Framework allows replacing and upgrading screens as the core feature. But for Chad ThinkPad this is a great achievement: “Even the screen is upgradeable with some tricks”.
TrackPoint
Did you mean: clit mouse?
There IS one of these for everything, eh?
Yep :3
Oh, that’s what that nipple is called!
As my biology teacher used to say, “the only intuitive interface is the nipple; everything else is learned”.
Lenovo won’t make any nice, repariable thinkpads any time in the near future. Framework is the best we have.
They’d arguably stopped some time ago. I have a Thinkpad T490s, and a fair chunk of that isn’t upgradeable without swapping a fair bit of the body.
The keyboard, for example, is a permanent part of the chassis. Replacing out requires you to swap the entire shell out.
The Ethernet port is some proprietary gubbins, because Lenovo wanted to be funny, and use the same protocols and pinouts as regular Ethernet, but used a special physical connector.
Half the RAM is also permanently soldered into the motherboard as well, so you can’t properly upgrade that either.
There are better linux laptops for less. No need to send tour money to the US.
The price was never the reason to buy a framework in the first place. None of the cheaper alternatuves are as performant and as repairable
Laptops for consumers have never been good, the reason thinkpads are reliable are because they are sold to businesses (with extensive service warranties)
P16 Gen 3 comes closer to that
No mention of virgin keyboard backlight vs chad overhead ThinkLight?
Tbh the T470/80 seems to be one of the last real Thiccpad series.
I had one in my backpack and slipped on ice, fell straight on my back. Laptop didnt have any issues
T480 still has dual batteries and is plenty repairable / mod-able, thick / tough enough.
Ok. I had a t495 and that thing is just crap. Nice keyboard but it broke fast
Fair enough.
Do they have a version with the Ctrl key in the lower left corner where it belongs?
on mine you can switch it in the firmware
Pretty sure that’s all of them.
classic thinkpad W
The T14’s trackpoint created a pressure spot on my screen simply from being closed. I traveled with it only a handful of times, and when I did, I had it in a light bag with hardly anything else in it. Yes, I need a laptop carry case, but regardless, this really should not be an issue.
I’ve since put a felt pad between my screen and keyboard for when I close it, but that should not be something I have to do with a $1200 laptop.
Otherwise, it’s been great.
I got an upgraded L440, judging from your context, you got a ThinPad, which are not as good as the older ThiccPads, of which the L440 is a part of.
I would’ve liked to have gotten one of the bulkier ones, and if I had foreseen this being an issue, I would’ve waited.
Last time I checked for the price of a Framework I would be able to buy 2 comparable Slimbooks. I don’t know what sense does it make to buy an upgradable laptop if replacing one after couple of years will cost the same. Is it just about reducing e-waste? I still have to do something with old framework parts and I think reusing an old laptop would be easier.
But why would you be replacing them when you can upgrade?
If the lifetime of the device is twice as long, you already made a profit.
What I’m saying is that if Slimbook costs 1.5k and Framework costs 3k it’s still cheaper for me to buy 2 Slimbooks over 10 years than to buy one Framework and use it for 10 years with an upgrade in the middle. What’s the benefit of upgrading here?
The TPM 2.0 requirement for Windows 11 is artificial however and can be bypassed in the installer.
Stop ruining ThinkPads for me!!!
Microslop has been patching that out over time though
Going to be an interesting thread to follow as someone who wants a Framework for the repairability. And friends recommending it; and honestly in a world where social media is probably flooded with astroturfed comments instead of real experience, and review sites are ones I highly doubt actually touched or bothered with the products, I am gonna trust word of mouth. But I can be convinced into reconsidering (price, performance I can get out of a laptop, and the Hyperland/Omarchy thing).
my general consideration points for purchasing
General points
- Typing this from a MacBook as someone who likes the look and thinness of it a lot, and appreciates the “boring gray color scheme” because neutrals will always go with my outfit.
- I see the interchangeable ports as a bonus.
- Any of them, including the weakest possible take-home configuration for the 12, would be a performance upgrade over my current Linux laptop (HP laptop I got for around $249ish).
- I particularly like the upgradeable storage.
- Would be buying DIY and loading some Linux distro on it.
Model-specific
- 12 inch would be great for me if it were not for the color accuracy and me wanting to use it to do a bit of digital art that involves color. And Linux not supporting the sheet music reader I like. Or having any sheet music reader at all as far as I am aware—dedicated sheet music readers as opposed to just PDF readers tend to have nice features like letting you jump back to a specific page without needing to go in and edit the whole PDF file, and setting up setlists of sheet music you can quickly and easily flick through. But being able to totally replace my iPad and my current Linux laptop would be so nice. Putting one foot out of the Apple ecosystem for principles and “what if they start making more changes I don’t like and I’m stuck,” and consolidating two devices into one.
- 13 inch is better on accuracy but loses the stylus support, so no more art, and having a stylus is really helpful on sheet music annotation for me. Would handle my games better too. Although I don’t really play things requiring great performance, never play multiplayer requiring high ping or kernel-level anticheat, and I have pretty good tolerance for low frames per second, I do have a feeling 12 inch would fail to handle anything but the most super lightweight games.
- 16 inch is a total nonstarter. Too big. I like portability.
I would highly recommend the Framework 13. I’ve had it for a bit more than a year now. The only problem I’ve faced was that the WiFi card was a bit unstable in EndeavourOS. But that was fixed by replacing
wpa_supplicantwithiwd. (I hear that it was only an issue for the AMD version, and that it’s fixed now.) Battery life is fine for me. I limit charging at 70%, and that usually lasts me the whole day.I love how Linux friendly it is. On my last laptop (an HP), it was pretty much impossible to upgrade the BIOS from inside Linux. Now it’s trivial. There’s also good support available when you face issues. (Both from Framework, and community members.) The hardware is pretty nice. I actually like how it’s MacBook-like, because it just looks nice in most settings. It’s portable too, I really hope they don’t make it bulkier like some folks here seem to demand.
I do wish Framework made a model with an optical drive.
