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The new and upgraded Framework Laptop

(community.frame.work)
1680 points etbusch | 4 comments | 19 May 22 12:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.004s | source
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sryie ◴[19 May 22 14:02 UTC] No.31434782[source]▶
I recently received my first framework laptop after being a loyal Thinkpad user for years. I am loving it so far. I run Ubuntu 22.04 daily and have not had any issues with battery life or the lid (but I do typically leave it plugged in during lunch and overnight). The expansion cards are brilliant and the keyboard is comparable to my old t-series. The aspect ratio is great for coding and I'm happy to see upgradeability is being taken seriously as promised. If I can get 5-10 years out of it like my old ThinkPads (all while upgrading piecewise along the way) I will be a fan for life.
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Goronmon ◴[19 May 22 14:10 UTC] No.31434877[source]▶
I recently received my first framework laptop after being a loyal Thinkpad user for years.

I get excited about different laptops occasionally...and then I remember that I won't have a trackpoint if I switch to a different brand, and I get disappointed. Literally happens every few months.

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pedrocr ◴[19 May 22 14:48 UTC] No.31435374[source]▶
Yep, same here. And with increasing urgency as Thinkpad quality control seems to have fallen off a cliff. Framework seems uniquely positioned to fix this though. Someone just needs to do a compatible top cover that takes Thinkpad keyboards. I'd take a stupid one without touchpad at all as I just disable it anyway. That shouldn't be too hard, it's mostly getting the plastic right and adapting the connector to the motherboard.
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csdvrx ◴[19 May 22 16:25 UTC] No.31436698[source]▶
> Yep, same here. And with increasing urgency as Thinkpad quality control seems to have fallen off a cliff.

Not really, they are among the rare laptops to still offer S3 for Linux.

And the X1 Fold is a technical marvel (working on Linux support right now, if I'm successful it may become my next toy device to try to use Linux on as a daily driver)

> Framework seems uniquely positioned to fix this though. Someone just needs to do a compatible top cover that takes Thinkpad keyboards.

This. I will buy one as soon as they make a thinkpad like keyboard [+] or the possibly to disassemble and mount a genuine Thinkpad keyboard.

+ : A keyboard qualifies as a "thinkpad keyboard" if has all of the following:

- PageUp above Left, PageDown above Right: to me, that's the most important thing ever!

- PrintScreen between right Alt and right Ctrl: very important too

- Delete above Backspace

- A trackpoint between the {G,H,B} keys with 3 buttons below the Spacebar: I'm not a trackpoint fanatic but I appreciate the precision it offers when I need it, and badly felt its absence when I tried a macbook (no, can't do!)

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1. pedrocr ◴[19 May 22 17:39 UTC] No.31437715[source]▶
> Not really, they are among the rare laptops to still offer S3 for Linux.

The features are great but my complaint was about quality control. My T460s has had every single part but the chassis replaced, some multiple times, and still failed. A new T14s had to have the keyboard replaced because it randomly missed keystrokes. It then started having the screen randomly start flickering after resume. A new X1, top of the line 4K spec, has the internal screen randomly lose sync. The days of Thinkpads as dependable machines seem gone.

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2. csdvrx ◴[19 May 22 18:01 UTC] No.31438020[source]▶
> A new X1, top of the line 4K spec, has the internal screen randomly lose sync. The days of Thinkpads as dependable machines seem gone.

I believe it's all due to the large hardware and firmware changes.

Take for example USB-C: we don't know yet how to make study ports. My X1 had its motherboard replaced due to a dead port.

Or look at ACPI S0ix: it's only since last year that it's become comparable to S3 in power consumption (and S3 is no longer officially supported since Intel 11th gen)

The keyboard too changed: the layout is the same as the xx30 series, but there's less travel.

Likewise, the screens are now 2k or 4k with thinner bezels, and intel HUD ("Xe graphic") is quite different from the previous generations: even if it's handled by the same i915 driver on Linux, GUC/HUC are more important, and disabling PSR no longer makes sense.

Change is constant, but I believe pre pandemic and post pandemic Thinkpads are very different beasts.

3. loosescrews ◴[19 May 22 21:58 UTC] No.31440689[source]▶
I have had similar experiences with the X1 Extreme. The biggest issue I have had is that the repair process almost always breaks something new. The first one spent so much time getting repaired that I actually bought a second one so that I could at least have one functional laptop. The second one is a newer generation, but the quality issues are similar.
4. bitwize ◴[19 May 22 22:20 UTC] No.31440897[source]▶
The sense I'm getting is that my 2014 T450s was one of the last few "acceptable" ThinkPads.

If I need a new laptop, it will be a Framework.