Thanks y’all for the kind words, the consolation, pointers to cheaper options, background info, and general commiseration.
@amoun Throwing another buck at the machine feels too much like a sunk cost fallacy now. I’d be willing to pay the difference for a cross- or upgrade, though, to never again have to deal with that %`§%$ Intel gen 11. That would be equal to having bought a better board at at the first place.
@BigT Legally, Framework is in the clear, AFAIU. I may have unrealistic expectations, having been pampered too much here in Germany/EU, where in a blatant case like this, arrangements ex gratia are not uncommon. Maybe the market here is more sensitive to brand reputation and customer satisfaction?
@ultionis I understand about material fatigue, but this laptop and second motherboard have travelled only at shipment, and occasionally from desk to sofa or bed and back. The laptop was packed also in original package when moving house at first mainboard time.
(EDIT: corrected quote)
Yes, random events in larger numbers show random clusters of no deeper significance. It’s not personal, sure.
@JL_Framework My heart bleeds for you (well, not quite, but I understand…).
@parawizard And paid repair… If an available shop had not already a pristine reputation or a certification that actually meant something, I used to do that myself. At a time of little money but much time, I hunted down the schematics of a closely related model to my HP Probook, identified the chips, ordered them from half around the world, and solder them in place. An adventure those days… But meanwhile the SMDs have become so tiny, there’s no fun in there for me anymore. Also, nowadays I want to work with the machine, not on the machine, and value cheap, simple and easy repairs.
Not in June, i.e. 6 months after installation and 3 months after warranty had expired. Would that have made a difference?
The sudden death was rare at first (June), maybe 1x in two days, and it would have been hard to convince support that this was serious issue. Frequency rose with an increasingly steep curve and I started seriously searching for a cause in August and finally contacted support as late as August 26, with all the info collected already (see Sudden death, internal keyboard is not registered, irregular power button behaviour, rarely boots ). (They didn’t read them, and asked for the already provided info later on, but that’s another great lamento.)
PM everyone on the member list of this forum for their experience, to include all who quietly have jumped ship or just stopped reading here. Will you be allowed to?
(EDIT: Quote again)
A really sound strategy to build trust would have been to inform all owners of a suspected failure and a test procedure for it, and if that failure could (provably) been demonstrated, offer a fast track to replacement.
And sell known flawed batches with a reduced warranty for a small price, prominently labelled up front that they may be flawed and warranty would only mean a replacement from the same batch.
Framework serves a small market and sees a growing competition even there, and there is not much left for a unique selling point. Novelty effect is gone, and I see not much else than an emphasis on longevity, robustness and sustainability to set them apart from the field. And a reputation of reliabiliy and trustworthiness. The technical features will be common standard offered by established players sooner or later.
Repairability: As USP it is fading out fast. Apart from the usually x-washing advertising bovine manure, some manufacturers have caught on quickly: iFixit lists a number of laptops from recent years with the same repairability index as the Framework (10/10) and a dozen or so that are slightly worse (9/10, 8/10), many downrated for a very minor point (riveted keyboard, no repair docs at manufacturer site, and the like). You can get a model that is, say, a few years old second hand or refurbished for a fraction of a new Framework price, and go through 3…7 of them before break even. Big brands where you can expect to see second hand spares sold for quite a time.
Upgradeability: Sounds great, but, honestly, will you ever need it? Current consumer laptops offer a computing power that is rarely maxed out on a regular basis. Those who need it go for a gaming machine or a mobile workstation.
USB modules: Count for those who travel much (and want minimum weight) and need to reconfigure ports on the spot. Everybody else can tolerate to carry a dock and a few adapters now and then. Beyond that, engineers, tinkerers, nerds, and fascinated technophiles make up the market. A small target group.
Modularity: Not new, not special. The HP probook 4x40s, for example, could be disassembled with two screwdrivers and a spudger or fingernail in 2012. Not to mention the old Dell machines…
