What are some other possible uses for the Expansion Bay on the upcoming 16" laptop?

To expand on the snack drawer idea, what about a low-powered toaster?
Like you might be able to cook a pop-tart in it with some heating coils!

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A VGA and DisplayPort input for device administration would be awesome!

You could connect the video output of a PC/Server to the Laptop, and it would show it on the internal display! You could even add a USB Connection to use the Keyboard and Trackpad to control the PC/Server.
Maybe with a little hardware switch to toggle between local and external mode without disconnecting any cables.

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get a printer/scanner in the mix
edit: like a brother pocketjet is already about that size anyway so its probably doable with a few compromises

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Yes! This is what I am hoping for as well. Thunderbolt gpus lose so much performance. If there were some sort of expansion bay that could connect to a desktop GPU and get near desktop level connectivity I would ditch my desktop in favor of the framework 16 in a heartbeat!

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For the musically minded it could be cool to integrate a few XLR and TRS inputs with some high quality pre-amps. I’m not sure how chunky that would be but it would be super handy to just plug mics and instruments straight into the computer!

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I’m already hoping for a slide-pot equalizer and some speakers, but a direct to PCIe audio interface would be latency heaven.

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That paired with a capture card would be a streaming/video calling game changer. Hooking up a nice mirrorless camera AND a proper mic would be awesome! Completely overkill and I am not even sure if it is possible (my technical knowledge is pretty poor) but we can dream.

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clicky spring tray thing for phones that have Samsung Dex for people that already have the phone and don’t need a laptop that’s more than a chrome book and its end ups being plug and play

I’m interested in the expanded battery options. TSA has a limit of 100Wh on laptop batteries, so I’m hoping that with a battery expansion I can bring the laptop’s capacity up to or beyond this 100 limit. I’m not an electrical engineer, but I’d be interested in developing an open battery expansion module that uses 18650’s, allowing someone to have as much battery capacity as they’re willing to carry. Personally, I’m willing to carry a lot. My previous laptop was 13 pounds.

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They probably won’t go beyond the limit. They would get known for it & it would cause problems for Framework owners. TSA is not known for being the most intelligent and reasonable bunch. Good luck convincing the one you’re dealing with that “Actually only Frameworks of a certain configuration are illegal to fly with! Mine is totally ok, trust me!”
Yea no, I really hope they do not go over the limit. For everyone’s sake.

You can’t just pop out the expansion bay in a second. The connector has two screws, and it seems to require removing the keyboard to access them.

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Oh I definitely don’t expect them going beyond the limit. Up-to is even questionable. I meant this more in relation to my temptations towards a custom implementation. Either way, I’m looking forward to hearing more about it :slight_smile:

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It will be interesting to see how they handle it.

I expect we’ll get something like a 97Wh as standard and the expansion bay battery choice is in accordance with these TSA requirements.

Also, we shouldn’t have to wait long - battery blog post will likely hit within the next 7 days, perhaps even today.

update: 85Wh battery

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Came here to make the same update. Honestly it’s higher than I expected, I’d be quite happy with a 85Wh battery pre-expansion bay additions.

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this thread seems relevant to link here : Screwdriver expansion card

(there’s the suggestion, files, testing, for several designs, in the thread.)

but late, but maybe it’s of intrest still.

How about an expansion bay with a couple of expansion card slots?
I don’t know if this is possible but it would make sense to be.

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More expansion card slots compatible with official expansion cards with a second built-in battery.

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All you can really get there is usb-only ports. The expansion bay connector doesn’t have display port (unless you also put a gpu in there).

But on the bright side you could have a lot of usb ports XD

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How about stuffing some super slim subwoofers or NIC with a half-dozen managed 10-gig ports for field operations?

  • bass module for even better sound quality. That’d be nice :slight_smile:
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