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$39 Cooler Master case turns your old Framework Laptop parts into a tiny PC

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Re: $39 Cooler Master case turns your old Framework Laptop parts into a tiny PC

#121

Post by candeira »

awinter-py wrote: post #66
guywithahat wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't think that's a real consumer problem (particularly for the space they're in, which is portable laptops). Being reusable is a solution, and in this case it doesn't seem to be solving a real world problem. Usually people want their desktop computers to be more powerful than their laptops, and have dedicated graphics. This gives people a desktop computer which is older and less…

out of curiosity, three questions: 1. have you ever bought a used laptop, 2. have you ever upgraded a laptop you own, 3. have you ever kept using a device until some EOL event forced you to replace it

Yes, yes and yes.

Re: $39 Cooler Master case turns your old Framework Laptop parts into a tiny PC

#122

Post by yurishimo »

nottorp wrote: post #119

Hmm what's the power consumption of these (parts of) laptops? And how bad it is power wise and cpu wise to have usb-c ethernet instead of pci? Thinking home server here.

To you question regarding Ethernet, USB-C is capable of running faster than gigabit. I think it's around 5 gigabit? The PCIe lane from an add-in card is still being used in either case. The power difference would be negligible.

Re: $39 Cooler Master case turns your old Framework Laptop parts into a tiny PC

#123

Post by sonzohan »

lostlogin wrote: post #93
sonzohan wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it is less efficient. However the numbers are rather small: Most modern laptop processors, including the ones on the Framework, have a TDP of 5-45 watts. Framework chargers are rated for 60 watts. Your response also assumes a more efficient alternative is available. I work as a professor at a community college. I fix old laptops and give them to students who have no means to afford a computer. For many, that upc…

Do you get funding for this or support from anywhere? It’s a very positive thing.

I appreciate it!

Sadly, no this is done out of my salary. I've lobbied my college repeatedly, but there are a lot of restrictions (read: next-to-impossible) in using state and federal funds for private equipment. Private funds that you can do whatever you want with are hard to come by at community colleges. It is also illegal for the school to sell me old (yet perfectly functional) computers to refurb for student use. They must be inventoried by the state, after which they are mothballed into storage, or destroyed/landfilled.

Re: $39 Cooler Master case turns your old Framework Laptop parts into a tiny PC

#124

Post by shanebellone »

ruytlm wrote: post #8

I really like this as a way to repurpose old hardware; I have known many laptops that end up sitting around in cupboards after their 'useful' life is over, that could probably still comfortably be serving as lightweight desktops even today.

I have a Pixelbook running as a web server. It's nice using old hardware to address new needs.

Re: $39 Cooler Master case turns your old Framework Laptop parts into a tiny PC

#125

Post by mft_ »

guywithahat wrote: post #19

I know framework is a popular company on tech forums but it's always felt like a solution in search of a problem. Laptops I own that only have a CPU are rarely computationally bounded in what I'm trying to do, by the time the CPU is showing its age the battery and case are usually showing their age too. But lets say I need the most up to date CPU and can't wait, why would I now need a desktop computer with no expanda…

It's okay if something that a company offers doesn't meet your use-case. But you should consider that it might make sense to other people.

Even if only a small percentage of Framework owners repurpose old parts as personal servers or powerbanks, or whatever, it's still a good thing that the opportunity is there.

Re: $39 Cooler Master case turns your old Framework Laptop parts into a tiny PC

#126

Post by sonzohan »

lostlogin wrote: post #95
rhn_mk1 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

*without replacing the entire thing

If you’re planning on keeping it a long time, surely you’d get more RAM at purchase time? Minimum ram is never going to be good in 5-10 years.

You usually have to customize the order on Apple's website to do this, which means your laptop could take a few weeks to arrive.

There's also other circumstances where this isn't an option. When I worked at a public university (UC system) that had an agreement with Apple, we could only purchase hardware that was in the University bookstore.

The University bookstore only stocked base models. Even the top-of-the-line 15" Macbook Pros didn't have a 16GB option once the RAM started being soldered down.

Re: $39 Cooler Master case turns your old Framework Laptop parts into a tiny PC

#127

Post by AndroidKitKat »

I think it would be really cool if there was a way to make one of these that repurpose the laptop display port as a built in DisplayPort or find a way to make a power adapter (maybe Ethernet, too?) not take up one of the 4 available ports. That would make it an insta-buy for me since otherwise I'm having to plug in a keyboard, mouse, and display and I'm left with a portless desktop machine.

Re: $39 Cooler Master case turns your old Framework Laptop parts into a tiny PC

#128

Post by nnnnc »

voxadam wrote: post #105
hbossy wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heard about people who use simple timer sockets to mitigate that. The battery won't die nearly as quickly if it's not at 100% all the time.

How have battery management systems not evolved to deal with this issue? It's especially confusing considering the massive number of laptops deployed by companies to part time work-from-home employees many of whom keep their devices plugged in nearly 100% of the time.

That battery doesn’t look any different to the BMW under catastrophic failure conditions.

Re: $39 Cooler Master case turns your old Framework Laptop parts into a tiny PC

#129

Post by AndroidKitKat »

earhart wrote: post #50
atlgator wrote: post #29

I love what framework is doing but the fundamental choice of laptop for me is always battery life. If I can't pull the laptop off the dock in the morning and ride into the office without packing a charger, I'm not a buyer. MacBooks are the only laptops doing this reliably.

FWIW, Framework also announced a new battery with the same form factor but another 10%-ish capacity. And because the system's amazingly easy to disassemble, if your battery starts to lose capacity, it's trivial to swap in a replacement. I do the "unplug and spend a couple of hours hacking without a charger" thing all the time with mine, and mine's using the previous-generation battery. Not running Windows seems to he…

I've noticed the exact opposite with my 11th gen i5 Framework (purchased in December 2021). For the life of me, I cannot figure out why my Framework laptop seems to massively drain battery life when I am using Linux. I've tried just about every distro under the sun (Fedora, Ubuntu, Arch, Debian, Gentoo, and even FreeBSD) and I consistently get a battery drain of like 7-10% every 20 minutes doing something simple like watching a YouTube video, reading things in Firefox reader mode, and having an IRC client open.

When I said "screw it" and installed Windows, seemingly my battery woes went away. I used pretty much the same programs (Firefox and Weechat) on both operating systems and I'm pretty much completely stumped. I thought about asking out to Framework support but I don't know what good that would do.

Another issue I've had is not being able to let the thing sit overnight not on the charger since it drains about 10% an hour with the lid closed in both Windows and Linux, so I'm having to remember to leave it plugged in or know that I'm going to be tethered to the wall in the morning.

Regardless of those negatives, I think Framework as a company has done some pretty tremendous things in the laptop space and I hope they continue to do so in the future.

Re: $39 Cooler Master case turns your old Framework Laptop parts into a tiny PC

#130

Post by windowsrookie »

lostlogin wrote: post #95
rhn_mk1 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

*without replacing the entire thing

If you’re planning on keeping it a long time, surely you’d get more RAM at purchase time? Minimum ram is never going to be good in 5-10 years.

My friend was using his 8 year old MacBook Air with 4GB RAM until just last year when it stopped turning on. Browsing the web, watching YouTube, checking emails all worked just fine with 4GB of RAM.

Microsoft sells the surface laptop 2 with 4GB of non-upgradeable RAM today in 2023.

The 8GB of base RAM in the MacBook Airs will absolutely be fine for most people for the next 5-10 years. If you are tech savvy enough to even know what RAM is, then yes, I would recommend upgrading to at least 16GB because you are likely doing more than just browsing the web.

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