Repairable, Modular Framework Laptop Begins Shipping (cnet.com) 112
"Are you old enough to remember when laptops had removable batteries?" asks CNET. "Frustrated by mainstream laptops with memory soldered to the motherboard and therefore not upgradable?"
"The 13.5-inch Framework Laptop taps into that nostalgia, addressing one of the biggest drawbacks in modern laptops as part of the right-to-repair movement. It was designed from the ground up to be as customizable, upgradable and repairable as technologically possible... and boy does it deliver." It features four expansion card slots, slide-in modules that snap into USB-C connectors, socketed storage and RAM, a replaceable mainboard module with fixed CPU and fan, battery, screen, keyboard and more. It's a design that makes the parts easy to access, all while delivering solid performance at competitive prices and without sacrificing aesthetics.
The laptop's in preorder now for the U.S. and Canada, slated to ship in small batches depending upon the configuration. Core i7-based systems are expected to go out in August, while Core i5 systems won't be available until September. Prices for the Framework Laptop start at $999 for the prefab Core i5-1135G7 model with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD, $1,399 for the Core i7-1165G7 Performance model with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage or a vPro Core i7-1185G7 Professional model with 32GB RAM and 1TB storage. Framework expects to expand into new regions by the end of the year; $999 converts to roughly £730 or AU$1,360... The DIY model adds Linux to the list of operating systems you can install, and doesn't restrict Windows Pro to the vPro model...
With the Framework, in addition to the ports you can swap out the mainboard, touchpad, keyboard, speakers, battery... anything you can think of. Don't feel like doing it yourself? Framework is publishing all the information necessary for a repair shop or IT department to not just swap parts, but to perform repairs... Nothing is buried under other parts, so everything's easy to get to. Each Framework part has a QR code and short URL to take you to all the info you'll need about it and the labels on the standard parts (memory and SSD) are easy to read.
Or, as Engadget puts it, the laptop is "designed, from the get-go, to be modular and repairable by every one of its users." Created by Nirav Patel, formerly of Oculus, the machine aims to demonstrate that there is a better, more sustainable way of doing things. It shouldn't be that, if your tech fails, you either have to buy a new model, or let the manufacturer's in-house repair teams charge $700 for a job that should've cost $50 . After all, if we're going to survive climate change, we need to treat our tech more sustainably and keep as much as possible out of the landfill...
The Framework laptop is equipped with a 1080p, 60fps webcam with an 80-degree field of view, and it's one of the best built-in webcams I've seen.
PCWorld calls it "the ultimate Right to Repair laptop."
"The 13.5-inch Framework Laptop taps into that nostalgia, addressing one of the biggest drawbacks in modern laptops as part of the right-to-repair movement. It was designed from the ground up to be as customizable, upgradable and repairable as technologically possible... and boy does it deliver." It features four expansion card slots, slide-in modules that snap into USB-C connectors, socketed storage and RAM, a replaceable mainboard module with fixed CPU and fan, battery, screen, keyboard and more. It's a design that makes the parts easy to access, all while delivering solid performance at competitive prices and without sacrificing aesthetics.
The laptop's in preorder now for the U.S. and Canada, slated to ship in small batches depending upon the configuration. Core i7-based systems are expected to go out in August, while Core i5 systems won't be available until September. Prices for the Framework Laptop start at $999 for the prefab Core i5-1135G7 model with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD, $1,399 for the Core i7-1165G7 Performance model with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage or a vPro Core i7-1185G7 Professional model with 32GB RAM and 1TB storage. Framework expects to expand into new regions by the end of the year; $999 converts to roughly £730 or AU$1,360... The DIY model adds Linux to the list of operating systems you can install, and doesn't restrict Windows Pro to the vPro model...
With the Framework, in addition to the ports you can swap out the mainboard, touchpad, keyboard, speakers, battery... anything you can think of. Don't feel like doing it yourself? Framework is publishing all the information necessary for a repair shop or IT department to not just swap parts, but to perform repairs... Nothing is buried under other parts, so everything's easy to get to. Each Framework part has a QR code and short URL to take you to all the info you'll need about it and the labels on the standard parts (memory and SSD) are easy to read.
Or, as Engadget puts it, the laptop is "designed, from the get-go, to be modular and repairable by every one of its users." Created by Nirav Patel, formerly of Oculus, the machine aims to demonstrate that there is a better, more sustainable way of doing things. It shouldn't be that, if your tech fails, you either have to buy a new model, or let the manufacturer's in-house repair teams charge $700 for a job that should've cost $50 . After all, if we're going to survive climate change, we need to treat our tech more sustainably and keep as much as possible out of the landfill...
The Framework laptop is equipped with a 1080p, 60fps webcam with an 80-degree field of view, and it's one of the best built-in webcams I've seen.
PCWorld calls it "the ultimate Right to Repair laptop."
Build different. (Score:2)
Created by Nirav Patel, formerly of Oculus, the machine aims to demonstrate that there is a better, more sustainable way of doing things.
Be interesting to see if AR/VR was used tin the creation and building of this wonderful laptop?
Re:Build different. (Score:5, Informative)
Thank you (Score:2)
Hey, good for you people for swimming against the anti-consumer current. Mad kudos and total thumbs up.
Re: Build different. (Score:2)
For a future model, consider making a luggable case:
* start with the biggest 3840x2560 monitor capable of fitting inside a case small enough to take an in-cabin carry-on luggage. Preferably, with a controller that can do 1920x1080/1280@60-144hz (Freesync) and 3840x2560@60hz (or better, 90hz), also Freesync.
* Design it for a standard (albeit ITX-ish) motherboard
* Include a power supply big enough for an i9, a desktop RTX video card, and 3 monitors.
* Include a compartment for either extra storage, or an optio
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Congratulations on remembering your password!
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Re: Build different. (Score:2)
Re:Build different. (Score:5, Informative)
I currently have a 10 year old laptop, that still works fine, has better specs, and cost significantly less than this rip-off piece of junk.
There is nothing "better" about this piece of crap. It is just another scam to extract money from stupid and gullible people.
I don't think you have NVMe SSD 10 years ago. So no way could the spec of old computers be better unless you compare with a high wattage 10 years old desktop for CPU / GPU raw performance, disregarding the power draw.
Re:Build different. (Score:4, Informative)
He's blowing smoke out of his arse.
I have an 11 year old laptop, one of the fastest you could get at the time. A ThinkPad W510. It is actually very repairable as these things go. It's got SATA II of course not even 3 never mind NVMe, and a 1.7 GHz core i7 Q820. It's much slower.
It does have 16G ram however, upgradable these days to 32, but not at the time. 64 for this laptop, I wonder if that will rise over time as higher density chips arrive.
Anyway to;DR you are right he's talking shit.
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The W5xx series were some of the best full-sized laptops ever built. Sad that Lenovo did not continue that screen size and capability set.
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The W5xx series were some of the best full-sized laptops ever built. Sad that Lenovo did not continue that screen size and capability set.
Never liked the w530 I had from work. Ran hot, very power hungry, and the form factor was just too big to be comfortable on the lap.
Typing this on a t61,which is my main personal machine, and I love it.
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Ran hot, very power hungry, and the form factor was just too big to be comfortable on the lap.
Meh. My overly warm left leg kinda agrees with you,but hey, I'm still using it on my lap.
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It's an AC. It can safely be presumed to be full of BS or it would put its name to itself.
I'm rather disappointed the discussion has no mention (yet) of Osborne or Kaypro computers. I think the most common repairs in those days were power supplies or floppy disk drives.
Having said that, I hope this becomes a viable option, though the barriers to success look daunting. Most obviously, the stores need to keep moving that fresh hardware.
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I have a Note 3 phone, bought when it first came out, still going. Had to replace the battery once and now have to replace the current battery. Do you know what I noticed with both batteries, they both swelled up. Now my back cover is clip on and can tolerate that but that swelling would have broken and fixed battery phone without doubt, it is quite significant.
Fixed batteries are without doubt designed to kill the product they are in by cracking the main board as a result of swelling. 100% of the batterie
Re: Build different. (Score:2)
Swelling batteries are bulging laptops fairly regularly since they started using flat packs. Changing is usually fairly easy though.
Its not so much by intentional design as by them being cheaper and well flatter.
They're causing recalls too.
Old enought to remember? (Score:4, Informative)
"Are you old enough to remember when laptops had removable batteries?"
My current laptop has a door on the side. You open the door, the battery slides right out.
Same for the hard disk, etc.
(Panasonic Toughbook, if you must know.)
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I love the Toughbook, but I believe it's still shipping with 8th generation i7 (current is 11th gen).
I looked a bit at the Framework, it's a decent price for a pretty basic laptop. I was disappointed that display and keyboard options were not presented. A trackpoint versus touchpad would have been a nice add-on as well. And there is no slot for a 4G/5G modem. The laptop isn't set up for gaming, so at the very least it could be configurable for mobility.
Re:Old enought to remember? (Score:5, Informative)
We love the Toughbook series too, though the price, size, and weight put it in a somewhat different category than what we're doing.
We've designed the display to be easy to replace, putting it behind a magnetic attach bezel and affixing it with fasteners. We only have one display type at the moment, though we've designed for the potential for more in the future. For the keyboard, we currently have US English, but the keyboard is also an easy to replace module, and we have a range of other ANSI and ISO languages in progress.
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We love the Toughbook series too, though the price, size, and weight put it in a somewhat different category than what we're doing.
I love my CF19, I wouldn't change for anything else.
Portability can't be beat - 11" screen and a shoulder strap (how does anybody manage with a "portable" that doesn't even have screw holes for accessories?)
It runs Windows 10 just great from an SSD. The tactile screen, handwriting recognition, etc. just work.
Best of all, there's a huge aftermarket for all sorts of add-ons. Want an illuminated keyboard and GPS? No problem...
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how does anybody manage with a "portable" that doesn't even have screw holes for accessories?
Millions manage to get by somehow.
Best of all, there's a huge aftermarket for all sorts of add-ons. Want an illuminated keyboard and GPS? No problem...
That's the dream. To have some consistent portable form factor that everyone can make accessories for. I think I've waited for the industry to get this under control for the last 30 years, like they managed with AT then ATX. But the constraints and trade-offs for a portable device are tough to decide universally, and it ends up being a key in market distinction. Add on that materials, battery technology, and industrial design has advanced quite a bit over just the past 10 y
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how does anybody manage with a "portable" that doesn't even have screw holes for accessories?
Millions manage to get by somehow.
Ignorance is bliss.
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Ignorance is bliss.
Ignorance is the best we can afford.
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My HP Zbook G4 isn't quite as accessible. Accessing the replacable ram, SATA SSD, NVME SSD, battery, WiFi, and Mobile Data modules requires removing 9 T-8 captive screws. It's not as accessible (or durable) as the toughbook though.
I poked around the framework configurator and the thing that really stands out is that the snap-in modules to convert the USB-C to HDMI/DVI/MicroSd/USB-A burn a huge amount of space inside the case. That was an interesting design choice, and it feels like they are locked into i
Re:Old enought to remember? (Score:4, Interesting)
Thanks! We think the Expansion Cards were a good trade-off to enable customization of ports, and our order data shows that there is a huge variety in the different card selections people have made so far. We've also published open source reference designs to enable people to develop new cards.
Re: Old enought to remember? (Score:2)
Re: Old enought to remember? (Score:2)
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I watched the video in the article link and you are absolutely right to do this. It fixes my most common frustrations with laptops:
1) The ports die. 4 years of connecting and disconnecting and you have a laptop than only charges with a book on the power cable, or an external screen that goes on the fritz when you move. These modules will allow me to fix that in seconds, with a part that is presumably cheap. Well, cheaper than a new motherboard which is the usual solution.
2) You’ve got the wrong
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My Thinkpad is only a few years old, and I took it apart when I got it and it is totally repairable.
It also has a removable battery.
My wife's Thinkpad doesn't have a removable battery, but she wanted the light one, not the "portable desktop" one. It's still repairable though, and the battery can be replaced if you know what you're doing.
Modular costs more up front (Score:2)
A highly integrated design can be made smaller, lighter, and use the bare minimum of energy storage, cooling, filtering, and mechanical support for the designated laptop specification. It can also be designed with a specific model of connectors, hard drive, and display to fit a very specific layout. It matters especially for predictable upgrades like memory or disk or disk, or mechanically vulnerable components like keyboards and USB connectors. which need graceful paths to be able to extract and replace ex
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The only real solution to this is to mandate free repairs on anything that is
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> Manufacturers had no problem designing the systems for decades.
They had profound difficulties. They also made many mistakes which made many laptops fragile with very specific classes of frequent repair. These included the tantalum bypass capacitor failures, poorly regulated power supplies blowing expensive chips most easily repaired by replacing entire boards, and fragile connectors broken by poor mechanical design when the layout was adjusted late in the design process. It also included the battery ex
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> None of that has anything to do with how repairable laptop is. Every single example you gave was a cost-cutting measure.
Indeed. Replacing the physically small capacitors on a crowded surface mount board, with other components nearby, is awkward at best, and it puts the rest of the circuitry at risk due to a sildering iron and flux near other components. Making the circuitry and its mounting larger to ease repairs costs space, manufacturing funds, and sales because people do ask for the smallest devices
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OK now look up what the median income in the US or EU is, how much a laptop costs, and how much the most popular cell phone models cost.
You thought there was a flourishing market for 2nd hand laptops. That was a wrong assumption. Instead of trying to explain it with your sob story, you should simply ask if it is true; there are numerous ways to check the sales of 2nd laptops vs new ones.
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I do sympathize with the difficulty. A modern high school compatible laptop is approximately $200 used, the same price as the "one laptop per child" proposal of the year 2005. I checked Ebay moments ago: $150, plus shipping, gets a 14" laptop with 8 GB RAM and 320 GB SSD drive with Windows 10. The model is a few years and unlikely to play Overwatch well, but so what for a school laptop?
Rather than spending money and time on repair parts, or waiting for increasingly resource consuming software to do its job
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There are trade-offs. I agree exponential growth cannot continue forever, but that doesn't make its end easy to predict. Repair is also a factor to trade off for vendors who must support warrantees. But let's not assume that one dominating factor, such as the benefit of the consumer who wants repairs to be inexpensive, overwhelms the other very real considerations.
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It works fine as is. It is inconvenient and sometimes more expensive than many of us would prefer, but the systems are available at very cut rate prices. Some companies designed for, and bet on, robust designs. IBM did this for laptops: you may have noticed that they sold off their laptop division as unprofitable to Lenovo, which makes more economical but less robust devices than IBM used to provide. The less expensive devices compete, successfully, for sales with less robust hardware.
There are times and pl
Nice idea... (Score:3)
I need a new laptop, but no-one seems to be making them with "proper" keyboards any more. Likewise, they've all followed the Apple-minimalist ideal so you need to carry a sack of extra bits that used to be built-in to actually get any work done.
Before you say it, yes my needs might be niche, but they still exist.
Oh, and the ExpressCard slot of for a FireWire card, as I've not found a working USB->FireWire adaptor yet.
Re: Nice idea... (Score:2)
Yeah, love the concept but I will wait for the gamer edition with GPU slot. Or better yet for nVidia to set up a something via USB you can use when you want to game, but otherwise leave unplugged to laptop battery lasts.
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Re: Nice idea... (Score:2)
I actually did not know those existed. From reviews, sounds like connectivity issues are common over usb, so maybe that is why they haven't caught on to where I would hear about them. Probably great on firewire.
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There are several good Thunderbolt->FireWire adapters using USB-C.
There really isn't. My recent m-itx build features a thunderbolt 3 port in the form of usb-c. My old M-atx system uses a pci-x firewire wire card to use my audio interface. I was excited because tb supports firewire, but learned there are zero tb3 (usb-c) to firewire adapters at all. The only solution is a tb3 to tb2, then a tb2 to firewire adapter, which is at least $75+.
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Yeah, love the concept but I will wait for the gamer edition with GPU slot. Or better yet for nVidia to set up a something via USB you can use when you want to game, but otherwise leave unplugged to laptop battery lasts.
Combined with the concern of grandparent's post, maybe it is possible to design a thicker and bigger model that have a slot for either optical drive or discrete GPU? Then it could have a thicker slot for wired internet too.
Re: Nice idea... (Score:2)
Sounds awesome. There is really nothing I want to do on battery in the park with a laptop I cant do on my iphone. What many are really looking for at this point is more of a portable desktop experience, something with some power for games and movies for the hotel room or small apartment.
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ExpressCard, FireWire, and optical drives are obsolete at this point. The laptop shows USB-C port but not specifically Thunderbolt which is a negative.
as I've not found a working USB->FireWire adaptor
Yes because USB to FireWire requires more a wiring change. FireWire will require chips as each device has its own controller. Can it be miniaturized to fit into an adapter? Probably. But the market for those who need one is small so anyone you find will probably be big and expensive.
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I am presented with the need to read optical media and connect to FireWire devices when on-site on a regular basis.
And, yes, I am well aware that it's not *just* a wiring change - it would require an "active" controller to manage the interface between the two and, contrary to many claims, none of the existing products work.
So, my current laptop has a proper keyboard, optical drive and built-in FireWire, but is limited on RAM, CPU and lacks USB3
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The laptop shows USB-C port but not specifically Thunderbolt which is a negative.
They specify it is USB3.2 Gen2(i.e. 10Gbps). USB4 and Thunderbolt have 40Gbps with PCIe tunneling which will really limit upgradability on these laptops
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s/USB/TB/ and youâ(TM)re fine (Score:2)
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Built-in optical drive probably requires a bigger laptop, not 13.5" model.
I wonder if they could design a RJ-45 expansion card that fit into their slim size constraint though. The firewire you mention is far more achievable if there are enough demand.
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The 13" iBook I owned in 2005 had:
Optical drive
User-replaceable expansion memory (base memory was soldered)
Pop-out battery
Easily-replaced keyboard
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I wonder if they could design a RJ-45 expansion card that fit into their slim size constraint though. The firewire you mention is far more achievable if there are enough demand.
If you look at the size of the expansion modules, the USB-C one could easily be expanded to support the new USB ethernet adapters. It's basically a double-wide USB-C slot, one regular slot and the expansion part for ethernet.
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...and no ExpressCard slot.
From wikipedia: "Ever since PCMCIA disbanded in 2009, newer laptops from 2010 on more commonly do not include ExpressCard slots except for some business-oriented models (e.g. some Lenovo models use it for supporting a smart card reader).[25] For WWAN connectivity cards, either mini-PCIe slots or USB connected variants have become the preferred connection methods."
Oh, and the ExpressCard slot of for a FireWire card, as I've not found a working USB->FireWire adaptor yet.
So learn how to computer? (Hint: Stop using the drivers provided by the device manufacturer. The ones that come with the OS are written by the en
Wait...what? (Score:2)
People buy laptops without easily replaceable batteries? That sounds more like a tablet than a laptop.
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Many are still easily replaceable though most hotswap batteries went the day of the dodo before the 2020s.
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Could be nice for industrial control interfaces and similar.
This is great news, (Score:3)
and I hope it's successful and starts a trend.
In this particular case, I wish they offered a Trackpoint option, or at least had real buttons for the touchpad. I don't like touchpads at all; in general the bigger they are the more annoying I find them, and having the button action as part of the pad itself truly sucks. I've actually done a fair amount of CAD work with a Trackpoint, drawing schematics and designing PCB's. I wouldn't even attempt it with a touchpad.
Neat but Thinkpads still exist... (Score:2)
I appreciate what they are trying to do, however I can't tell easily on their website if they are publishing their hardware specs, board layouts and the like and if not that makes Framework the sole source for these parts. For a niche company that tends to spell trouble years into the future but I hope to be wrong on that.
That said refurbed Thinkpads are always abound in the market and those of all but the cheapest models tend to to have replaceable parts for the things you would want (RAM, SSD, battery) a
Re:Neat but Thinkpads still exist... (Score:5, Informative)
Add cam/microphone/network (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Add cam/microphone/network (Score:5, Informative)
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Thanks. I was sceptical when I saw the headline, but your comments have sold it to me as something that I'd like to own.
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disable the Intel Management Engine and they have a new customer (me).
If they include a real life unicorn I'll buy one too. Is suspect my requirement will be easier to meet than yours.
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The way I understand it is they only partially disable IME, and many core components of IME are necessary for a functioning CPU. But if that's what you were going for then yes they exist.
Re:Add cam/microphone/network (Score:4, Informative)
Correct. Disabling IME results in a very limited machine - basically one not suitable for a laptop because your battery would only get you to the next outlet.
IME controls things like DVFS (dynamic voltage and frequency scaling) and the power rails and regulators for the CPU. This is required because a modern chip has very complex power and clock requirements and managing the relationships between them is complex. Additionally, you can't do it on the main processor as the processor has to be halted briefly (clock stopped) while these changes happen to avoid an upset. So the IME processor sequences through the necessary steps in order to do this.
If you want to enable other modes like sleep and hibernate, you often need the help of IME as well to help preserve the CPU contents.
I believe the NSA actually does have IME disabled, but their use case is probably quite particular and they don't mind that their computers are either on or off - you turn off the computer at the end of the day, and lock up the hard drive.
Everyone else just has the management features disabled, but IME is still managing the CPU power and clock
And no, it's not unusual. even smartphone chips have a secondary CPU doing the power management going all the way back to early days - 2003 maybe? I still remember when it was basic enough that you had program a basic sequencer with instructions to perform the switch then ran a special instruction to halt the CPU while it executed the change.
IBM had some impressive chips - I think IBM had the PowerPC 405LP, which was so frequency agile, it could switch voltages and frequencies in under a clock cycle. It would basically go from 400MHz down to 32kHz (32768Hz, to be exact) the instant the OS entered the idle loop, then when it exited the idle loop, it would jump back to full speed.
Shit website (Score:2)
no high-res pics? no detailed technical data? this is basically apple.com reskinned for a new product. Not a good way to sell laptops
Reading the slashdot story made me think I'd want to buy one of these, going to the website was very disappointing
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I hadn't even entered a change yet....
ThinkPad T430 (Score:2)
I still use a ThinkPad T430. With a simple screwdriver you can fix/replace/upgrade: Battery, CPU, fan, Memory, Keyboard, CD/HD/2nd Battery, WiFi, BT, WWAN, HD/SSD. Ok, so the screen is not easy to replace and it's not a modular system but the laptop and parts are cheap.
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Sounds familiar. Was that from the ThinkPad series with a desktop CPU? I had one of those, but it wasn't that impressive. The basic idea at the time was to use more inexpensive commodity parts to reduce the price, which also called for more standard connectors than other machines. Also made my machine quite big and clunky. Pretty sure it's still around here somewhere. Can't recall what killed it, but I didn't feel that particular machine was particularly reliable or repairable.
In related news, I have two ma
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I have a T430, but the biggest problem is you get an 1802 error if you try to upgrade the WiFi to anything newer than an 802.11n card.
Is this open hardware? (Score:2)
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It's an x86 processor made in the past few years so it can't be open hardware. Unless you define open hardware by still requiring closed blobs from Intel for the firmware and hardware docs only available under NDA to the blessed few.
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Do phones next please (Score:3)
Give me a phone with a replaceable battery, 3.5mm audio jack, SD card slot, upgradable motherboard, upgradable memory, FLASH, CPU, GPU, replaceable display, etc. And FFS, please assemble it using SCREWS, not double stick tape. Basically, make a chassis standard, like ATX for PCs, but for mobile phones.
Thats a good first step (Score:2)
I want a couple of different items (Score:3)
First, I don't want an Intel CPU. I want AMD. But given it's modular there ought to be no reason there can't be both options in the lineup at some point.
Second, I'd like the option to get a very large case that can accommodate a full size keyboard and ludicrously big batteries. I want an afterthought-sized trackpad on top of the keyboard, too, for times when it's not convenient to plug in a mouse but I absolutely must do some pointing.
more in the landfill (Score:3)
This seems well-meaning, but will it just result in more waste ? I mean the modular laptop must have more connectors, more packaging around components, more fasteners etc. If you took 1000 of these laptops and tracked them against 1000 similar spec totally integrated "conventional" laptops, how much landfill use is there for each set say, 5 years from now ? Even counting replacements for some of the conventional laptops.
I'm sure they cost more, what if a $10 fee was tacked on to every "conventional" laptop without a user-replaceable battery, could that money raised do more to mitigate e-waste ?
it just seems like there might be better ways to skin this cat, or are these laptops intended for a different market than the US ?
Re:more in the landfill (Score:5, Informative)
There are actually a few studies on this. Fairphone commissioned a Lifecycle Analysis for their Fairphone 3 that specifically digs into the environmental impact of a more repairable product that can last longer vs a more integrated path that doesn't last as long: https://www.fairphone.com/wp-c... [fairphone.com]
There is a similar study around longevity for secondhand notebooks: https://www.sciencedirect.com/... [sciencedirect.com]
The summary is that by far and away, the best way to reduce the environmental impact of electronics products is to make them last longer. The impact of additional internal connectors is vanishingly small compared to the benefit of enabling silicon and other more environmentally impactful parts to last longer.
Even my phone has a removable battery (Score:3)
It was simple: I completely refused to even look at ones that do not. Customers are doing this to themselves.
Be interesting to see (Score:2)
Be interesting to see if they ship more than 10,000. ISTM that the laptop market now divides into 5% workstation-capable, which are large,heavy, but mostly repairable already, and 95% ultra-light/ultra-slim. The latter are probably never going to be as repairable as the systems of yore due to the conflict among light weight, slimness, and battery life which requires very tight integration. Much as I think the traditional {reasonably powerful, reasonably heavy, good size screen} laptop is still a very usefu
Where is it made? (Score:2)
I didn't see that one on the website. What's the country of origin?
Love the idea, but I think the swappable connectors could have been internal for durability. I don't think those swappable pods will age well.
my two bits (Score:5, Interesting)
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They already do this. Don't buy one of the 3 pre-configured "bundles", pick the option to configure your own, and choose "no os".
Would buy this on principle alone for Linux (Score:3)
I hope they start shipping outside of the continental US.
Er, what? (Score:1)
"Are you old enough to remember when laptops had removable batteries?" asks CNET.
You mean, like, every single laptop used in our company? Currently?
I guess the answer is "Yes" then.
Yes i remember like 5 years. (Score:2)
5y ago i got a laptop with removable batteries. Those asus rogs were kind of a pita to get mobo out of though.
But its not like its that hard to get the battery out of my current one either, which is a good thing because its a frigging flatpack and you know what happens with those.
This is a good idea (Score:1)