I like that the framework team is also doing chromebooks. That is an awesome step in the right direction. A few things that I think are a must to use these at the elementary level:
Screws to hold the bezel down so kids don’t remove them
Screws to hold the removable ports so kids don’t remove them.
Partner with a distributor for rugged clamshell cases since kids are so rough on the computers.
Mass ordering of the screens. Screens are the most broken item and serious backorder issues for major brands.
I guess the ‘perspective’ is: You can’t trust kids to be sensible?
Anything from gum in the vents to laptop bend tests… Going to grab some popcorn…just in case.
Here in Canada, we had the following deal on a ThinkPad Chromebook (long expired deal). Ultra low end, 4GB RAM…utter trash spec…but I’m so intriged by the Chromebook market that I want to give it a try and see what it’s all about.
It looks very doable. You just get a longer screw for the bezel plate, drill holes in the bezels and fasten them. Then you re-engineer the button that releases the card slots so you have to use a screwdriver to open it, then press the hidden release tab inside the slot. Basically what can happen will happen with kids. The framework design is awesome for adults/college students but we got kinder kids using laptops. They mess with everything.
Current computers they are ordering, mainly HP are around $300 to $400. Same as cheap chromebooks. The issue is that kids destroy stuff like headphone jacks, screens, keyboards. Not easily replaceable or have global supply chain issues re-ordering replacement screens. While the 1k pricing is for a decent computer for high school or college kids, the ones that elementary kids need just needs to browse websites and bare minimum specs. So the framework team just needs to get the economies of scale down to be able to sell the computers under $500 and they will get massive orders. Our techs don’t do any soldering. So being able to swap something simple like headphone jacks is a game changer.
off topic but I’m currently going through a college business class and learned this phrase earlier this week and never thought I’d see it in the wild especially on a forum like this haha.
Oh yeah, even on like highschool level, students don’t really care about their school laptops.
I don’t think FW will do a revision (although it would be really cool) to include screws. What could be doable is a case to put around the computer that holds both the bezel and expansion cards down!
Also a plus that the FW has in comparison to 400 buck chromebooks is that it looks more expensive if you know what I’m getting at? Which most people are way more careful with due to not wanting to be billed when they break something.
The case/frame can’t cost that much. So really it is more about massive bulk orders needed to drive the price down of the motherboards, etc. We got 1 to 1 laptops in district with 50k kids. A lot of those laptops have screens that can’t be replaced, so it’s $300 to $400 for a new laptop. So selling something even at $600 to $800 can be justified for smaller wealthy districts and private schools. What I like about the concept is that schools that are geographically spread out from their district support can easily replace parts without full time IT guys. So if Jimmy breaks his headphone tip off in the laptop, it’s a quick $14 replacement by a teacher with paid additional duties at the school site.
It would be really nice if Frame.work designed a version can take the abuse found with education laptops. But even if they’d like to do that, it’s probably a good ways off. Let them get a few revisions & a different model or two out first. Designing for the abuse of huge groups of children requires different design challenges that need to be mastered.
@MJ1 I would agree with you in part except for the durability thing and making something specific for that. Adding the screws is a simple fix for kids that mess with it. Kids will pluck off keys and destroy touchpads quickly regardless of what you do on the durability side. I used to use true “military grade” computers that came with our operations tents in the Army and they were horrible 4 inch thick beasts. These districts are doing mass purchasing based on price. Those laptops are made to fail. They are not designed for durability. They are designed for mass sale. Very little can be done to fix them especially with all the glue that is used. I think colleges are certainly the first target so that students can easily get repairs done in a few minutes.
