Framework Laptop Launches Chromebook Edition With Google

[rayfoss]

Who exactly would this appeal to? Buying a Chromebook is like buying a Honda Civic - it's meant for people who don't care what it is, they just want something that can reliably and cheaply get them from point A to point B. Framework is kinda an enthusiasts' platform.
But whatever - I'm sure Framework is getting some extra funding from this so fine by me.

It's more like a Tesla. This has an i5-1140P, which is fairly high performance. It supports 2.5GbE. It's upgradable to 32GB of RAM. It can easily run GUI Linux apps like Blender, GIMP and Davinci Resolve out of the box, on Wayland, with SystemD. WSL2 can't touch this, MacOS has no answer to this. You can do this on Linux, but getting everything running on cutting edge hardware takes hours if not days... compared to minutes on high end Chromebooks. You can easily run viruses with root access on your main file system where you do your work, and still have a secure browser.

This is a dream come true for Linux, they are not the enemy.

[dragorth]

I thought the beauty of the Framework laptop design was how upgradable it was? Don't they themselves offer an upgrade motherboard? Have they released spec for that? If so, couldn't any manufacturer make a motherboard that fits that standard? So you don't have to rely on Framework to do it for you.

[microcode]

Who exactly would this appeal to? Buying a Chromebook is like buying a Honda Civic - it's meant for people who don't care what it is, they just want something that can reliably and cheaply get them from point A to point B. Framework is kinda an enthusiasts' platform.
But whatever - I'm sure Framework is getting some extra funding from this so fine by me.

A Honda Civic is repairable. Framework is not an "enthusiasts' platform", it's a laptop that is user/owner serviceable. These would be fantastic as service-friendly Chromebooks in institutional deployments.

[microcode]

I thought the beauty of the Framework laptop design was how upgradable it was? Don't they themselves offer an upgrade motherboard? Have they released spec for that? If so, couldn't any manufacturer make a motherboard that fits that standard? So you don't have to rely on Framework to do it for you.

Chromebooks ask for some bespoke hardware that does not make sense to include on the mainstream motherboards, so they can't "just" offer their other boards as upgrades, because those boards lack the Titan chip, and the firmware is configured differently from the factory. Of course, most of the board is identical I'm sure, and the embedded controller is identical I think, but it's still different enough that it's a different product. Far as I'm aware, you still have both memory slots, the same user-swappable storage and wireless modem, etc.

[rabcor]

Oh come on.. it's been a little bit more than a year since they released the laptop. You really expected them to start offering a variety of different models so quickly? They're not an established laptop maker with a budget to be able to do that. First they need that concentrate to make this laptop a success - for example expand to other countries. After that I'm sure new models will come... if they are successful.

Even better, what we’ve done to enable repair also opens up upgradeability and customization. This lets you get exactly the product you need and extends usable lifetime too.

Well that's just wrong, there's an exact laptop specification that I need, a 17" laptop with a 6800U and 32GB of LPDDR5@6400Mhz (<- this laptop doesn't exist, u can't even get a 6800u in a 17" laptop, much less one with 32gb of LPDDR5; which needs to be soldered to the board for you to actually have it; I'm not even asking for that much, a certain cpu in a certain laptop size with a certain type of ram, but no manufacturer provides this although most of them at least offer me the right cpu in some of their models, framework does not, has no laptop of the size I want either, I won't bash them for not offering the ram though, it's a bit counter to their philosophy and a sacrifice I'd probably even be willing to make if i could get the rest) and I cannot customize framework to be that specification. Hell, you can't even get the bloody thing in different colors (bezel was the best they could offer? Really?)

They advertise repairability and upgradeability, what they have is repairability and some modularity for I/O stuff but no real upgradeability beyond any other laptops, u can't swap out your motherboard or cpu, you can't call it upgradeable unless you can swap out the major components like you can on any desktop.

If they wanted to make a successful laptop they wouldn't have made it 3:2 aspect ratio, they would have avoided such a super niche feature on their first product. From what I've seen it seems like most people who are buying their laptop are buying them in the hopes of them making better laptops actually worth buying later, their first laptop is a miss, they fucked up (I mean 3:2... couldn't it have at least been something sane like 16:10, or 16:9 like most people will want to have because all media is adapted for 16:9 these days?), and it's on them. They picked some weird aspect rtio for their screen for no discernable reason and do not offer any alternatives, how many people do you htink would have bought their laptop but hesitated due to the weird as screen proportions that are pretty much unique to just their laptops? I'm guessing quite a lot.

They wanted to make a laptop that was different, and they did, it was just different in the wrong ways as much as it was different in the right ways.

They've had a year to correct this, they haven't. As sad as it is for us all, I don't think Framework's gonna be our lord and savior for upgradeable laptops, I mean I hope they prove me wrong, truly i do, but besides repairabilty, they're not offering anything really compelling. What they make they make very well, but it's been a year and what we get is the same model but as a chromebook? That sounds to me like dying throes more than like a company on the way up.

All I really want is for framework to live up to their stated goals, but it looks to me like they're barely trying. They've made an impressive laptop, it's just not as upgradeable or customizable as they imply, it's not really much more upgradeable or customizable than any other laptop in any meaningful way, and that's disappointing, I'm not gonna pretend to be excited aobut a laptop that is only philosophically speaking what I'm looking for.

[tunnelblick]

They advertise repairability and upgradeability, what they have is repairability and some modularity for I/O stuff but no real upgradeability beyond any other laptops, u can't swap out your motherboard or cpu, you can't call it upgradeable unless you can swap out the major components like you can on any desktop.

??? https://frame.work/products/12-gen-i...v=FRUPGRDKIT01 <- This is literally an *upgrade* kit. This is as much as a laptop can provide and more than most others do.
There is also https://www.techradar.com/news/intel...e-much-cheaper but laptops with that are also very rare and expensive.
Sorry but this sounds uninformed from your side.

[dlq84]

Honestly i'm a bit disappoitned with framework, their laptop is right to repair friendly, and some parts of it are modular like usb ports and whatnot, but it's missing the really important things....

You can't get a bigger or smaller modle as you need, you cna't select a motherboard or processor either, there's just one motherboard and a few processors available, if you want AMD then too bad, if you want a 17" laptop then too bad, if you want a normal 15" laptop too bad, if you want a normal 16:9 screen instead of 4:3, too bad.

The right to repair friendliness is great, but these laptops have literally nothing else going for them, being able to more easily swap out your wifi card or add in an sd card reader or whatever is nice, but they're not truly important like the CPU or Screen size, of which they offer practiclaly no variety. Not to mention dGPU...

I was hoping that with time framework would start offering real variety for core components like that, but it seems like they just have no plans at all for that at this rate.

I'm sure they will do that with time, and money.

[tunnelblick]

I'm sure they will do that with time, and money.

It was a test balloon for them. You cannot start into the market with so much variability, it does not make sense and is a guaranteed failure if you offer so many choices. They are not Dell. In the end it is okay if the Framework isn't for you (ie. rabcor) - just continue to buy from the other vendors that offer no repair options to users at all.

[kylew77]

Given that most Chromebooks have soldered RAM AND storage (a few have user replaceable storage) this is great! Price is about double what I would expect but all in all a nice Linux laptop. I just hope Framework's warranty is better than Lenovo on their ThinkPads. Strip out an M.2 screw and they won't replace it for free for you. For Fs sake!! What good is a warranty if it just covers Windows OS and software, I couldn't care less about Windows, I'm gonna be running different *BSDs on the ThinkPad!

[Sonadow]

Framework has no use to me as long as they don't offer boards with Gemini Lake, Jasper Lake or Elkhart Lake processors.