While the Framework laptops gives users the benefit of choosing port selection it does come at the cost of having fewer concurrent ports. Everyone will have slightly different port needs and desires from a laptop and it would be interesting to get a gauge of what those needs and desires are whatever they may be.
This is not intended as a place of criticism or to vent frustrations with the expansions card system,
Thank you.
P.S. If anybody has a good suggestion on how to make this into a poll without hundreds of options feel free to suggest it!
For me, when I’m on the go, 3x USB-C and 1x USB-A is more than enough. Sometimes I wish there would be a card reader, but I always have one in my bag, so that’s no big deal for me.
For the GPU: 1 HDMI, 1 DP to have the option and not have to deal with adapters, dont know if another USB C will be necessary
That is a good point. The USB C should have all the nice features of USB 4, for example not having the PCI-e lines or the DP features is a big disappointment
Maybe put a list of options to vote on, but therefore and framework engineering team has to say what are the possibilities from the technology point of view, not that people vote for something that is a fantasy.
One or two per expansion (which combination?), how many, which ones
Give more opinions to make it as good as possible for feedback
I personally can’t take this question out of context with the Framework laptop.
I have a use for basically every port you can think of (even a good old fashioned serial port), so my ideal configuration is all of them. Asking how many do I need at once, though? Not saying it hasn’t happened, but I can’t recall a time where I had more than 4 things plugged in at once, including power! I also can’t recall a laptop (and I’ve had/used many) that didn’t need an adapter for something.
For me personally, go ahead and modularize everything and allow me to easily swap in what I need at will. Otherwise my ideal laptop is the size of something with a Windows XP sticker on it. Give me a sensibly sized unit with the ability to reconfigure according to what I’m doing via a bag of modules. To me, this is the ideal, not a compromise.
@OperationCWAL much like you I have a need for a plethora of different options at different times. 90% of the time I am fine with all usb-c. I do tend to take a small portable hub on the go, but sometimes this is not a good option and for those times I have the modules. WIsh they had more types/niche corner case ones.
@pani_alex I don’t want to limit peoples choices by creating selections and if it was a list of individual ports I don’t think you can vote on the same option more than once so no way to select multiples of the same type nor how to identify individuals selections, I think it would just show the most popular port. A poll just might not be suitable despite being appealing.
@OperationCWAL The original question I thought of was ideal or minimum acceptable ports, perhaps I should change the title to get more focused answers? Would that also make it clear this is not about modularity (ie not a Framework laptop but a “standard” laptop) but rather what daily/frequently used ports you require?
I see your point though (and hopefully you see the point of the topic) it sounds to me like a single thunderbolt port with a hub like nadb uses might be all you need complimented with a bag of adapters?
I still think it would be of value to list the ports that you use/would want as I think that is in the spirit of the topic and interesting to all who read. Thanks for your response.
That sounds like all type C would be your answer then?
That’s fair, apologies for drifting. This is really tough for me, but I’ll throw out an answer as if I had to buy a more conventional design, what would I require so as to give me the most functionality but not turn it into an early 2010’s W-series Thinkpad:
Yup. A usb-c to usb-a adapter is tiny and that closes another 5% of the use case for me leaving me with the hub for another 4% and that last 1% is just stuck with adapters.
Can we have mouse and printer ports?
This USB nonsense is killing me…
Mouse through USB… LAN through USB… Video through USB… Why can’t we have VGA…?
i have 3 usb-c and 1 usb-a. i also own a few others but i have never used them in a year.
when i’m out i usually don’t need ports besides a usb-c for the charger
when i’m at home i usually plug one usb-c (to a dongle or) to a screen so i definitely don’t need hdmi or onboard usb-a
the only times i’ve ever needed the usb-a port were to plug usb sticks (never done this outside my house so i didn’t need the actual usb-a expansion card)
At this point, my minimum is essentially 4 type-C ports, of which at least two (not including PD input) need to be fast, and at least one needs to be TB4/USB4. I would also likely need five if there was no input+output audio jack. I’ve used laptops with only two type-C ports before, but doubt I could go back. In fact, at this point, I do run out of type-C ports on my FW13 on occasion (for example, power, external monitor, phone for charging and wired tethering, and an external hard drive or extra audio interface, and now I have no place to plug in my security key when I need to). As I am not sure I want to go back to larger laptops, I’m hoping that someone will eventually figure out a limited dual-type-C expansion card: it would be convenient to have 3 full ports, and 2 slower ports with limited power.
This is in part because I’ve arranged to ensure that almost everything I use uses type-C connections: with the exception of a projector (still HDMI or DP) and some older mini-B, micro-B, type-B devices (and one horrible 8-pin proprietary mini-B-ish connector on a camera…), I only need type-C cables.
This has meant that I use extension cards much less frequently than I originally expected; that most of them have power draw problems and aren’t suitable for keeping attached doesn’t help. I do find the HDMI expansion card helpful compared to a dongle, in that while giving presentations I can have it attached, and not have to worry about losing it or having someone take it.
I am the exact same, I have a usb-a and usb-c hookup for my dock at home but otherwise, charging, my yubikey, and my external drive all are usb-c. Don’t think I’ve ever used more than three ports in recent times.
I am ordering a lot of extra modules so that I can swap out at will.
I think Four USB-Cs plus 3.5mm audio jack would be my normal configuration on travel. That way I can hook up my fast USB-C based card reader, external monitor, external m.2 storage, and USB PD power all at the same time without using a hub. Maximum throughput when transferring images and video around.
I can also see swapping out one of the USB-C ports for an HDMI port.
