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Yes, I remember being particularly disappointed when Google's Project Ara [1] to create a modular mobile phone was shelved. It seemed like a fantastic idea, and

Yes, I remember being particularly disappointed when Google's Project Ara [1] to create a modular mobile phone was shelved. It seemed like a fantastic idea, and I truly thought that Alphabet/Google had the cash/clout - and will - to deliver. Still, I haven't lost my optimism just yet. As you say, good luck to Framework with the laptop project. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Ara https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Ara

kilroy123 6y ago
I too wanted to see this work, but I was skeptical. Maybe it's just too ahead of its time?
robotnikman 6y ago
I feel like building a modular laptop is much easier than a modular phone. You don't have to deal with the hardware enumeration problems on x86 as you do with ARM Already many laptops you can easily swap parts like the HDD/SSD, Battery and RAM, and even the GPU (to an extent) if its using a standard like MXM. Building a laptop with more modular parts using existing standards (looks like from the images the modular parts are using USB C Thunderbolt?) is much more doable than a modular phone.
- baybal2 6y ago
  Yep, designing custom ssd, gpu, ram pcbs will be of course more expensive, and take time. USB 3, and Thunderbolt are also complete disasters power consumption wise, not to say that Type-C, and Thunderbolt chips cost arm, and a leg.
- pimeys 6y ago
  It wasn't that long ago when manufacturers like Dell and Lenovo had models where you could basically replace almost everything. I guess still models like the T14 allows you to replace RAM, SSD, Wi-Fi card, keyboard, touchpad and even the screen. For the older models, even screen replacements are quite common in the ThinkPad community... Good luck for this project though, we really need more companies like this!
  - notagoodidea 6y ago
    On some older Thinkpads, even CPU replacement was on the menu.
    - pimeys 6y ago
      I think the 2012 generation was the last one. T420 at least.
lallysingh 6y ago
They were competing with their partners, that was always going to end poorly. It could only ever be an experiment.
- blacksmith_tb 6y ago
  Hasn't that always been true? Their Pixel 4a kept me from buying a competitor's product.
tpmx 6y ago
Project Ara seemed quite impractical/naive at the time. Myself (and some people I trusted) dismissed it as yet another Google flight of fancy. This thing though, I can kind of see it working. Basically: The pressure to minimize volume + weight is way too high for a mobile phone to become modular. Then add recent requirements like IP68 ratings. In a laptop there's still some breathing room for modularity. And noone expects a laptop to survive an accidental drop into a pool.
estaseuropano 6y ago
See Fairphone!
jkepler 6y ago
There's Fairphone, already two generations of modular phone design. Unfortunately, they're only officially supported in Europe. But if you're in Europe, and want a modular phone, they're where its at.
- Tijdreiziger 6y ago
  And IIRC they have LCD screens... Always-on display is a 'killer app' for me, so that immediately rules out the FP2. (Tangentially related: I don't really understand why Apple doesn't include this feature, even though they use OLED screens.)
xondono 6y ago
I was never very optimistic about Ara. In general, modular electronics is a good idea in paper, but a terrible one in practice. - It comes with quite the price tag, adding connectors everywhere gets expensive fast. - Some interfaces are very tricky to modularize, RAM & CPU are very closely linked, and it’s very hard to protect them from ESD. - Which generally points you to the PC solution, don’t protect it, enclose everything and standardize. There’s also the more “business” part of modular electronics. PC parts are only cheap through massive volume, but building a modular phone requires you to (mostly) build all of your parts. The only way to make it feasible requires more than one device using the same modules, which defeats the uniqueness of the device. Laptops are way more feasible just because that modularization is already on the market, and you don’t need to build your own RAM SODIMMs or SSDs.

kilroy123 6y ago

I too wanted to see this work, but I was skeptical. Maybe it's just too ahead of its time?

robotnikman 6y ago

I feel like building a modular laptop is much easier than a modular phone. You don't have to deal with the hardware enumeration problems on x86 as you do with ARM Already many laptops you can easily swap parts like the HDD/SSD, Battery and RAM, and even the GPU (to an extent) if its using a standard like MXM. Building a laptop with more modular parts using existing standards (looks like from the images the modular parts are using USB C Thunderbolt?) is much more doable than a modular phone.

baybal2 6y ago
Yep, designing custom ssd, gpu, ram pcbs will be of course more expensive, and take time. USB 3, and Thunderbolt are also complete disasters power consumption wise, not to say that Type-C, and Thunderbolt chips cost arm, and a leg.
pimeys 6y ago
It wasn't that long ago when manufacturers like Dell and Lenovo had models where you could basically replace almost everything. I guess still models like the T14 allows you to replace RAM, SSD, Wi-Fi card, keyboard, touchpad and even the screen. For the older models, even screen replacements are quite common in the ThinkPad community... Good luck for this project though, we really need more companies like this!
- notagoodidea 6y ago
  On some older Thinkpads, even CPU replacement was on the menu.
  - pimeys 6y ago
    I think the 2012 generation was the last one. T420 at least.

lallysingh 6y ago

They were competing with their partners, that was always going to end poorly. It could only ever be an experiment.

blacksmith_tb 6y ago
Hasn't that always been true? Their Pixel 4a kept me from buying a competitor's product.

tpmx 6y ago

Project Ara seemed quite impractical/naive at the time. Myself (and some people I trusted) dismissed it as yet another Google flight of fancy. This thing though, I can kind of see it working. Basically: The pressure to minimize volume + weight is way too high for a mobile phone to become modular. Then add recent requirements like IP68 ratings. In a laptop there's still some breathing room for modularity. And noone expects a laptop to survive an accidental drop into a pool.

estaseuropano 6y ago

See Fairphone!

jkepler 6y ago

There's Fairphone, already two generations of modular phone design. Unfortunately, they're only officially supported in Europe. But if you're in Europe, and want a modular phone, they're where its at.

Tijdreiziger 6y ago
And IIRC they have LCD screens... Always-on display is a 'killer app' for me, so that immediately rules out the FP2. (Tangentially related: I don't really understand why Apple doesn't include this feature, even though they use OLED screens.)

xondono 6y ago

I was never very optimistic about Ara. In general, modular electronics is a good idea in paper, but a terrible one in practice. - It comes with quite the price tag, adding connectors everywhere gets expensive fast. - Some interfaces are very tricky to modularize, RAM & CPU are very closely linked, and it’s very hard to protect them from ESD. - Which generally points you to the PC solution, don’t protect it, enclose everything and standardize. There’s also the more “business” part of modular electronics. PC parts are only cheap through massive volume, but building a modular phone requires you to (mostly) build all of your parts. The only way to make it feasible requires more than one device using the same modules, which defeats the uniqueness of the device. Laptops are way more feasible just because that modularization is already on the market, and you don’t need to build your own RAM SODIMMs or SSDs.