Earlier quoted context omitted.
Had to see for myself[1][2]. Seriously...what are you guys smoking? - topside (primary servicing end) ...and then there's: - frontside (replaceable bezel, magnetic retention) - underside (venting pattern, 6 less securing screws) - keyboard layout (escape, arrows, tilde, backslash, left ctrl, delete) - power button (location, fingerprint reader integration) - peripheral support (modular af, reconfigurable, select your…
Mainboard/logicboard is exactly the same. Left side of the logicboard in the original Acer design is connected via a flex cable, which is where modularity daughterboard goes, which means that that part is custom and probably just a USB-C. The main opening being on topside as opposed to bottom means the enclosure is custom made. So what. Overall it’s not something that we are smoking, it’s basic understanding in lapto…
Merely speculating that FFC interconnect is "probably just a USB-C" says absolutely nothing of the fact that Acer's system is neither truly modular (because it's fundamentally constrained to specific I/O interface by its own case) nor externally reconfigurable by the user. Nevermind that Framework's design appears to sensibly apply what was intended to be floating interconnect (USB-C male) to a fixed peripheral module interface on both sides, which is a huge value add from a user configuration perspective on the merits of being able to choose what side your charger port is installed on alone.
So what about the enclosure being custom made?? Oh I don't know, nevermind completely disrespecting mechanical design considerations and effort applied towards targeted maintainability which have a direct impact on internal layout, user ease-of-self-service considerations that quite frankly the rest of the consumer laptop market clearly hasn't given an ounce of attention. That Framework completely own their tooling alone tells me substantial work was done.
Without even critiquing layout, Acer didn't even so much as give its prospective customers the courtesy of a fuckin' reach-around by soldering memory directly onto its motherboard and left a substantial amount of internal volume on the table. I suspect comparing display maintainability would be a complete joke of an exercise.
Basic understanding in laptops and modern electronics...yeah, sure.
This practicing hardware EE is far from convinced.