While waiting for my Batch 2 shipment I love to check out the product pages over and over again to not forget what I’ll soon have in my hands
I noticed an inconsistency scrolling through the Specs and Modules info, or maybe I’m not understanding something correctly, or this is just the default text for all the FW-laptops.
The diagram on the left shows 3 Display-outputs, but in the “Modules” section seen on the right it mentions up to 4 screens. Now I’m not sure if the latter maybe refers to other models (maybe FW13 Intel, but there they only mention “Supporting Thunderbolt™ 4, USB4, USB-PD, DisplayPort Alt Mode” but not on how many ports) or the diagram on the left is missing a display-out port.
Maybe someone know where the truth about that can be found!
I can’t give you a definite answer, but the Processor has 2 USB4.0 ports (those are likely 1 and 4) and then 2 USB 3.2 ports.
I’d assume they have some sort of third part USB controller for the other ports. And maybe they can’t handle UBS alt mode and charging on their ports. Or there is some other reason for that.
The 4 displays is the limit of the integrated GPU. You can use a USB4 hub to connect two displays with one port though. So that is how you get the 4 screens, if you need them.
The description for the Expansion card is generic - it also works in Intel chipset Framework Laptop 13s which can drive 4 ports.
The DP alt mode appears to work on the three ports labelled on the AMD laptops. Keep in mind one of the four display outputs mentioned in the spec sheet is hardwired to the internal screen. DP MST should work so you can run multiple external screens off one port with the correct hardware.
Thanks for your answer, sounds reasonable. But then still there’s the confusing phrasing with “four expansion cards”. Not that I need the four external screens, just curious what’s correct, and if only one or both, why
I actually thought the 4 monitor part came from the FW16 page. I didn’t read your question clearly sorry. So Magics answer is the correct one!
The real question is, if there is a way to disable the internal display to get the 4th display out via a displayport hub. But I have no experience with that.
Ha! Thanks for the info. How would I go about doing that? Do I just go into the device manager and disable the screen there (or use xset on linux) and that’d be enough? Or would I have to physically disconnect the screen?
On linux use whatever you use to manage displays, xrandr/arandr on x and wdisplays or your whatever utility your desktop enviroment gives you for that.
sorry. So Magics answer is the correct one!
