101–110 of 311 posts
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That is the dream isn't it? But there's no such thing since even a simple one that requires no updates would have some sort of vulnerability that needs an update, and the cycle continues.
I agree. But we could still try to have a smaller hardware initialisation system. And if there is the occasional need to patch a security vulnerability, then that patch is probably a lot more straightforward.
Not to mention there are no "alternatives" that you can look into to purchase these replacements. You are essentially just locked to purchasing from Framework only
i'm realizing that framework's marketing swayed my opinion a lot more than i thought. i was seriously considering a framework laptop when my current one dies, but i'll probably just end up going with a thinkpad again, as the level of serviceability seems a lot closer to equal than i was lead to believe, and apparently there is no "feel good" advantage of buying framework.
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> If you are inserting/removing cables like a gorilla You've never moved your laptop without realizing it is still plugged in? I've done that a couple of times. My framework gives me peace of mind because I know the only port that will be damaged from that is the one on the $10 card because the card is firmly attached to the laptop body. Your suggestion of a 3" dongle doesn't have that benefit so yanking a plugged-in…
> You've never moved your laptop without realizing it is still plugged in? No. This damage usually happens by tripping over the cord, which results in the laptop falling on the floor, so a USB-C port is the least of your worries. There's a reason Apple went back to MagSafe.
I've bought 12th gen i7 FW, and after about a year, a fan bearing had failed. Despite originally sending me a laptop through a freight forwarder (FF), they both refused to send me a replacement fan for free, and to sell me one to FF address.
I had to use other means to buy myself a new fan (It is not sold separately from the heatsink), paying around 50 bucks for it.
After another year my motherboard stopped working completely. Framework refused support besides the post light interpretation, did not give any schematics, and outright ignored emails from my company with requests for schematics. Autopsy shown that CPU just freaking cracked in the middle.
I've got a replacement 12th gen i5 from a friend of mine, and not 3-4 months later it met pretty much the same fate, except it looks a tad bit more alive (no visible damage to the crystal, no blown mosfets, no nothing). I cannot diagnose power circuitry without spending time to reverse engineer it, and no local shops would accept it.
At this point, given that you don't have any documentation nor parts available in most of the world, FW is generally less repairable than a macbook. For macbooks you can at least buy docs at Vinafix (and for most other laptops too), and chineese replacement parts pretty much anywhere.
I don't really care what they are telling about «waa waa cant release schematicc nda» or «scammers use ff u will die using it». System76 doesn't care about FF, and provides warranty replacements. They could have tried to renegotiate NDA terms for older boards, or outright let someone leak them; they could have remembered their Coreboot promises; they could have done lot more to actually make something that doesn't just look repairable and hackable.
Instead, they've spent their money to make a nice to use, yet unfixable piece of trash currently lying in my closet and waiting for some cheap board to show up on aftermarket.
So, heed my warning. As good as their promise sounds, you better off supporting someone who actually cares about the mission of repairability, and not just doing whatever poser shitshow they are doing.
Framework seems pretty popular here in general, but nobody really seems to talk about how repairable enterprise laptops are. Some laptops have clips around the edge of the bottom panel to hold it in place, which frequently break. On my brother's T480s, those clips were made out of metal and held in with screws, meaning they were themselves replaceable. More recently I worked on a Dell Precision 7550 laptop, and if yo…
Which thinkpad series? Newer ones seem not so great?
Framework seems pretty popular here in general, but nobody really seems to talk about how repairable enterprise laptops are. Some laptops have clips around the edge of the bottom panel to hold it in place, which frequently break. On my brother's T480s, those clips were made out of metal and held in with screws, meaning they were themselves replaceable. More recently I worked on a Dell Precision 7550 laptop, and if yo…
I have the original Framework 13, but I have almost changed everything inside of it (motherboard AMD 7840U, wifi 7, ram 96GB, ssd, better hinge, the CNC shell, hdmi dongle v3, APU Fan, speakers v2, webcam v2). I still was using the original battery and it was at 60% health. So, I decided to update to the 61W battery.
After changing the battery, I decided to turn on the battery charge limit to keep the battery at a cool 60% charge to increase its lifespan.
First interesting thing I faced was realizing that Framework has 2 methods for the battery limit implementation. You have to use framework-tools and set it on the ec instead of the standard Kernel module. The kernel allows you to set the min and max, but the ec just allows you to set the max, and it will automatically set max-5 as the min.
But what was more frustrating, was realizing and when it gets to that threshold it constantly discharges 5-9W until it gets to the min and then charges the battery again back to the threshold. So, if you set a threshold it keeps charging that 5% once an hour, instead of parking the battery and waiting for the natural discharge to get to the min (which should be days later, since when you're plugged in the battery is not used for anything, it's like your laptop is off, not sleep, off).
But the good thing is the ec code is open source, I found the code, dug into it, found a bug, fixed it, flashed it, and for the past 2 weeks my battery is working perfectly.
I opened a PR, then found a multi hundred forum post of people talking about something similar with no proper solution, or any fixes in the ec. And my PR has been sitting there with no attention from Framework. Setting a battery threshold is actually worse for your battery because of this bug, but nobody is in a rush to fix it!
So, I'm mad that Framework operates this way, their circuitry, power delivery, and software is flawed (just read the forum thread[1]). On the other hand I'm happy I can see the code, find the bug, and fix it at least for myself! Feels like the hardware version of Linux! If you are technical, you can literally change how your kernel behaves. You can't recommend it to your Mom, but you definitely prefer it to the closed alternatives.
[1] https://community.frame.work/t/tracking-battery-flipping-bet...
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Arent the USB ports on the framework also soldered on? I’m looking at a picture of the motherboard right now. Unlike my MacBook it doesn’t use a daughter board for the ports. It’s straight on the main board. Seems less repairable than my MacBook.
The ports on the motherboard are soldered, but you don't use them directly. You attach "expansion cards" which slide into a slot on the laptop case which locks them in place. So those ports seldom see any forces applied to them. All your day-to-day wear (plugging/unplugging, twisting, yanking) is going to be on the port on the expansion card which you can replace for $10. It's basically like a daughter board that is…
It is a non-feature that results in a net loss of physical space for ports owing to their gargantuan size.
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> You've never moved your laptop without realizing it is still plugged in? No. This damage usually happens by tripping over the cord, which results in the laptop falling on the floor, so a USB-C port is the least of your worries. There's a reason Apple went back to MagSafe.
But in that situation, you know the damage _wont_ be to the USB ports on the motherboard. The motherboard is screwed to the case, and the expansion cards are locked to the case, so they won't move relative to each other. You expansion card might get damaged by the initial tripping over the cord, and some other parts might get damaged from the fall, but you can trivially buy first-party replacement parts for anything…