Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Framework Laptop 16 Deep Dive – Enclosure

frame.work

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 238 posts

Re: Framework Laptop 16 Deep Dive – Enclosure

#31

Post by princevegeta89 »

vorpalhex wrote: post #20
rfwhyte wrote: post #13

Still waiting for the other shoe to drop with a pricing announcement. I keep getting almost excited about the Framework 16", but then I'm remember it's probably going to be well over $2500USD for a decently specced model (without a GPU even) and my excitement quickly dissipates.

There's a cost to buying machines that are sustainable and use well paid workers, just like there's a cost to cage free eggs. I believe Foxconn, the main assembler for Apple, still sleeps 6 workers to an apartment.

Note that the apartment is only 100 sq.Ft at the same time

Re: Framework Laptop 16 Deep Dive – Enclosure

#32

Post by buildbot »

kccqzy wrote: post #12

I don't know if magnesium is a common choice for computer enclosures, but one of the few examples of magnesium that I immediately recall (besides Surface) is a NeXT computer that went up in flames: https://simson.net/ref/1993/cubefire.html

Pretty common! Many cameras use a cast magnesium frame too.

It’s surprisingly hard to ignite! As your link explains it took them a bit haha.

Re: Framework Laptop 16 Deep Dive – Enclosure

#33

Post by dheera »

butz wrote: post #10

Are we at the point where buying and assembling a laptop, like building a desktop PC, can be done by any enthusiast?

If you buy all components from Frame.work, yes. Nobody else to my knowledge is making compatible components for their laptops though, so we're still a ways away from having an ecosystem of options like desktop PCs have.

If you're not an EE, the only things you can buy 3rd party are RAM, SSD, and Wi-Fi modules. Which you can do the same for Thinkpads.

That said -- I do appreciate that partial upgrades are possible with Frame.work. I own one and when I upgrade the motherboard, even though I can only buy a motherboard upgrade from them, I won't be upgrading the case, display, and other things that don't need upgrades.

Re: Framework Laptop 16 Deep Dive – Enclosure

#34

Post by nrp »

kccqzy wrote: post #12

I don't know if magnesium is a common choice for computer enclosures, but one of the few examples of magnesium that I immediately recall (besides Surface) is a NeXT computer that went up in flames: https://simson.net/ref/1993/cubefire.html

Magnesium alloy is reasonably common in notebooks and other consumer electronics. Sometimes it's an internal structural element with a different cosmetic outer part, and sometimes as in the Framework Laptop 16 along with some of the higher end ThinkPads, it's directly the outer shell. As noted in the linked story, it's actually really difficult to burn the kinds of magnesium alloy that are used for structural purposes, and the author had to jump through hoops to get it to work.

Re: Framework Laptop 16 Deep Dive – Enclosure

#35

Post by buildbot »

BaculumMeumEst wrote: post #30
cowpig wrote: post #3

I find the battery life on my framework 13 really bad (ubuntu installed). There's some issue where the battery drains fairly quickly in suspend which requires enabling "deep sleep" mode, but it still drains a lot faster than other laptops I've had. And then the battery life in general isn't very good; I'd say ~2 hours at full brightness with some video streaming mixed in with normal browsing. I wonder if that's the s…

Spending a ton of time on brittle power configuration in order to get from “bad” to “meh”, and suspend never quite working properly, is part of the experience of owning a linux laptop. That’s the way it’s always been. Solutions include not caring, buying a mac, or buying windows and using WSL.

With windows you have the danger of not suspending or doing what my surfacebook does and just self heating -the gpu sometimes doesn’t get the sleep command, and just sits there burning power while the fan is shut down..easily hits 100C.

Re: Framework Laptop 16 Deep Dive – Enclosure

#36

Post by DiabloD3 »

cowpig wrote: post #3

I find the battery life on my framework 13 really bad (ubuntu installed). There's some issue where the battery drains fairly quickly in suspend which requires enabling "deep sleep" mode, but it still drains a lot faster than other laptops I've had. And then the battery life in general isn't very good; I'd say ~2 hours at full brightness with some video streaming mixed in with normal browsing. I wonder if that's the s…

> I'd say ~2 hours at full brightness

Most laptops with high brightness monitors would leave you with about 2-3 hours of battery life... many laptops can hit 300-400 nits, some even more.

sRGB and BT709 declare the brightness of SDR white as 100 nits, and 100-120 is considered acceptable.

The rest of what you say sounds like your Ubuntu is misconfigured, which is common with Ubuntu installs. The fix is usually either changing a few files in /etc, or installing an entirely different distro that isn't user hostile.

Re: Framework Laptop 16 Deep Dive – Enclosure

#37

Post by nrp »

accrual wrote: post #29

I thought this line was interesting: > with no externally visible fasteners I wonder if it was easier or thinner to do that way, or if it was a deliberate design choice for a more minimal appearance. Personally I don't mind seeing fasteners. After swapping LCDs on my old Thinkpads a couple times, I stopped replacing the screw covers and embraced one fewer step for future maintenance.

Amazingly enough, we didn't go in with this as a design goal from the start. The Framework Laptop 13 has exposed fasteners on the Bottom Cover, and we went in assuming we'd go the same direction. As we designed the Input Module system, it became clear that the best way to design it was installing everything directly down into the Bottom Cover, meaning you don't need to flip the system over to unscrew anything. The result is a Bottom Cover that is super clean.

Re: Framework Laptop 16 Deep Dive – Enclosure

#39

Post by nrp »

globalreset wrote: post #18
mrtranscendence wrote: post #11

Apropos of nothing, I learned (thanks to a recent Linus Tech Tips video) that Framework's DIY Edition laptops are preassembled for QA and then disassembled prior to shipping. I found that amusing. Not sure I could buy a DIY model knowing that.

They probably insert the same and known to work: storage, ram, etc. see if everything works, then remove them and insert them into the next model. The storage and ram you receive are pre-packaged and were QA-ed separately. It makes perfect sense, really.

Yep, this is correct. The memory, storage, Input Cover, and Bezel are "turn parts" that temporarily carry along the manufacturing line on each DIY Edition unit so that the system can go through the full set of manual and automated testing and quality control. The modules you receive in a DIY Edition shipment are actually totally separate modules specific to your order that are also independently tested and packed out, and are dropped into the box when the order is being shipped out of the warehouse.

Re: Framework Laptop 16 Deep Dive – Enclosure

#40

Post by mrtranscendence »

mynameisvlad wrote: post #16
mrtranscendence wrote: post #11

Apropos of nothing, I learned (thanks to a recent Linus Tech Tips video) that Framework's DIY Edition laptops are preassembled for QA and then disassembled prior to shipping. I found that amusing. Not sure I could buy a DIY model knowing that.

Why does that matter? Most people buying them will likely use their own RAM, storage and OS anyway. And either way, you'd ostensibly want to make sure your computer is supposed to work once you assemble it yourself.

I'm not sure I follow you here. I'm not saying that it should necessarily come with RAM, storage, and OS, which can be removed without disassembling the entire laptop. And I'm not making a statement one way or the other on whether you'll have to ensure your computer works.

I'm only saying that it's funny to learn that Framework undergoes some effort to assemble and test the laptop only to undo that work so the buyer can assemble the entire thing. It might be for entirely good reasons, but that doesn't make it a bit funny prima facie.

Post reply on HN