Framework Laptop Batch 3 - Almost 1 Year Update
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- This is my thoughts on the Framework Laptop after about a year of ownership. I placed my order back in July of last year for the DIY i5 version and have been relatively happy with it. However, there are a few issues that I wanted to discuss.
Good constructive critiques there, I like the idea of a more 'open' marketplace where people can buy/sell/exchange used Framework parts.
Thanks for the comment and watch! I think Framework is doing a great job, but it's really just too expensive to get people into it on a larger scale. I think that issue may be partially mitigated by offering just a low priced bare chassis and offer used last gen boards, screens, etc to fill in the pieces and true DIY it. Having a marketplace like I mentioned where people who upgraded can put theirs up (maybe with a Framework validation etc) would fit nicely into this model.
Good Review. New frameworks come with the new top cover but not the heavier 4.0kg hinges. You still get the 3.3kg hinges. Also, send a ticket to support about the trackpad, I had the same issue and they replaced the entire input cover. Finally, off topic, you can record on a micro SD card as they all come with adapters. I recorded to Micro SD using the adapter with my Lumix for over 2 years with no problem.
Hey thanks for the comment. I did submit a ticket about the hinge, but not the trackpad because I figured it was a similar design flaw that wouldn't be corrected in old models. When I asked about the hinge, which is now sold with new models as a "fix", it was ignored by the marketing company (Neology Concepts) FW uses and they instead said join the newsletter and didn't respond further. Tbh, I expected Framework to have a least a little bit of support- oh well. That's something that certainly can't happen if they want to become mainstream though.
That's an idea, good call. Thanks for the tip, not something I considered for whatever reason.
Thanks for making this video. If you'd like some constructive criticism, I would recommend working on your transitions and lighting. You're transitions are pretty noticeable and a little jarring, which led me to loose focus on what you were saying. Great video, hope you continue to make new videos!
Thanks! I do this for fun so constructive criticism is absolutely welcome. I had some bad cuts in editing this video now that I look at it.. Editing is not my forte but I'm working on it. And you're right the lighting isn't great (right by a window). My space is relatively small but maybe I'll get a blackout curtain to help with that. I'll take that into consideration and keep chugging along the best I can! Thanks!
Great job.
A couple of things. There was quality control issues for the first few batches. You have a faulty hinge and support will replace that for free. The 4.0 hinge is not an upgraded hinge, but rather a different option just like the louder speakers. The 12th gen comes with the normal hinges.
Thanks for the comment. I asked they did not offer to replace my hinge and directed me to purchase a replacement. There are 2 hinge options, 3.3kg standard which was what I was referring to and is included in laptops now, and 4kg as you stated as a different option.
@@tenminutetech they should replace it if you send them a video and show that it is faulty.
@@joshuaham1022 hmm, I guess I could try again then
Thank you I’ve been learning more about these pc’s.
If Framework can't/won't create the second-hand marketplace for their own components, maybe someone could convince Swappa to take on that task. I mean, they already have a laptop section.
That's a thought. I wonder if somebody started that conversation between the two if it would work...
Update.. Framework is selling refurbs so I think that's a step
@@tenminutetech They now have a marketplace.
@@weiSane Thanks for the comment. I think they're listening to the community, so that's good!
Overall I'm happy with my Framework...like many others I expected hiccups being an early adopter. The screen wobble is a very annoying issue, I will eventually order the stronger hinges. I too had missed clicks on my trackpad. Contact their support, they replaced my entire input panel, keyboard and trackpad. I don't use full size SD cards but I can understand that frustration. The one con that is (imo) pretty major that was missed in this video is the battery life. It's honestly a bit unacceptable for a modern thin and light laptop. If they make it to a 3rd mainboard refresh I will upgrade mine at that point (still holding out hope for a Ryzen mainboard), but I am kind of hoping they release a new form factor. Perhaps a 15" or even a redesigned 14" to allow for a larger battery.
I was pretty happy with it at first, but slightly more luke-warm lately. It's like buying a "beta" product and having to live with the issues it brings. For example, framework says that the screen wobble is "by design" to keep it easy to open and wouldn't assist. I'm happy with the idea and the modularity, but I think some of the decisions being made are keeping it from really taking off.
You're right about the battery life. For a laptop without a dedicated GPU and middling performance, it really should be in the microsoft surface ranges of battery usage, which can get 10+ hours.
I'm not sure if I'll upgrade this for a long time, the motherboard upgrades are very very expensive, I think too expensive compared to just buying a full new DIY kit.
Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it.
@@kaelan4958 Thanks for that. I actually haven't bothered with the upgraded hinge. Support said it was "in spec" to have the screen flop around and I didn't feel it was worth almost $30 USD for a replacement hinge, with may or may not fix it. I appreciate your comment and agree that it's not worth buying the hinge, especially if it doesn't fix it!
They really painted themselves in a corner with the size of the expansion cards. Slightly wider and you would have space for USB-A and USB-C on a single card (splitting out the USB2.0 to the A), or as you already mention full-size SD cards. Slightly higher (ok, double the height), and you would have ample room for an ethernet port. (just a note on the ethernet card: it's actually 2.5G instead of 1G, so that's a nice bonus)
There was no reason to create the standard this way. They created this standard, they were free to do so another way. I get that you need a cap on the height of the cards to limit overall thickness, but was that really so important to require ugly hacks to get ethernet support?
I agree. It seems like they went with the first design they came up with without going through any other consideration to the expansion ports. Maybe it was a low item on the feature stack? One of the first things I noticed was I would have preferred to have two type c ports on a single expansion card because 4 ports total, including a charger, is pretty minimal.
I've seen thin and lights have ethernet ports that have a little flip down door, so I'm really confused why they're making this big ugly expansion port for ethernet when a better design already exists. Hopefully they redesign down the road!
@@tenminutetech (I don't know why I only see your reply now)
From what I understand, those flip door things are fairly fragile once you get to scale and some people use the thing daily. At least with this chonker of a design the risk of breaking the port is small. Although this means people will swap cards much more often, so the benefit seems minimal.
Maybe in a future design of a bigger one they will put larger cards on the backside
I believe it just comes down to wanting a thinner design to prove the point that you can have modularity in such a compact size. Framework was simply not going to be taken seriously from the public at large if it was twice as thick. You try to beat Apple or you go home.
The ethernet port sticks out from the laptop a bit... couldn't one do the same for the full-size SD card reader? Just make it stick out a bit and be a bit wider than the slot (just enough to not interfere with the other expansion slots).
Have you done any video editing on the device?
It is bewildering they didn’t make the expansion slots a few millimeters larger to fit a full SD.
I haven't, because I use a desktop to edit.. but that's a good idea. I think I'll run the framework through some performance metrics and publish it as a video... I didn't do it before because they're not really new now, but might be worth doing.
It is strange.. I really think they just didn't consider full SD for some reason or maybe didnt like the idea of having the SD stick out a little? not sure and nobody really seems to talk about it on the forums.
@@tenminutetech if you do make a video, I’d request actual examples of timeline scrubbing and responsiveness. Benchmarks don’t give much to go off of!
I _kind of_ get it. I'm transitioning to micro-SD for action cams and drones. I have mirrorless cameras that still use full-size SD but I'll eventually just use a micro-SD with an adapter for them too and be 100% micro-SD.
@@JohnMFlores Are there going to be performance and/or reliability issues with those in a full size camera?
@@shanemitchellspencer I haven't noticed anything
Really my main qualm with the framework is that it ONLY has 4 expansion slots. It really needs like 6 slots.
I think so too. If they could have thought a little more ahead and made them wider, they could have put 2 type-c ports on 1 at least.
@@tenminutetech Well maybe a future 15" model? I'd LOVE a num pad!
I did just order an 12th gen i5 framework so it will hopefully be here soon!!!
@@locklear308 congrats!
Thanks for this video. Subscribed
Thank you! I've noticed that FW content seems to do pretty well.. Are there not many FW content creators? I would like to make more of FW content if it's what people want to see!
I use micro-SD with an adapter with my camera. Probably just get one of those. It's about the same price as a full sized sd card then you don't need to carry a dongle.
That's fair, I think it's a bit of a hold over from the old days when it might have made sense to consider microSD compromising speed or size but these days the packages are so small it doesn't make a difference... and if it did there's CFexpress
@@tenminutetech Yeap I can carry more data on something that's the size of my fingernail now than super computers of past.
Why doesn't anyone say what the laptop is? Is it 17inch? 10inch? You can't get that answer on UA-cam.
That's an interesting question. The primary reason is because they only have 1 size at the time of all of the original reviews. They've since rebranded the original laptop as the "framework 13", which were all 13.5" displays. They have announced a 16" display as well, anticipated for later this year.
Hope this helps!
i would like a it if we could get some credit for our older parts if we cant find so,eone to sell it, to , id also like some color options as well not just all grey .
Those are all good suggestions. I think the big advantage to an open platform like this is the ability to buy/sell parts 3rd party so that you can upgrade/downgrade/etc as necessary for your use-case whenever you'd like.
I'm not sure if they have any plans to change the color. I believe they're using 6063 aluminum alloy, so they could definitely do an anodized layer and have it colored that way... Although it does add a small amount of thickness and that could affect the tolerances, so they would either have to re-machine them or retool and anodize all of them. Things to think about though!
thanks for the infos! how bad do you feel the speakers are?
(considering to buy)
The speakers are on the bottom so one thing I have noticed that if the laptop is not set on a hard surface for the sound to reflect off, it's pretty quiet and muffled. Otherwise I would consider them "average" subjectively. That is, I haven't done any specific dynamic range testing on them, but they're not noticeably bad in any other area aside from when the laptop is in your lap.
@@tenminutetech thanks ❤️
Too bad a CPU upgrade is not possible. Being forced to upgrade the whole motherboard makes upgrading less viable. Memory is upgradeable at least.
Hey there, thanks for the comment. There's pros/cons to a removable CPU for sure. As an example lots of the Sager/Clevo laptops have replaceable desktop CPUs (Origin had a line of Sager clones) and they're quite a bit larger because of it. I think FW wanted to go for something more sleek and small, and it it's not too bad of a tradeoff IMO.
Although it should only add a little bit of cost on top of the cost of the CPU, I think their asking price of ~$1000 is way too much for mainboard+CPU, which is what kills the value proposition. it's why I think they need a refurb marketplace.
Their prices initially were on the high side of reasonable before, but ok, yet I see them raising the prices more and more with each product/design change. That's going to bite them in the near future.. if it's not "worth" paying the upgrade people will just buy something else..
they also have warrenty.....so if something is wrong with your track pad and hinges.......sd card slot should be micro sd (get with the times my friend)
Thanks for the comment. Framework said the hinge is "working as intended" and did not offer any support.
Its not worth it, all I need is replaceable ssd and battery. There is no need to upgrade every generation of cpu specially nowadays that software and hardware have peaked. And after a 3 or 4 generations in a span of 4 or 5 years its time to upgrade the WHOLE laptop as almost all of its components are worn out. Framework will be out of business in a few more years.
Definite maybe. I like the angle of the right to repair and keep the equipment going but they way they're going about things will never hit the main market. It's a cool device but a bit pricey. Agree that the main thing should be battery and ssd, those can keep a laptop going for 10 years.