I think Framework team didn’t cover enough is the reason behind choosing Torx T5 over others. I understand that Framework includes screwdrivers and spare fasteners but for the sake of easy repair, why don’t the Framework team choose Philips fasteners that are more common? I don’t even know what fasteners are common on today’s laptop standards. I think it could also be an article!
Another concern is a normal user like me will lose the screwdriver soon since we would need them only when we want to upgrade or the laptop broke which I guess once every 1 - 2 years. In my humble dream, it would be great to integrate a screwdriver into the laptop itself or even better Making a tool-less opening laptop!
T5 works well in that it is extremely hard to accidentally strip the screw head, which occurs with small Philips screws. It’s also a common enough drive that most toolkits have it, even iFixit’s smallest kit: Minnow Driver Kit - iFixit
My opinion, as someone who’s been building and fixing computers for 25 years is that Philips is awful, and has no right to be as popular as it is. Even the very similar JIS and Pozidriv are superior patterns.
Torx is compact, and much easier to torque without camming out. Torx drivers are very easy to get, and generally they are higher quality and hardened. If you plan to do any electronics work you should invest in a set of Torx bits.
Integrating a driver into the case like a stylus is a very cool idea. I had a couple of Sun servers that included a specialized torque wrench for fastening the heat sink retention hardware inside the case, and that was really handy.
Integrated screw driver is definitely a cool idea!!
Speaking from working with A LOT of current consumer laptops across every maker I can agree with the durability. It’s not every day you come across a stripped screw but it is common. It’s crazy rare to strip a torx. They have great connection with the screw driver too.
I agree completely. I have a laptop that I’m kind of afraid to open now because of the damage done to the #00 Phillips screw heads. Torx would have been so much better. Even my cheap, store-brand Home Depot precision screwdriver set includes a T5 bit, so they should be easy to find these days.
First of all, I cannot tell you how excited I am about this laptop. I was recently in the market for a new laptop, and it was so hard to find something that was current generation that had SODIMM slots. You guys have really gone the extra mile.
Manufacturers employ many tactics to prevent repair, such as using special screw heads, having multiple screw types and sizes, and marrying components to the motherboard. Many of the tamper resistant screws I see are the Y000 (Nintendo, Apple), P2 and P5 Pentalobe (Apple), and on occasion, the Torx heads (HP, Lenovo, and many others).
While I know that Torx screws/drivers have become much more commonplace, I still see a level of tamper resistance to them. I know the laptop ships with a T5 driver + spudger, and it is built around the premise of being serviceable, repairable, and upgradeable. That much shows that your usage of Torx isn’t for tamper resistance. Yet I still wonder, why use the Torx head? I know the Torx head prevents cam out better than a Phillips head, so is that why?
I just felt like Phillips would have made the most sense to make the laptop easily and readily serviceable by anybody, so I’d like to know why Torx was chosen in favor of another screw head. Thank you for making a laptop with so much thought put into reparability, I really hope it takes off
