robots for my job. And yet with the Framework computer Iāve had the macropad completely fail, one of the mainboard ports consistently fail to work with certain USB-A devices even with different USB-A adapters, the liquid metal thermals issues on two boards, and now twice Iāve received a mainboard where the fins are too narrow and it doesnāt nicely drop into the frame.
I wish someone would tell me Iām doing something wrong and I could clearly see how Iāve messed up. But I donāt see how I can be doing anything wrong, and yet I keep running into more issues.
Anyhoo Iāve got to go do something else and get my mind off this, Iāve been ruminating for another hour. I know at least @Techie_Zeddie will commiserate with me, and I hope this is the end of the negative experiences I have.
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I got in at batch 18, after having the laptop for around a year some of the keys became inconsistent, my w key no longer works and my v key seems to be following a similar trend, though something I know is probably my fault is that the camera and microphone stopped working after an unknown amount of time, It could have happened after or before I replaced the liquid metal with the thermal pad since I had them physically switched off for most of the time, and finally sometimes the audio jack expansion card sometimes freezes my computer and refuses to shut down properly on reboot when in that state, other than that everything works correctly, having 64 gigs of ram is nice and having two ssds allows me to have one be a storage drive and the other be an os drive, being able to change where the charging port was is nice and I did that a couple times, the beta bios updates are stable for me and having a backlight on the keyboard is nice, and the few times Iāve dropped my computer everything still worked
tldr: has issues but is nice
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Funny, this happened to me as well. For a few weeks my w key rarely worked, or would double input if I pressed it at a weird angle. I was preparing to just buy a new keyboard when the gen2 came out.
Eventually it just started working perfectly again. I donāt know what fixed it, but my assumption is some contamination on the switch contacts that probably eventually moved. If it happens again, Iām going to try blasting air at the key to see if that helps.