151–160 of 208 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Re. your last point, I generally agree with the idea that performance testing should be automated, not on an ad-hoc local machine basis. But I also do think developers live in bit of a "CPU bubble", and we need to break out of it. Most people don't have pricey hardware, and no matter what your reasoning (environmental / e-waste, user experience, simple love of the craft, etc), it is important to write performant soft…
Fully agree. I have a couple of old C2D/C2Q machines still kicking around and after upgrading their storage to SSDs, running the latest Win10 builds they're still totally viable day-to-day machines… well, until you fire up a notoriously heavy web/electron app, and then they're suddenly on their knees. If the devs working on these apps had to use such machines even a single day per week I'm sure we'd see marked improv…
Framework founder here. Happy to answer any questions anyone has on the product!
> To maximize eye comfort, we use a DC mode backlight controller instead of a PWM one that can cause visible flickering
I hope this still stands, and it uses true DC dimming. If so, thank you so much!
These days it is hard to find non-PWM laptops even in premium segment.
Even high-frequency PWM is not great for eyestrain, so DC dimming is really appreciated! Some manufacturers go as low as 250HZ.
p.s.
If anyone wants to check if your display has PWM:
0. All OLED screens utilize PWM. They are terrible to view in low light environment. This means that all new phones and OLED laptops are terrible for night reading, don't do it! If you are curious about headaches after extensive screen time, guess no more.
1. For LCD laptops, however, set display brightness at 10% (can try different settings in low range, too)
2. Open some bright content (e.g. blank white page) and go to some completely dark room.
3. Using phone camera's preview screen, set it to photo mode and play with different settings of exposure (in pro/advanced settings) while pointing at the screen: try 1/8000, 1/250, etc. Also try slow-motion capture of the screen. High-frequency PWM (new Mac laptops) is quite bad, but hard to detect without special equipment, but still can easily put eyestrain. Low frequency PWM is much easier to detect with just a phone camera.
Framework founder here. Happy to answer any questions anyone has on the product!
I wonder if you plan to make the hardware spec (or parts thereof like the form factor) open source? It's nota deal breaker if you don't, but would be a big plus if you do (although more challenging from a business logic standpoint, but Red Hat seems to have done OK).
Preparing for Pre-Orders! (Framework modular laptop) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27052468 - May 2021 (79 comments)
The Framework Laptop - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26263508 - Feb 2021 (991 comments)
There's also Framework’s repairable laptop is up for preorder, starting at $999 - https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/13/frameworks-repairable-lapt...
(via https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27142913, but we merged that thread hither)
Is Thunderbolt 3 (for eGPUs) an option? Couldn't find any info on that..
We support USB4 on all four ports. We can't state anything about Thunderbolt compatibility until we complete certifications around it.
The lack of Thunderbolt makes it a complete no-go right now.
Framework founder here. Happy to answer any questions anyone has on the product!
I've got two questions about input:
1. Will there be an ISO option for the keyboard layout? (To support non-US layouts, and for those who aren't familiar, just changing the key mapping isn't sufficient, ISO has an extra key and a different shape on the enter key)
2. Any plans to support Sensel touchpads? The tech is really amazing (I've heard the latest described as better than a macbook)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a noble effort and you can certainly take the moral high-ground over companies like Apple. However, often the problem is not only whether parts are replaceable but also availability of spares. For example, my 2016 X1 Carbon needs a new battery and it is easily user-replaceable, yet Lenovo no longer make or sell them. How can you make sure that parts are available, especially if your suppliers stop making them…
We're committing to making compatible parts available. Part of how we're doing this is continuing to use this design and architecture going forward for the foreseeable future. This means that as we continue to refresh the specs each year, modules like the battery, display, and others will remain cross-compatible. This makes it easier for us to keep suppliers bought in for the long-haul.
Wish there was a ATX-like standard for laptops. It wouldn't work for 13-inch laptops with super-tight internals, but for gaming laptops and mobile workstations it'd be awesome. Imagine your laptop is getting a bit old, so you swap out motherboard, CPU and RAM. That's the kind of laptop I want.
There are differences in where the display/USB ribbon connectors are and speakers are always in strange places. Sometimes the bottom tray is tapered off like a MacBook Air. Some ultrabooks are 9mm thick and others are 11mm thick, but at that point, honestly who cares?
But in general, I don't see any reason why a 13" standard for laptop motherboards+heatpipe can't exist. Out of the XPS, HP, and Asus systems I've upgraded in the last 6ish years, they've all looked more or less the same but with annoying 1-2cm differences in ribbon connectors and screw placements.
If anything, standardization might lead to more efficient use of battery compartments. A lot of laptops seem to have empty air surrounding a commodity battery that could have been 55Wh instead of 42Wh if the space was used better.