@njf I would say yes, because how I define dongles is anything that isn’t in the laptop chassis that adds ports of some kind and has to be stored separately. I can’t exactly shove the laptop in a bag with that hanging off the side. I know not everyone agrees with that, but its how I look at it.
I do actually agree with you about SD card readers though. I know full size SD is useful, but a microSD with a full-size adapter is already an option. I would rather the framework team focus on more universally useful things like the ethernet ports and 5g modules.
The one that confuses me the most is the microcontroller option…I know some people work with them a lot, but it seems like such a niche thing to have built into the chassis that such a small percentage of people are actually going to use.
I think there is another issue with a full size SD card expansion card. Even if it is possible, I cannot see how it could be built without the SD card protruding significantly outside the laptop. I used to have one like that. The card stuck out by at least a quarter inch and it could be very serious if the card got knocked in any way while inserted, potentially damaging the laptop circuitry.
I would be interested to know whether the microSD card sticks out at all, although, if it does, I imagine it would be a lot less and unlikely to be prone to be knocked.
Having an SD card stick out slightly is a LOT better than a full sized USB stick jutting out there. That’s going to break something if you’re not careful.
For the record, full size SD cards are pretty useful with camera recording. I use an adapter for a micro SD in the ol’ camera, but a full sized card would fit and probably have a higher capacity. I just haven’t needed that yet.
Likely a good reason for that. My understanding is that Micro SD cards are exactly as fast as full size SD cards (the only difference is form factor, they are governed by the same standard in every other respect), and both are commonly found at 1TB capacity nowadays. However I struggle to find any SD cards with more than 1TB capacity. There probably isn’t much demand for storage that’s at higher capacity than 1TB in SD cards, because most of the applications that could use it (e.g. 8k video recording) typically also require much faster forms of storage, like true SSDs.
I’m just a hobby photographer, but the fact my SD card reader is separate from my iPad Pro currently is super frustrating. Lots of times where I forget where I left it, or forget to bring it with me wherever I’m going.
Anything that isn’t built into the laptop is susceptible to that.
For me, when it comes to ports, after power the SD card reader will be the most used for importing pictures.
I’d love a high quality ADC with optional phantom power for field recording. I use a couple different portable recorders for that now but direct integration into the laptop would be amazing.
At the moment my use-case is throwing a 30 foot cable with a piezo hydrophone on the other end into the Mississippi river.
The noise floor on the long cable gets pretty bad for the very quiet sounds that are most interesting (fish vocalization etc) so I’ve tinkered with a little amplification circuit that can be attached near the piezo – but needs to be given power.
A battery-powered zoom R24 works great for that but it’s actually bigger and heavier than the framework laptop
So I’ve done some reading into sd cards recently and holy moly it is a nightmare. You have A1, A3, UHS-I, UHS-3, V30, V60, V90, Class 10, etc.
So many ways to classify a card and they all have different uses.
The biggest thing with a full size vs a micro SD card is getting them in v90 at high speed. You can find v90 micros, but they seem to have fairly lower write speeds than a full sized one (I’m…I’m not sure how that even works, do we need a v120 or something?).
It’s a rather niche use case, but it’s just odd to miss out on the versatility.
It doesn’t look like it will fit, but dual usb-a. “Converting” a usb-c to a single usb-a seems like a waste. It seems like you are long past locked into a form factor, but I think it would have been good if the modules were slightly larger (both vertically and horizontally) to allow for more expansions to decrease the need for hot swapping.
Couldn’t agree more, that’s why I’m happy with just having a layman’s understanding of the SD standard
I guess it makes sense that full fat SD cards are faster, since you can probably spread out some of the heat generating components and make things a little less toasty. Overall I still think that most of the time, MicroSD just covers what most people need SD cards for well enough, while being compatible with phones and other devices. It’s a lot easier to plug a microSD into an SD slot than vice versa.
I’m probably repeating myself, but any dual port would be helpful. Including a C+A, but also any of:
2x fully featured USB-C
2x USB-A
USB-A plus USB-C supporting only power in (no data… except IIUC you can’t do power in without data?)
USB-A/C plus RJ45
USB-A/C plus barrel plug for power
The last two, even double height, would make me happy and would give me everything I need plus one port to swap in other things. (Not two, because I also want a SIM reader.)
I will second people that ask for doubled expansion card, e.g. Type-C + Type-C or Type-A+Type-C, etc. Guys, let’s do the simple math – one port is occupied by the charging cable, Type-A port is usually occupied by the mouse cable or mouse dongle( e.g. Logitech 2.4GHz dongle). So we have only 2 expansion slots left – this is definetly not enough. Even if this doubled expansion card sticks out a little bit – it’s perfectly fine.
Also, as IT guy who has to travel a lot( even during C19 b*shit) – I would suggest adding an option with 4G/LTE or 5G modem and nano-sim card slot. Another idea, considering the fact it’s a slim mobile device without any powerful built-in GPU – maybe you can provide series of slim attachable GPU expansion cards. E.g. They will have the same length as a whole side of the laptop and some width, so they will naturally attach to the main body. I believe something like lower TGP RTX 3060 with 6 GB of VRAM will be perfect match for anyone who needs decent GPU performance and mobility and modularity simultaneously. E.g. video editing, gaming, machine learning, etc. The GPU TB3/TB4 expansion cards will be popular not only with Frame.Work laptops customers, but with anyone else who has low-power ultrabooks with TB3/TB4 ports available.
I’m not sure how that would be any more “mobile” than a regular thunderbolt dock. I feel like a normal enclosure with a cable gives a bit more flexibility since you can put it behind the laptop instead of jutting out the side and needing a long desk
Would love to see an expansion card that allows an M.2 2230… I know they have the fixed storage expansion cards, but be cool to have a user modifiable one…
That seems like a tricky one. Pretty sure it’d have to be an extra-long module that would stick out of the laptop a bit. A 2230 is 22x30mm and well, the space inside one of the modules for a circuit board is roughly 24x27mm. You’ll also need a good amount of space for a chipset to convert the USB-C to either SATA or PCIe depending what M.2 key you’re talking about (unless you’re talking about a subset of A/E-key support that only wires the USB pins, but that’s more something used for cell modems than storage). I’d guess that such an expansion card would need to stick out of the laptop by at least 10 to 20mm or so.
and would give me everything I need plus one port to swap in other things. (Not two, because I also want a SIM reader.)