The fact that the new battery requires a firmware update for the 12th gen (i.e. from last year) laptops is quite worrying. I asked support and they told me they’re just prioritizing the newer products.
But if the old ones don’t get BIOS updates are that required in order to use new hardware (be it a battery, or many an expansion module in the future)… how is this an upgradable laptop? Sure we can replace things (as long as there’s parts) but if getting more battery capacity requires also replacing the motherboard… I don’t know, it’s quite disappointing.
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This has been discussed many times on the forum. Framework is a small company and for a long time, they haven’t had enough resources for BIOS development which was actually handled by whoever their suppliers could free up. This has changed as now Framework has a contract in place with dedicated staff to work on BIOS updates and the first one they are prioritizing is the 12th gen update which includes support for the larger batteries. Framework has mentioned that their philosophy on BIOS updates would be more centered around security rather than features (which is not to say they won’t add new features, just that don’t expect them).
As for upgradeability, people might have different opinions on this but I’ve always understood upgradeability as the ability to put in a new mainboard in the same chassis. Expansion cards are not really an issue as they interface via USB-C and shouldn’t need dedicated BIOS software. Things like battery upgrades are a bonus in my opinion. The whole appeal of the Framework laptop is repairability first and upgradeability second.
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I absolutely disagree. I don’t have to repair my laptop often. Never actually, unless I have very bad luck. I do care about upgrading it, but small, incremental upgrades - If I need to spend a significant amount, then just getting a new one with all new components makes more sense.
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The whole point is not for you to repair your laptop often, it’s that should you need to, you’ll be able to access parts for a reasonable price and easily be able to perform the repairs (unlike many laptop brands especially Apple). The whole upgradeability aspect of Framework comes from the fact that since they’ve physically standardized many of their parts, they are intercompatible between generations. As for whether it makes financial sense to upgrade, it’s controversial but performing upgrades does end up costing more overall however, it does mean you spend less at a given moment.
“Old” (one year old…) mainboards not supporting the new battery meaningfully reduces the utility of those old boards and can clearly result in e-waste when users upgrade their mainboards sooner than they otherwise would.
What makes matters worse is that we were promised support last year (alongside promised thunderbolt certification and several vulnerability fixes that never materialized). Were not making unreasonable demands, were asking for the features that we were alrrady promised before we bought the product.
I think it should be pretty obvious that framework’s abysmal firmware support is harming their mission. Its significantly reducing the useful lifespan of their products.
Framework is not perfect. IMO, firmware support is their #1 shortcoming right now by a large margin.
Repairability is ensured with the “standard” battery continuing to be available. Had they not released a battery with a slightly higher capacity, no one would have bothered.
Eventually, they will release BIOS update with support for newer battery.
And, I mean, 12th gen laptop is like 12 months old. So, battery performance has to be fine, still.
So, no time to upgrade, yet, otherwise it would be really generating e-waste.
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The beta bios already includes thunderbolt certification and several fixed vulnerabilities.
I partially disagree. Granted that everyone will have a slightly different experience, for the most part, my 12th gen board has been solid and it’s not like there’s a huge firmware flaw blocking me from using it or significantly impacting use. I do agree things haven’t been great but given that 11th gen boards now support the 61 watt hour battery, I think that goes to show Framework is committed to supporting their products and the 12th gen boards will eventually get a BIOS update.
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The beta bios already includes thunderbolt certification and several fixed vulnerabilities.
If the beta bios were a reasonable solution for people who rely on their device as their daily driver, then it wouldn’t still be in beta.
I partially disagree. Granted that everyone will have a slightly different experience, for the most part, my 12th gen board has been solid
I’m glad that you don’t have any need for better battery life, better thunderbolt compatibility, or a secure bios. Surely you agree that it’s reasonable to want these things though, right? Especially after they were already promised so long ago?
I’m not saying we should boycott framework or anything like that. Let’s just acknowledge that they’ve dropped the ball on firmware. They have a lot of room to improve here.
At this point, it might be a bit of a mislabel. Currently, Framework’s procedure for a BIOS update is after 2 weeks (iirc), if there aren’t any major issues, then it comes out of beta. Not to say that it won’t introduce regression, just that based on this procedure, the 3.06 update should no longer be labelled as beta.
Security definitely yes. Thunderbolt compatibility theoretically should be where it is given that it meets Intel’s standards so I’m not sure where it could be improved. Better battery life would definitely be a perk and while it’s something that firmware updates can improve, there’s also a hardware component. One example is with the 3rd HDMI cards.
Can agree with you on that. Just got to wait and see how things change.
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