I bought one of the extra Mainboard (11th Gen Intel® Core™) - i7-1165G7 when they found spare stock a while back. I’ve had it on the cooler master case running as a home server and it’s been great.
Is there a list of everything I would need to convert it to a full laptop?
There have been a few threads here discussing this and they should have a list of all the parts that you would need.
Hi there, sorry to revive this thread but my Google Fu is failing me and I have the same question. I want to get into Framework but can’t afford to buy in all up front so had the idea to buy parts a few at a time and assemble it all from the ground up.
If anyone can point me to any prior threads that lists out everything needed to build a Framework 16 aside from boards, screen, and wifi/storage (so case, screws, connectors, etc.), I’d be very grateful.
Hasn’t been discussed for the 16 to my knowledge however, I strongly suggest not buying the parts individually. You’d be paying a whole lot more than just saving up the money to buy a Framework 16 outright (as you’d be spending money on shipping and total price of each component may be more than the device itself). Additionally, there is the chance of damaging something during assembly and doing it this way complicates warranty/returns. Lastly, it’s not environmentally friendly with all that shipping and packaging. If you’d like to get a Framework 16 at a cheaper price, I recommend checking out our community market or eBay. Alternatively, you can look at financing options with your credit card provider.
Hey there, thanks so much for your quick response! The credit card option is not one that’s available to me, and neither the community market nor eBay currently have any framework 16’s listed. I understand the shipping and environmental angle to be sure, so it would be best to buy parts in large batches to try and offset that as best as possible.
As to the chance of damaging something, while that chance is never zero, I have been building PCs and working on laptops for 30+ years. So voiding warranties is not new to me. I have the coffee mug to prove it. 
It would be absolutely brilliant if there were a barebones clamshell on offer that would leave it up to us end users to then source the boards, screen, and keyboard. But perhaps one day.
Well, quick update on this. Started following the Community Market, and any FW16’s that do get posted get snapped up quickly. So clearly there is a big appetite for big-but-affordable laptops here.
Anyone know where we could submit feedback to the main Framework team for possibly listing bare clamshells for sale?
You can by the rest in one go now, without a mainboard.
This is brilliant, except it’s a FW13. This does give me hope that eventually a FW16 chassis may appear, though!