Thinking about what piece of technology needs a return to repairability the most, it’s obviously the smartphone. Removable battery, repairable ports and screens, and omg if you bring back a physical keyboard…
The tricky part will of course be doing this while maintaining qualities like IP ratings, size, and weight which are much easier to achieve by gluing everything together with zero intention of ever taking it apart again. I’m willing to compromise on that, even if it means smaller screens and lower IP ratings. I quite enjoyed the smaller, but thicker form factor of old phones like the Droid 4. Phones nowadays basically require two hands to use!
While we’re waiting for that pipe dream, though, how about touchscreens for the laptops?
My friends used to rock "laptop cooler"s that effectively pulls/pushes air from the laptop’s side vents for more airflow (And better cooling). I think someone called them “afterburners”, but I think we can have a similar system for framework. intrigued to see how the cooling work on the 16 inch.
This may turn the internal fan into a windmill that generates power. The mainboard must have the according protection, or it may be damaged by voltage from an unplanned source.
I do believe a Docking station would be amazing. A modular dock has been a long time wish of mine. While most people just expect more ports, I wish I could have a “laptop extension block”, one with an extra battery and extra storage. Since hot/swap storage is problematic, a light weight OS running a NAS would be nice. Oh well, once gone all the way there, let’s add an eInk display to double as a smart desk display/clock
I am also sure that long time customers will accumulate redundant expansion cards which could be reused for the dock.
Probably this will get very close to the desktop case for the motherboard, but I do not think it is currently that easy to turn the whole thing into a dock (like forwarding the video signal of the laptop). Also the cpu needs do not demand the power / volume of a whole motherboard
@Geert_Schuring Alas, I’ve decided the viable path forward is to just buy a large-format monitor. I know of at least one or two monitors that use the same panel as the LG C2.
One thing I’ve looked for and haven’t found yet is a clear plastic clip-on outer shell protector for the laptop case itself, something like this one made for MacBook Air machines.
I like to get these for a couple reasons – protection for the laptop if it gets dropped, etc., as well as a removable surface upon which to sticker away the laptop, then get another one and start over once it’s full. It would be great if Framework offered one for sale as an accessory that was made to fit on the laptops they make.
you can re-utilize your old framework motherboard to do that!
Well, not directly, but you can adapt the m.2 slot to PCIe and have a PCIe storage controller card (or just split it into multiple NVMe SSDs)
It’s going to be massive jank without like customized PCB, cable and housing, but it’s doable.
And the 13 inch display can be … well, kinda up to you.
This is a great idea, it would be really nice to stick a bunch of stickers on without having to risk damage to the laptop. I’ve got a hefty amount of brand stickers lying around. I wonder if there’s a custom shop for it somewhere?
Printer (I would not buy it, but i can see enough interest in it).
Game controller (would pair well with 16" gpu extension)
earbuds for IEMs
Speakers, bluetooth and normal
Also, another interesting area would be Home Automation, but I’m not sure how modular it can be made.
One part that I can imagine that can be made modular are wall switches: the microcontroller part inside with zigbee, matter, ethernet, whatever, and then different kinds of cover that can be switched, from normal typical wall switches to a small touchscreen that can recognize gestures, to just different colors and designs.
Another could be a remote with touchscreen to control TV, lights, curtains, music and anything really.
I’d say build a robust organisation for the long haul that’s resistant to failure. For example going public could be the death of the mission and execution of the current company. Maybe think about creating a robust non-profit or a co-op that we can help keep alive and delivering these kinds of products for decades rather than a few years.
The laptop format I did not know i wanted until i saw it:
It would be great to have a Framework version of this format, that way you can go 10", 13" or 16". Apart from making it modular, the only thing i would change is to go with AMD HS cpu instead of U, so it can be powered higher than 35w when plugged in (and connected to a eGPU), but other than that the format is great, including the oculink.
A Framework version would be ideal, including the embedded gamepad. And the gamepad parts could be compatible with a future Framework gamepad, creating a great ecosystem that could eventually even go into a Framework SteamDeck version.
