The Framework Laptop is now shipping • Hacker News Board

Re: The Framework Laptop is now shipping

#781

Post by OJFord » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 8:35 PM UTC

nrp wrote: post #120

ajot wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any other keyboard + pointing device design in mind? I've read sibling comments about trackpoint and numpad, but what about a 7-row keyboard and/or a smaller trackpad with real buttons for clicking? Is this possible? Do you see there's a market for it?

The cover that the keyboard and touchpad install into is the limiting factor. The tooling for that part is extremely expensive, so we only have one version of it. We have the ability to install ANSI, ISO, and JIS keyboard layouts with any language in the artwork, but we can't change the keyboard or touchpad geometry beyond that without shelling out big money for a new cover. A touchpad with buttons is something we be…

How does that work then - do left shift & enter key caps bridge over the cover on the respective layouts where they're bigger?

i.e. on the US/ANSI layout photographed on the site - L Shift is using both L Shift and Backslash holes; Enter is also occupying Octothorpe, but not covering the hole above it where Backslash is in that layout? So you have a fixed, what I think the mechanical keyboard enthusiasts call 'switch plate', and then different sized key caps for the relevant keys making them occupy multiple spaces with dummy switches or whatever?

Re: The Framework Laptop is now shipping

#782

Post by jzb » Fri, Jul 30, 2021, 12:27 PM UTC

CRConrad wrote: post #775

ineedasername wrote: post #554

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might want that trade off, but consumers in general have been leaning towards thinner and lighter for years. Just look around at complaints about the thickness of early android watches being too big and chunky. Or the huge popularity when the first MacBook Air came out. Given the option between thicker w/ a bit more battery life or thinner and lighter, consumers are choosing thinner and lighter.

> ...consumers in general have been leaning towards thinner and lighter for years. > ...consumers are choosing thinner and lighter. A) I'm guessing actually lighter more than thinner. B) Are consumers really clamouring all that intensely for "Thinner! Thinner!", or is that a) because that's all that's offered, and b) the relentless hype from manufacturers -- above all, bendy phone maker Apple -- amplified by rarely-c…

B. Definitely B. I’d happily choose a phone that’s chonkier if it was an option.

Re: The Framework Laptop is now shipping

#783

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL » Fri, Jul 30, 2021, 1:03 PM UTC

littlestymaar wrote: post #467

ddalex wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The chocolate bar doesn't start a violent fire if pierced. If it would we could power our laptops with chocolate :) The flour conditions of exploding are far more difficult to achieve than a LiIon battery conditions - orders of magnitude difference.

> The chocolate bar doesn't start a violent fire if pierced. If it would we could power our laptops with chocolate :) Neither does a NiMH battery. There's no link between vulnerability to external damage and ability to power a laptop. In fact, there's no fundamental reason why we couldn't run our laptop on chocolate[1], just that it's very far away from current technology. [1]: http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2014/…

I read Lion battery (lion as in the chocolate bar) and couldn't help but find it hilarious

Re: The Framework Laptop is now shipping

#784

Post by zmarty » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 5:42 PM UTC

rchaud wrote: post #487

cconcepts wrote: post #280

I hope you guys slay the market and are able to keep up with the demand that is coming at you. I hope this is the Tesla moment for the consumer electronics industry where the incumbents are forced, through the hubris yet popularity of an upstart, to start innovating again and doing what is good for humanity rather than peddling incrementally changed products each year that are designed to become obsolete within an ev…

'Tesla moment' is right. They put all-electric cars in the public's consciousness. And then they went into the luxury auto business of charging and arm and a leg for repairs and parts.

False. Tesla does not aim to make a profit on service.

Re: The Framework Laptop is now shipping

#785

Post by yencabulator » Thu, Aug 05, 2021, 10:14 PM UTC

mikepurvis wrote: post #511

mumblemumble wrote: post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never done anything beyond amateur electronics, so sorry if I'm way off base here, but it at least seems intuitively plausible to me that soldering the components to the board allows them to work reliably at lower power. With a pin and socket connection, you've got to try and be at least reasonably resistant to corrosion or other sources of less-than-perfect connection. That said, I don't know that RAM chips are…

Up until relatively recently, a lot of laptops and even phones would put the connectors on separate PCBs connected by a ribbon, so that damaging those wouldn't mean a $500 motherboard replacement. I definitely remember ordering a replacement headphone socket board for an old MacBook and just putting it in myself, and I've done similar with, eg, the connector port board on a PS4 controller. But I guess this is one of…

Not just for the easier replacement, but also to avoid translating the mechanical stresses directly to the motherboard. The separate PCB can mount in a way that lets it move a little.