Maybe when FW’s a bit more developed but; A programme that gives development money to colleges / universities / specialty manufacturers to expand the expansion module (pun intended) ecosystem!
Like for example: A university gets paid to take on the project of engineering a development arm board that fits inside an expansion module. Just spitballing! 
I think you should build Laptop V2 next. You just scratched the surface with a single laptop and there are so many things you could do better with V2. The first laptop seems like it’s pigeon holed into a small limited design and customer are suffering because of it. It was said further up by another user, start listening to your customers and doing what they want, so a real V2 laptop I can’t decide how much time I want to get up on my soap box and give you a run down of everything you did right, and everything you did wrong. You built a laptop for 10% of the public when you could have covered 70% with a little more effort. Let’s follow along with what your customers want and perfect it a bit more.
What you have started is a great idea, building a laptop that is easy to take apart and fix. Although you can fix any laptop, even the clipped and glued ones because I’ve done it for years. But we all like what you’ve done and that’s why we are all here. We want you to be successful. All of us want this to get bigger and better, but you should capitalize on what you have now rather than looking to other projects. First let me say your first design is unfortunately too Mac like. And it’s limiting you too much and that’s causing all sorts of issues. People choose laptops for certain features they like, but people also throw out laptops from their decision based on limitations they have… and that’s what you want to avoid. If you want to sell the most amount of laptops and make the biggest impact, you need to build laptops that fit more people. You want to take away objections for reasons why not to buy your laptop.
->Expansion Cards: just a novelty of an idea, meaning nice but not amazing. The fit is loose and lack good tolerances. Most importantly we are stuck with a laptop that can only have 3 ports 
given one is for charging. A separate charging port on the laptop so it doesn’t eat up one expansion port would have been better, even if it was just for charging. My current workhorse laptop for work has 6 ports, (RJ45, SD, USBx2, USB-Cx2). With the framework I have to swap cards and carry others, so it has limited improvements over dongles. I think it would have been better to make the left side full of all the needed ports, RJ45, SD, USB, USB-C, then on the right side have 2 expansion cards like what you have now. Best of both worlds without compromising. I’d love a laptop with both SD and mSD slots. The ability to have 2 RJ45, yeah the Panasonic Toughbook has that, it’s got a selectable port on the back. Maybe on the left side take one USB-C and have that for charging, then put in one mini expansion docking station card to provide all the ports.
->Screen Options - glossy, matte, touch, 13.5" then do a 15" then a 14" then a 16". This is easy, you simply make new cases and lids. Same mainboard, just a side width extension for the thunderbolt ports. You could even have started with the same battery if you had to then offer bigger ones later. Choose a 16:10 screen format so there are lots of choices out to choose from. The 3:2 format is limited in panel choices and resolutions. There’s no reason you couldn’t offer a matte, heck the screen you have now comes in both matte and glossy. Look for screens with a wider color gamut so you can get professionals who do editing pictures and videos. Adobe RGB or DCIP3 will blow your socks off seeing those side by side with sRGB what most people are used to. Oh and keep the screens 400 or better 500 nits of brightness.
->I think the laptop may simply be too thin. Sure it’s Mac like, but too much so. A thicker laptop and you could have a bigger battery. When you designed the 11th gen with a 50w battery it was just enough. Then you got screwed because the 12th gen requires a 70w. Look at all the other manufacturers who have increased their batteries from 50 to 60 to 70 now for the power hungry 12th gen. Because you built too small of a laptop, you don’t have the capability of changing it.
->I think the laptop may simply be too thin. Again this affects the loudness of your cooling fan. A little bigger fan and you could have kept it quiet. Something everyone wants is a quiet laptop. The thermal capacity of the 12th gen is a lot, and there are plenty of complaints of fan noise.
->why aren’t you offering U series chips? They are simply the best choice for laptops, especially thin ones. It shouldn’t be too hard to offer U series mainboards, much easier for you offering AMD chips. I’m sure people think they want a P series, but offer the U if it isn’t too much work because that would surprise you in what it’s actually capable of in real world use. Having a P series that’s thermally limited to a U doesn’t do much good, but eat up battery life.
->sure AMD chips would be ideal, but their slow implementation of USB4 is scary. Sadly the 6000 chips just recently got firmware to do it. I understand the choice you made for Intel, but you have a large number of customers asking for AMD… something to consider.
->Keyboard Choices, there’s no reason you can’t offer different keyboards with different travel and force. Your existing keyboard has good force but feels mushy because the force doesn’t go away as you press down so it’s not tactile like. You should make the ctrl and fn keys the same width, allow people to swap them physically and in the bios. Easy thing to do and opens more doors for people that want thinkpad/mac style. Easy to do.
->Color… oh the Mac silver, sure offer it as a choice, but you should have your own identity. I think a dark gray would be ideal for a laptop… seriously, dark gray would look awesome with a black keyboard
->ruggedized case option, oh lots of people would love that. Think half way between a normal laptop and a Toughbook. But it has to have a handle on it like the Toughbook, I’m jealous of my friends have have Toughbooks because the handle is so nice.
->m.2 slot for 4G that could be used for a 2nd hard drive… but if you’re limited by pci lanes I understand why it wasn’t implemented. Likely avoided in V1 because of size restrictions.
->magnesium instead of aluminum housing option?
->different hinge design that fixes the wobble - please? Perhaps a hack that puts something into the hinge as hysteresis would help?
->oh and the little booklet you send with the laptop, how can anyone read that small of print? Please make it bigger.
These are all doable things and repeated many times by others. Let’s focus on what your customers are asking for and your business will grow. Remember when Dell and Gateway started the revolution of configuring your own computer… that’s what we need here.
*edited on 11-19-22 to sound less rant like!
@Christopher_Brown Some of the stuff you mention either cannot be done without sacrificing elsewhere or had a good reason to be done as is.
non-anodized was chosen as it was more environmentally friendly, not to emulate mac
Because nobody wanted them, there were surveys done by the community before the launch (not-official) and as I recall, P-series was generally preferred.
fixed if you are willing to buy the stronger hinge
and cut bandwidth available for the storage? only so many pcie lanes to go around and all are allocated
Use a dock when at a desk charging, problem solved. How many of those ports do you use at any one time?
Your entire post comes across to me as one giant rant about how poor of a product the laptop is. If you really find it so limiting and substandard, why are you here? It obviously doesn’t suit your needs, and no judgement for that, go find a laptop that does.
I just wanted to point out some things I feel are worth noting:
Nirav indicated the resonance of the lid is not resolved by the 4.0 kg hinge. link
PCI 4.0 2x is equal to PCI 3.0 4x. For many users 3.0 4x drives are plenty fast enough so PCI 4.0 at 2x would be fine. You are correct it would impact performance but I think the bigger issue would be finding a good space for the additional drive (unless you go half height) rather than bandwidth but perhaps the lanes could be dynamically assigned so only split when you add a second drive so no penalty unless you add a second drive?
It is not just about how many ports are used simultaneously but also the limitation of only having 3 port choices without needing to bring dongles.
I hear somebody venting frustration at the shortcomings they see of the design decisions made. They are here likely for the same reason a lot of us are, they bought a Framework laptop (or want to/have interest in it) because they want to see/support changing the landscape of the electronics industry.
I feel their criticism might be induced by the title of this topic which could be seen poorly in light of the issues and shortcomings they described of the current design. They are providing constructive feedback at least even if it isn’t perhaps the correct place for it.
I agree that it was not really the right place for it.
Taking a looking back up the thread I see mostly good C.E. ideas but I can see how the detractive comments and complaints could have stood out for you.
If it makes you feel bad you maybe right to ignore the thread.
Understood that this thread isn’t for feedback on the current frame.work offering (which I like!), but I think if the company want to expand they should focus on different form factors for the computer – in particular, it seems like people want a bigger laptop chassis for the same motherboard.
I’m glad frame.work exists and I’m glad I ordered one, but the notebook’s slim design trades off e.g. against battery life and hardware customisation. If I could switch my current mainboard and expansion cards into a thicker, more functional housing I would.
A bigger laptop chassis could address a lot of limitations on customisation:
Most of the people I see buying frame.work laptops are right-to-repair/open source/linux types, and I don’t think there’s a lot of overlap there with people who really care about having the slimmest, sleekest laptop in the room. I was attracted to the frame.work because I want a better ThinkPad, not a better MacBook.
Again, glad frame.work exists and glad I ordered one. Most companies would never take suggestions from their customers like this.
It has become pretty ugly as people ignore what was asked for and use it as a dumping ground, just about to block this topic
Understood, but the sediment of many customers is to finish what was started and make a better laptop before using up company resources building other electronic products.
I understand that people feel that way, but I also don’t think that Framework is looking for new projects now.
The “(eventually)” sounds like they want to do this after they are well established in the Laptop market, and they wanted to make a nice community engagement thread in the General Topics category as a fun brainstorm session for other tech products their customers want to see made reapairable in the future. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like Framework is listening to feedback, and will make the best decisions to keep the company moving towards their goals.
I was looking at Corsair and NZXT cases, why not a modular Tower PC case. Certification might be a pain in the ass though. Many desktop front IO ports fails and there’s usually no way to fix them
Stay in the computer space. First, build a better laptop. Larger screen, more ports, better keyboard, etc.
Then expand into non-portable machines, either straight desktop or a TrueNAS implementation. Actually done right one box might be able to serve both purposes.
Skip the peripherals, I think also avoid printers, at least for now.
Own the space you are creating: modular upgradable computers. Don’t water down the brand. Do one thing really well and the rest will follow.
I would love to be able to source better sounding speaker for my current 12th gen
Looks like the Chromebooks are getting improved speakers that you can get on the marketplace!
The new 80dB Speakers are louder but I recall reading a framework team member say the frequency response is not as good.
I think this would be low hanging fruit, but a true UMPC laptop in the same vain as a 1 Netbook Onemix 3, but with the FW mainboard as the basis. Thicker would not be a problem, so long as repairable and upgradable stays an option. I would buy at least 3 of these. I am currently working to make my own using the mainboard. I’m sure you all could come up with something truly compelling!
I wonder if OS level equalizer settings can use to fix frequency response? Else, I guess there goes my upgrade.
@nrp I see many “solid” ideas here. Here are the two that interest me the most:
A portable side monitor that is light weight and rugged enough. I have bought several over the years and they have a short lifespan. One day they just quit working (usually after a few months.)
A larger size screen / casing option - but please don’t force me into a key pad and an off center trackpad. I have owned such devices and never was able to adjust to the keyboard being off center from the screen. (I have no use for a keypad and want this to be an option.)
Also, +1 for both ARM and AMD processor options.
And finally, a middle ground on practical eGPU solutions. I am aware that power and heat are big issues, so we probably cannot get to a stand alone module, but a small enclosure eGPU designed for portability and price would be great. This may be too niche for a “marketplace” because my use case is more to boost machine learning than for gaming.
One of the reasons I love the framework laptop is that I get all 4 thunderboltish ports, all equal and all fully capable and on both sides. This change would have made the laptop far less appealing to me.
I’m all in for the USB-C/TB docking station idea. So we have a product we 100% know will work with the Framework laptop. Also it can be modular so everyone can have just the ports they need. Maybe it can even use the current laptop’s expansion cards so we can reuse the ones we have bought for the laptop and freely swap them around.
Also it wouldn’t be too far off of the current product. Now going into the printer (or something else) business would be a huge step and I’d think, that focusing on the laptop and gadgets around it would be better.
Requests in order of preference:
If all these features could be implemented I would be sold in a heart beat. Sign me up for an early deposit/ kickstarter.
I want a dock, plain and simple. I’ve been looking at the dock megathread and I am left with more questions than answers on which dock I can buy so that I don’t waste my money.
Having a Framework dock will be absolutely incredible. I imagine that it would also be modular like the laptop, capable of using the same expansion cards. Please, Framework Gods, I pray: Let there be Docks.