What needs to be done to make these laptops outstanding

General Topics
1

Hello, I have a background in network engineering, custom desktop building, and I’m just delving into some PCB design.

Here are my thoughts about what needs to be done for me to get one of these laptops. And I know many others will agree with the point I am going to lay out.

Starting with a basic list of thing, I will go in more detail further on;

  1. Independently upgradeable DGPU (not EGPU)
  2. 6 expansion ports. And more HAT variety.
  3. Multigenerational CPU socket.
  4. Different display options.
  5. More laptop sizes
  6. LTE modem

That’s the short list. I have this idea that I think would accommodate pretty much all of those. I personally like 15” laptops. The next step down for me is tiny like a 6” laptop. Anything else I would just use my phone or something. So if you where to make a 15” model with the battery up the middle with the CPU/MB on the left you could have the cooling towards the back and back side. You could then have 3 expansion HAT slot towards the front side of the laptop. You could then use the entire right side as a “large addin card”. Could put in a DGPU and it could follow the same cooling and HAT principles as the CPU board for a total of 6 ports, 3 per board. Or you could make it a HDD spot, Second battery, dedicated capture card, ODD drive in place of the 3 HAT ports, whatever you could think of that would fit in the space. Would just be connected via a 16x ribbon cable I would think under the main battery.

As for the screen. There should be touch and non touch versions I feel of every display possible. With that said, there should be a 4K option, an OLED (possibly 4k) option, there should be high refresh rate versions with VRR support VA Or IPS type. It should also be nice if the webcam was swappable with a windows hello version.

It would be nice if the CPU could be socketed, but I totally get it if it can’t with power budgets and the like, a DGPU addin card would also probably facilitate needing a better power in that USB C.

I think there needs to be more HAT versions, some with more multiple ports. Perhaps a wider HAT as well. It would be nice if the one HAT could have 2 USB A ports as an example, Or how about Ethernet, Or an Cellular modem, or a full length M.2 slot in an enclosure, mini mouse?, separated audio jacks, how about a recessed USB port for mouse dongles, as mentioned above what about being able to swap say all the IO on the right side with like a disc drive or capture card inputs, hot swappable HDD bay. The list goes on.

I have I have made a point and sparked some thoughts, but for me a computer is just not that useful without a DGPU unless it’s absolutely tiny. Love the project by the way, would probably instantly make this my new daily driver if the things mentioned where to be addressed

5 Likes
2
  1. An upgradable discrete GPU may be possible with MXM. Obviously would have to be a mobile/low power GPU, probably an MX450, or a 1650/3050, or the rdna2 mobile variants I can’t name off the top of my head.
  2. More slots would probably be for a 15" future model, seeing as doing so in a 13" chassis would have to reduce the battery size (and it’s currently at 55Wh).
  3. There aren’t any socketed new-generation mobile CPUs. Either way, the battery life would be terrible.
  4. I agree! having a touch screen, or even a standard 1920x1200 display, or even OLED would be awesome :drooling_face:
  5. Yep, a 15" would make most of your other points possible or easier space-wise.
  6. This could absolutely be done in an expansion slot. Only problem would be room for an antenna, which could be smaller at the cost of quality. Note the smallest DIY module I found was by Sixfab- the smallest isn’t exactly usable in terms of speed, though.

You can realistically get started with 4 and 6, Looking forward to see what you can do!

2 Likes
3

I’d certainly love a larger Framework. Considering that basically everything is modular, I could get a 2-in-1 by replacing the hinge with a 360, and the display with a touchscreen.
The only thing I listed as a must-have is NVENC. AMD’s encoder is just atrocious, though I love how they make their drivers easily available on Linux. Nice-to-have’s I would say include eSim (better on a new mainboard instead of using up an expansion module for subpar performance), a Sensel trackpad (truly revolutionary technology), and a second m.2 port.
~ Jamie

4

I’d immediately buy one if they were to have an upgradeable gpu option!

2 Likes
5

The upgradable GPU: how feasible is that? I imagine something like that would turn this thing into a chonker of a laptop.

The 15” model or touchscreen definitely seems to get a lot of voice in the forums. I bet that will come as a gen 2 kind of deal.

Though I say that and I’m thinking the old school mentality of throw it away and buy a new one. Maybe a 15” model isn’t a gen 2 thing, but an addition to the lineup down the road. For that matter a touchscreen is probably an added to the lineup deal too. Buy the component and pop it into the existing framework!

Heh … see what I did there?

1 Like
6

Oh yes, forgot those existed

1 Like
7

Those are very good points!

just I am not sure about the need for (2) more ports: The expansion cards are already easily swappable. If one connects up to 6 peripherals would it not be easier to just use a USB-C-dock instead? Then 4 ports might be enough? (already far more versatile than most other laptops. Certainly more versatile than any 13" device)

(1) DGPU and (3) CPU socket, are perhaps a little bit too techy for me personally, but I certainly see the appeal and certainly would not mind those features.

Out of your 6 points, (4) display options and (5) more laptop sizes are what I would be most interested in.

The only thing that will probably keep me from buying this one is the 3:2 aspect ratio and glossy screen. I heard the 3:2 ratio is good for coding, but I am more productive one wide screens which allow for side by side windows. (hoping I am not the only one)

8

Personally I’d want 6 expansion modules if it could fit in a 15" with a DGPU - USB4 x3 for charging, a DSLR and an external drive, high end audio (hoping with 1/4" TRRS in), RJ-45, and USB-A

9

A DSLR? They would be a big module. :wink:

10

@Edward_Gray What I mean is having 3x USB4 expansion modules. I would use one of them to plug in a DSLR camera. The bandwidth of USB4 is 40Gbps. On a DSLR camera, you’d be able to (theoretically) use that to

  1. Charge the camera at full speed with the PD protocol
  2. Carry a DisplayPort signal over USB-C to use as a webcam
  3. Data sync the camera to offload recorded footage/photos

I don’t know if the PD protocol would use up some of the data bandwidth, but if we assume not and we assume a DisplayPort 1.4 connection (4k30 or 1080p120 at ~25Gbps) then that leaves 15Gbps for data transfer. We currently have the Sony A6400 but hopefully in the future someone makes a DSLR with USB4 that can do everything with a single cable, instead of

  1. microHDMI or miniDP for display out
  2. microUSB 2.0 for data sync / webcam out OR charging (can’t charge and transfer data)
  3. requiring a stupid 3rd party dummy battery to be able to run it indefinitely

Hopefully one day soon
~ Jamie

11

Yes, hopefully one day soon, the camera manufacturers will allow for such connectivity options. Mine are mostly Nikon. There are some use cases for good tethering options.

12

A touchscreen option is a real MUST for me, of course I can connect my portable touchscreen to it, but I really think it would be an asset to the whole concept…
A complete graphics upgrade would of course also be so nice.

13

Feature request: If more keyboards are coming out, would it be possible to make an apple keyboard version. I am planning to make mine (if I can get my hands on one) into a Hackintosh. A apple layout keyboard would be awesome. Having the “windows” key would just annoy the hell out of me :slight_smile:

Also I can imagine that people would love to get creative with keyboard customisation.

14

A module with two instead of one usb port would not be that much of a challenge right. That would help a lot. You already loose one module to power the laptop so the other three ports would go fast. 1x storage, 1x network rj45 (hopefully in the future)…so after that you only have one left. Anything that would increase usability for that one port would be great.

15

My point for wanting 6 hat ports as well

1 Like
16

Better yet, have laser key cap engraving like many 3rd party laptop venders have such as HIDevolotion

17

uuuuuuuuuh. How is the first post missing alternative keyboard layout?

I need proper arrow keys :frowning: and preferably real home/end/pgup/pgdn. Like the Lenovo Yoga3 1470 that I’m currently using