It’s kind of disappointing how fragile our electronics gets. They were touted as indestructible, nearly, with solid state technology featuring no moving parts, and yet here we are.
I also have a great record of doing that -- accidentally plugged in a “wrong” thing, fried the entire motherboard. $400+ replacement for a (5 year by now) by-then flagship. A Dell, as well. Another slight press, and my iPad screen shattered completely.
Sometimes, these just happen. You can blame it on defect but it’s highly likely not.
At least it’s framework, where replacements are relatively inexpensive, and repairs are easy.
shine the light source from the side toward the possible cracks. And observe from the point of the light source. Cracks reflect light, and the angling bounce most of the distractive light away from you.
Is it at all possible there could be a foreign object, maybe a stray piece of metal or something from manufacturing trapped behind the screen, that eventually cracked it from normal usage of opening and closing the screen?
Everyone here keeps responding that it is a crack and should not be covered, but the reason for the crack is important.
Then again, it is also possible something struck it that you were not aware of (got any kids in the house)?
I also agree that this unfortunately looks like a crack caused by an object pinched between the screen and the keyboard area. This is a very common cause of such problems, the torque when closing the lid is higher than expected due to the lever effect and a screen is kinda fragile.
I can believe that you didn’t do the damage, but is it possible you have any children or visitors or other people who could have been messing with the laptop? The scratch marks on the bezel are also kinda obvious.
As an ex-genius at Apple, the amount of times i’ve seen this kind of damage is nutty. Usually its a result of the lid being closed on something and most definitely falls outside the scope of warranty. The screen has different layers so even if the outside is not cracked, if the LCD underneath suffers sufficient pressure it can cause that.
After a few rounds with Framework support, they’ve stood their ground that this is damage that I caused. Thanks everyone for making me less frustrated/surprised about that, even if I’m still unsure of how it came to be.
I am strongly considering returning the machine, which I can still do for a few days. I’m quite surprised by its fragility and don’t really want to be the owner of a $1500 laptop that seems less robust than others on the market. (This was intended a school laptop.)
The Acer Swift 3 is a very similar model to the FW in terms of most of its internals and display. I haven’t heard of the display cracking on that model Almost everyone in this thread has agreed on Support’s decision/opinion.
You do what is best for you, but I think being surprised that a thin and light isn’t built like a Panasonic toughbook, especially with regard to something getting in-between the keyboard and display, is a little unnecessary.
I mean even a toughbook could be damaged in this way.
Stuff happens. It is unfortunate.
At least with this laptop you are able to replace the display without needing to use a heat gun, go through tons of adhesive and deal with an extremely delicate display cable, only IF a replacement display was available.
I know it sucks, but if this could unknowingly happen to your framework then it could unknowingly happen to any other laptop you had. Do you think you would fare better with them in this situation?
My advice? Stick with the Framework and maybe do a little more to protect your $1500 investment in the future. And note, this is advice I give to myself daily.
Good thoughts all around. One thing I have very much appreciated is the interest and engagement of this community. Without hearing the perspectives and reality checks of everyone here there would be more acid in my stomach about this. Thank you.
Please keep in mind that, per the Framework Return Policy, they will likely deduct a reprocessing fee from your refund to cover the damage.
If there is cosmetic or functional damage, we may need to deduct a reprocessing fee from the refund to cover the cost of refurbishing the item. We may also deduct shipping costs from the refund.
Lots of opinions, here’s my two cents having repaired MacBooks, Airs, and Pros for a university at one point- lots of people like closing stapled or paperclipped stacks of paper between their screen and keyboard. Or have a keyboard protector that gets gummy over time and gets something like a pencil lead stuck to it. The tolerances can be tight enough that these tiny bits of FOD destroy a screen, often without damaging the outer layer of glass/plastic/???.
Not saying that’s what happened here, just that sometimes it doesn’t take much. On the other hand I dropped a screwdriver straight into my F13 screen at one point and all it has is a blank handful of pixels all the way through to the backlight. Surprisingly, lightly scraping the divot with my fingernail or using light pressure to wipe away what I keep thinking is a speck doesn’t cause the nearby area or, as I’ve seen more commonly, a row/column of display corruption similar to OP’s “screen on” pictures. From here in my armchair I wonder if there isn’t something behind the display, like a wifi lead or a screw or bit of pastic sandwiched between the LCD unit and the lid. But it sounds like you’ve already made up your mind about the situation.
I can’t imagine doing that myself.
Were these university owned devices? People are of course more carefree with devices they don’t personally own, and won’t have to pay for if damaged.
It was an authorized Apple repair gig, we serviced internal and external users’ machines. Our guys went through all of the Apple trainings and certs for the devices we had to do. I jumped ship when Apple started using TWELVE SCREWS for just their WiFi antenna.
re: carefree- oh yeah, I’ve seen my fair share of “I don’t know what happened but now it wont turn on” and it’s full of Starbucks -repairs.
Again, thanks for the perspectives. I do understand that Framework will certainly deduct the cost of any repairs from the return.
But here’s my problem - what if one of the suggestions here was right and there’s something behind the screen that’s causing the problem? So…after my return period expires, I install a new screen, the problem shows up immediately again, and then Framework support again says “looks like you broke it again?” Or maybe replacing the screen doesn’t solve the problem because the issue was actually a faulty cable connection. Or a million other things.
The context here is that I probably put a grand total of 2 hours of use on this machine. I installed the OS and did some web surfing to see if it was going to be a chronic fan-screamer like some thin-and-lights. Perhaps 3-4 open-and-closes of the lid.
I also would use the most beautiful (to me) part of the whole concept and philosophy of Framework:
Being able to open up my own goddamn hardware because I own it. And therefore being able to fix or at least diagnose issues and defects.
Of course you have to be comfortable doing that or have a friend that is and you are trusting him/her enough to perform the operation. But i think Framework has also done a pretty good job in assisting that by publishing guides on how to disassemble/exchange parts, as others have already pointed out.
Finally i do also think the support could have at least offered a replacement display at a little bit of a discount. I have no idea how thin their margins are, maybe it really is actually not possible without them losing money, but it would have shown their good will and would have probably turned this complaint-thread into an appreciation-thread.
If they have refurbished (returned or pulled from laptops with other issues) parts on hand, sometimes they’ll offer them at a discount as a goodwill gesture. Unfortunately, offering discounts on new parts because someone damaged their device isn’t a sustainable support model for any company, but especially for a company as small as Framework.
The timing of the issue didn’t help either, as support is absolutely buried from the Framework Laptop 16 launch, and arranging for refurb parts that aren’t listed on the marketplace can be time-consuming.