What components from a 13 can be shifted over to a 16?

Curious if there are any other items besides the drive, ram, expansion modules…

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To my knowledge, these:

  • SSD
  • Expansion Cards
  • Maybe RAM, but probably only DDR5

The other things that are swappable about the FW13 don’t make sense in the FW16. I’m thinking the screen, the bezel, the keyboard, the motherboard, the battery…

Actually, we know for sure that the FW13 and 16 batteries won’t be interchangeable. They use different connectors.

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I agree, it will likely be only SSD, expansion cards, maybe RAM (if they’re using the same DDR standard), and potentially the Wifi card, although I don’t know why you’d do that.

Screen, keyboard, motherboard, battery, chassis and camera/microphone assembly will be incompatible.

The only RAM that would be compatible would be from a 13" Framework with the Ryzen motherboard. That’s the only model that currently has DDR5 memory. The DDR4 RAM used in the Intel motherboards will not work; it won’t even fit in the sockets.

If you really want to switch over to the 16" and not keep your 13", the only real option is to sell the old laptop. It should still have many years of useful life so at least it won’t be going to landfill.

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I assume the webcam and touchpad are compatible. They appear visually identical.

Touchpad definitely not. Framework-16 input modules connect via usb. And I wouldn’t assume the webcam is compatible, though it would be nice if it was.

~edit~
Correction, the touchpad is i2c, not usb like the other input modules.
Source: reddit.com/r/framework/comments/153xyhj/on_giving_early_hands_on_previews_to_press_of/

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I took some callipers to my FW13’s touchpad and the 16’s module is about 7mm wider, so the part itself also isn’t compatible. Webcam/mics seems like a solid bet though, in all the material i’ve seen they look identical.

At least the cable of the webcam/mic module of the 16" version is likely different as the screen is larger.

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The webcam is cross-compatible between the two. All other parts except off the shelf stuff like memory and storage are unique.

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I think it will be great, when in the future more parts are compatible. For example the whole mainboard. :heart_eyes:

A compatible mainboard is just not possible. 16" is not just about having a bigger screen. it also about having more performance (and more cooling), more expansion slots, more M.2 slots, the expansion bay.

If all that were possible in 13", the market for 16" would be a lot smaller.

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@Christian_Elsner is see the point of cooling because of the TDP. But this is the same cpu architecture. So i think there can be a solution for the slots and so on.
Whats about, as a first step, make the FW13 mainboard possible to put in in the FW16 case?

I kind of agree. The base MB and processor should fit any case. A 16, which would require extras, has the extra space so it would use additional modules that would not fit into a 13. Of course this assumes that the additional (required components) could be designed to fit into the extra space easily and that they could be integrated into a MB so that it would still perform properly with or without them.
I would also hope that a base MB and processor could fit into an even smaller case so if a smaller unit was designed in the future, all could use the same base MB and processor. This assumes that we are actually wanting to design a completely reusable infrastructure in order to avoid waste. If that were the case I might even consider 2 different sizes, a small tablet size for travel and a large home size. If I knew that I could save by using the same MB and some of the other modules (just swap them around) rather than purchasing 2 different computers. It might help me come to grips with the extra cost of switching to a Framework system.

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Great idea re: a small tablet size… the ease of swapping from one platform to another. I would definitely be on board.