No thread about the framework laptop?

OFaceSIG said:
Yes, the motherboard is modular. New versions are in the works. Now I can't promise that an AMD board will be for this chassis in the future. This is a productivity notebook for the DIYer.

Have you opened a modern notebook? It used to be that they had access ports for RAM, HDD, and removable batteries. Almost none do anymore. This thing, you undo 5 screws, the keyboard pops off with magnets and anything can be replaced. Speakers, Screen hinges, you name it. Watch any of the videos on youtube for it. It's not a "value" laptop. Can't be, too small a company. They don't have the economies of scale that Dell and HP do. This is about supporting a company that hopefully will change the game.

As it is, the base model, which is the one I ordered, is only down a couple hundred MHz and 4megs of L3 from the $700 additional top of the line model. Perfect for my non-gaming needs. When I game, I turn to my desktop.
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Interesting niche, but with laptops IME the chassis and or screen are the fail point.
I remember when OCZ made a modular laptop and it was just not very good.
This looks like a better product for sure, but I think I'd still take the run of the mill ThinkPad over this. Maybe after a year or two history will prove my position wrong.
Still exciting when people get projects like this across the finish line, and much respect to the developers.
 
A few days later and I'm still enjoying this. Had a hunt around and found a couple of Higher output USB C chargers I had laying around. One was from a crappy 32GB HP mini laptop a customer didn't want anymore. It's output is only 5v 3A but it charges 20% every hour so should keep the laptop going when needed. As its smaller than the Framework charger that will go in my laptop bag. I set the max battery charge limit to 90%

Managed to hit 6775 MBps with the SN850 NVMe so the infrastructure is capable.
 
daglesj said:
A few days later and I'm still enjoying this. Had a hunt around and found a couple of Higher output USB C chargers I had laying around. One was from a crappy 32GB HP mini laptop a customer didn't want anymore. It's output is only 5v 3A but it charges 20% every hour so should keep the laptop going when needed. As its smaller than the Framework charger that will go in my laptop bag. I set the max battery charge limit to 90%

Managed to hit 6775 MBps with the SN850 NVMe so the infrastructure is capable.
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I bought the framework charger as I didn't have a spare PD charger. I too, set the max to 90%.
 
Yeah I bought the framework charger too but I wanted to find other usable options laying around. I did find a clover plug adapter which plugs straight into the charger so no need for the wall power cable.

Always good to leave a little breathing space on a battery. I did this from new with my Mate 10 Pro phone nearly 4 years ago. Max 90% charge (usually just 80%) No overnight charging too. I still have 93% capacity on that 4000mAh battery.
 
Agreed... overnight charging, unless your phone has a specific mode to compensate for it, is a no no. OnePlus has a mode like this.
 
Kardonxt said:
lol, $749 with i5, no ram, no wifi, no hdd, no OS.

No thanks.

Being able to upgrade the mainboard is a clever idea, but a high cost would render it pointless. This is definitely a "check back in a few years" company to me.
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And no Thunderbolt, which is one of the main points buying Intel in a laptop like this, imo.

I think I’d rather have the XPG for $750, it’s lighter and has upgradable ram and SSD which is the important stuff, and Thunderbolt.

The repairable feature gets much more interesting in a gaming laptop imo.
 
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Varmint said:
And no Thunderbolt, which is one of the main points buying Intel in a laptop like this, imo.

I think I’d rather have the XPG for $750, it’s lighter and has upgradable ram and SSD which is the important stuff, and Thunderbolt.

The repairable feature gets much more interesting in a gaming laptop imo.
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All four ports are thunderbolt 4.
 
Varmint said:
Thanks, I see now it says USB4 on the USB-C port adapter caption.

It's definitely way up there on the cool factor.
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Yeah there are already some videos using thunderbolt docks and external GPUs out there. Interesting stuff.
 
Yeah I'm enjoying using mine a lot. Not hit any major snags so far. Not bothered to re-paste the CPU with Kryonaut as I intended as it's all running fine. It does drop things a little apparently but I'll give it some time. No rush.
 
daglesj said:
Yeah I'm enjoying using mine a lot. Not hit any major snags so far. Not bothered to re-paste the CPU with Kryonaut as I intended as it's all running fine. It does drop things a little apparently but I'll give it some time. No rush.
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The review's only complaint was a loud fan, how do you find the fan noise and is it adjustable?
 
Varmint said:
The review's only complaint was a loud fan, how do you find the fan noise and is it adjustable?
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The only time I ever heard the fan was when I played Portal 2 on it for about 30 seconds. Beyond that, I've never heard the fan. It's silent just putz-ing around in the OS.
 
Varmint said:
The review's only complaint was a loud fan, how do you find the fan noise and is it adjustable?
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Yeah the fan ramps up but those Intel chips are spicy hot. Very high boosts. But it only kicks in during intensive stuff. Not adjustable afaik.
 
Others have said this so I'm definitely not the first. My only real "concern" is the battery life. 6 hours-ish is normal for me.
 
Well, at least there is a good chance that you can buy (and insert) a new battery when the charge capacity goes down.

Which is much more than I can say for my MSI barebones that now has 0% battery.
 
One thing that is very apparent from the Framework forum is Linux is a mess compatibility wise. 75% of the posts are "X doesn't work with distro X"
 
daglesj said:
One thing that is very apparent from the Framework forum is Linux is a mess compatibility wise. 75% of the posts are "X doesn't work with distro X"
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Honestly, whenever I have a need for Linux I run it in a VM.
 
OFaceSIG said:
Yes, the motherboard is modular. New versions are in the works. Now I can't promise that an AMD board will be for this chassis in the future. This is a productivity notebook for the DIYer.

Have you opened a modern notebook? It used to be that they had access ports for RAM, HDD, and removable batteries. Almost none do anymore. This thing, you undo 5 screws, the keyboard pops off with magnets and anything can be replaced. Speakers, Screen hinges, you name it. Watch any of the videos on youtube for it. It's not a "value" laptop. Can't be, too small a company. They don't have the economies of scale that Dell and HP do. This is about supporting a company that hopefully will change the game.

As it is, the base model, which is the one I ordered, is only down a couple hundred MHz and 4megs of L3 from the $700 additional top of the line model. Perfect for my non-gaming needs. When I game, I turn to my desktop.
Click to expand...

daglesj said:
Yeah I'm enjoying using mine a lot. Not hit any major snags so far. Not bothered to re-paste the CPU with Kryonaut as I intended as it's all running fine. It does drop things a little apparently but I'll give it some time. No rush.
Click to expand...

How is the trackpad? Is it easily replaceable if it goes out?

The trackpad on my Dell 9360 slowly went out and I couldn't even replace it. Dell did not care at all since it was out of warranty. The part I found off Aliexpress was obviously not original and didn't click right.

Oh and then eventually it just died out of the blue. All the comments saying "just buy a Dell or HP" .. well their build quality is crap.
 
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hajalie24 said:
How is the trackpad? Is it easily replaceable if it goes out?

The trackpad on my Dell 9360 slowly went out and I couldn't even replace it. Dell did not care at all since it was out of warranty. The part I found off Aliexpress was obviously not original and didn't click right.

Oh and then eventually it just died out of the blue. All the comments saying "just buy a Dell or HP" .. well their build quality is crap.
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The trackpad is nice for a trackpad. I'm not a trackpad person, I use a Logitech wireless mouse and it's little USB transceiver. The trackpad is replaceable and on the framework store says "coming soon". However every single major component is supposed to be replaceable so I think you'll be good on that front.

I have never really excited about a laptop. They've always been a means to an end for me. This is the first one as a PC builder I've really wanted to get behind.
 
OFaceSIG said:
The trackpad is nice for a trackpad. I'm not a trackpad person, I use a Logitech wireless mouse and it's little USB transceiver. The trackpad is replaceable and on the framework store says "coming soon". However every single major component is supposed to be replaceable so I think you'll be good on that front.

I have never really excited about a laptop. They've always been a means to an end for me. This is the first one as a PC builder I've really wanted to get behind.
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Thank you. Do you ever use the screen outdoors? Do you think it's bright enough?

I'm very tempted. I don't really need and part of me wants to wait for v2 but part of me also thinks it might be a while, plus I bet the resellability of this thing will be great. And if they come up with a new feature I'd like such as a brighter or higher resolution screen I can just buy it and easily replace it. I remember trying to upgrade a Dell from a TN 1368p panel to a 1080p IPS model and it was a disaster. Absolutely no thought to compatability in mind. My limitation was literally that the ribbon cable was incompatible or something.

I think when I get good deals on some of the parts like RAM or SSD I'll also get this.
 
hajalie24 said:
Thank you. Do you ever use the screen outdoors? Do you think it's bright enough?

I'm very tempted. I don't really need and part of me wants to wait for v2 but part of me also thinks it might be a while, plus I bet the resellability of this thing will be great. And if they come up with a new feature I'd like such as a brighter or higher resolution screen I can just buy it and easily replace it. I remember trying to upgrade a Dell from a TN 1368p panel to a 1080p IPS model and it was a disaster. Absolutely no thought to compatability in mind. My limitation was literally that the ribbon cable was incompatible or something.

I think when I get good deals on some of the parts like RAM or SSD I'll also get this.
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To be honest I don't know if I've ever used it outdoors. I run the brightness at about 30-40% most of the time and full brightness is painful for me to look at. So maybe?

I definitely saved some money providing my own RAM, NVME, and OS key for this. Getting 2666MHz RAM and a Samsung 980 from Microcenter was vastly cheaper then the component prices on their site. Don't be tempted to splurge on faster RAM. Tigerlake only supports up to 2666MHz on laptops.
 
It's a bright screen compared to most laptops I see. Like O said I use mine at 35% brightness on mains and battery and it's fine. I would prefer a matte screen but the rest of the package outweighed that con.

However, i would point out...3200Mhz ram is fully supported on the Framework. Kingston Fury CL20 1.2v FTW!;)
 
daglesj said:
It's a bright screen compared to most laptops I see. Like O said I use mine at 35% brightness on mains and battery and it's fine. I would prefer a matte screen but the rest of the package outweighed that con.

However, i would point out...3200Mhz ram is fully supported on the Framework. Kingston Fury CL20 1.2v FTW!;)
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Is it a setting in the BIOS? I thought 2666 was the limit. Woot!
 
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OFaceSIG said:
Is it a setting in the BIOS? I thought 2666 was the limit. Woot!
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I just slapped it in and 3200DDR4 is listed in the BIOS, Windows Task Manager and CPU-ID. It will run 3200 but not as XMP and it has to be 1.2v ram. The Framework Community Forum is a good place for info.

Enjoy!
 
Things I don't buy a laptop without:

Touchscreen

Cellular modem

Things I recently have been wanting: an AMD ryzen 6000 laptop.

This notebook is a cool idea, but its still early days.
 
KazeoHin said:
Things I don't buy a laptop without:

Touchscreen

Cellular modem

Things I recently have been wanting: an AMD ryzen 6000 laptop.

This notebook is a cool idea, but its still early days.
Click to expand...

Other than the AMD chip, some retro choices there. Maybe a 2014 Dell Lattitude maybe? ;)
 
daglesj said:
It's a bright screen compared to most laptops I see. Like O said I use mine at 35% brightness on mains and battery and it's fine. I would prefer a matte screen but the rest of the package outweighed that con.

However, i would point out...3200Mhz ram is fully supported on the Framework. Kingston Fury CL20 1.2v FTW!;)
Click to expand...

I put the same RAM in my new NUC 11. Fastest RAM available for the NUC.
 
Varmint said:
I put the same RAM in my new NUC 11. Fastest RAM available for the NUC.
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Yeah seems there are dual and single rank versions of the ram. I have single rank version but it benches damn fast. (so many bought 3200 XMP ram and it sticks at 2666). It's hard to work out which is which and harder to find the dual rank ones. The code names they give are cryptic. Though I think the real issue with single rank ram is when they just put in a single stick to cut costs. Plus it affects AMD more than Intel chips. I have two 8GB sticks.

I have to say I'm pretty impressed when you put all the right parts together how good mobile chips are now. Just need to get those thermals down...or make slightly thicker laptops.
 
Okay, major design flaw has been found with the Framework.

If you leave the laptop for a few days the RTC battery can lose its charge and wipe out the BIOS and make the laptop refuse to boot at all. You have to open it up and remove both batteries and then one replaced it will fire up. Obviously that's a royal PITA.

Framework have just dragged their feet saying its a Intel bug but they didn't see fit to mention it in the blurb before we all bought ours. If you use the laptop most days of the week it's fine. But I use mine when I go out on jobs which is far less frequent. So now i have to check the laptop will boot before I go out.

Framework are not looking at a fix as it now concentrating on the 12th gen boards. So seems the Framework ain't so reparable.
 
daglesj said:
Okay, major design flaw has been found with the Framework.

If you leave the laptop for a few days the RTC battery can lose its charge and wipe out the BIOS and make the laptop refuse to boot at all. You have to open it up and remove both batteries and then one replaced it will fire up. Obviously that's a royal PITA.

Framework have just dragged their feet saying its a Intel bug but they didn't see fit to mention it in the blurb before we all bought ours. If you use the laptop most days of the week it's fine. But I use mine when I go out on jobs which is far less frequent. So now i have to check the laptop will boot before I go out.

Framework are not looking at a fix as it now concentrating on the 12th gen boards. So seems the Framework ain't so reparable.
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Wow that is crazy. I've never heard of anything like this before.

I usually shut mine down to preserve battery so maybe I've been spared.

Found a quirky setting I've never seen before.

I found in the advanced display settings that 48Hz is available for the display. I switched to it to see if it make any meaningful difference when it comes to battery life. I don't use my framework for anything gaming related so 60 or 48 doesn't make much difference for me.
 
OFaceSIG said:
Wow that is crazy. I've never heard of anything like this before.

I usually shut mine down to preserve battery so maybe I've been spared.

Found a quirky setting I've never seen before.

I found in the advanced display settings that 48Hz is available for the display. I switched to it to see if it make any meaningful difference when it comes to battery life. I don't use my framework for anything gaming related so 60 or 48 doesn't make much difference for me.
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I always shut mine down too. With a NVMe that has 6900MBps its almost as fast to boot as come out of hibernation. However, if you leave the laptops for a few days you may find it doesn't boot. You can mitigate it by leaving it plugged in for 24 hours to fully charge the battery and then they say it should last 3 weeks or more but not something I had to be aware of on any other laptop I've owned.

Intel setups have often had the 48Hz option for some reason. I have used it in the past too as I don't game on my laptops.
 
11th gen processor BIOS 3.10 is available. Hopefully battery life gets a bit better.
 
My Framework lost it's 90% battery charging cap setting when I went to the 11th Gen Intel, 3.10 BIOS. Just a heads up to other people.
 
OFaceSIG said:
My Framework lost it's 90% battery charging cap setting when I went to the 11th Gen Intel, 3.10 BIOS. Just a heads up to other people.
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"lost" as in its not there anymore or just set itself to a different setting?
 
No it resets all the BIOS settings except for the time and date. I had to switch off the CPU SpeedBoost again and set my battery limit to 80% after I did 3.09 and 3.10 BIOS.

Yes I switch off the Speedboost as i don't really need it and it keeps it cooler and quieter.
 
daglesj said:
No it resets all the BIOS settings except for the time and date. I had to switch off the CPU SpeedBoost again and set my battery limit to 80% after I did 3.09 and 3.10 BIOS.

Yes I switch off the Speedboost as i don't really need it and it keeps it cooler and quieter.
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ah, well thats pretty normal for a lot of bios updates. some wont even use old saved profiles, like my sig board.
 
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