4 ms·

What is the likelihood of a 4K (like 3840x2400) screen option appearing anytime in the near future?

nrp 5y ago
We don't have any plans we can share yet, but we did design the display to be easy to replace by putting it behind a magnet-attach bezel and using fasteners to affix it the lid.
- nitsky 5y ago
  Are you considering OLED as well? The Dell XPS has that as an option and it is a serious draw, especially for coders who stare at a mostly-black screen all day.
  - pabs3 5y ago
    I wonder if eink would be feasible.
    - robinsoh 5y ago
      > I wonder if eink would be feasible. It would depend on your meaning. If you mean taking a device like a Dasung or a Onyx and connecting to the laptop and using it as another screen, then sure, that should work fine. If you mean taking out the LCD and popping in a raw eink panel, then no because they have different interfaces. Speaking of which, I don't see any clear specification on frame.work for the LCD connector or power specs. I see they wrote on their blog. " We don’t currently have plans for alternate displays, but we’ve designed the display to be easy to replace and the display connector on the mainboard to be able to support a broader range of possible displays. It’s unlikely we would go lower resolution in this form factor, but I agree there could be an interesting case for a display resolution that works at 2x scaling (at the tradeoff of battery life). " But I couldn't easily find on their website the info for what type of connector and what type of power is delivered to it.
      - nrp 5y ago
        We use a relatively common 40-pin I-PEX connector. We’ll be publishing more detail on it as we have time to.
  - nrp 5y ago
    @pabs3, there is actually a 4:3 13.3" e-ink panel that may be possible to fit, but it would be challenging to interface. On OLED, nothing we can share yet, but there are certainly benefits to OLED panels.
    - geniium 5y ago
      I would buy one just to get the eink screen on a laptop!
    - mlboss 5y ago
      +1 for eink. Maybe something to do with collaboration with Dasung.
    - oreilles 5y ago
      My god, if you can make an e-ink display work it would be an insta-buy for me.
    - rraihansaputra 5y ago
      This might be a bit much, but if you offer an e-ink with the same interface as the laptop, it would be very cool to have an external usb-c case for it. So people can choose which display for their "main" monitor, and have the other one as an external portable monitor.
- Aeolun 5y ago
  I’m curious about these responses. They kind of read like “Yes, but we don’t want to commit to anything right now.”
  - heywherelogingo 5y ago
    Sounds sensible. They're working on it but wouldn't want to have an unexpected obstacle turn into broken promises.
    - nrp 5y ago
      That is right. I’ve answered a few questions in these comments where the answer is basically: It’s technically possible, there is a plausible market need, we think it is worthwhile to do, and we’ve designed for it architecturally, but we can’t commit to a specific date because there are always implementation risks, supplier risks (especially this year), and a large number of programs we have to prioritize between as a small team.
      - silverlake 5y ago
        This is the perfect answer. Paste this into every feature request thread.
      - Aeolun 5y ago
        Haha, yeah, that is exactly the long form of what I expected it meant. Sounds good. Thanks for the answer.
  - ncallaway 5y ago
    No matter how much you qualify an answer: “yes, but it’s extremely early in design, we may not be able to find the right manufacturers so it may not happen at all, but the earliest possible date would be late 2022”, there is a segment of people that will have an expectation that you will deliver the product before 2023 and will be upset if you don’t.

nrp 5y ago

We don't have any plans we can share yet, but we did design the display to be easy to replace by putting it behind a magnet-attach bezel and using fasteners to affix it the lid.

nitsky 5y ago
Are you considering OLED as well? The Dell XPS has that as an option and it is a serious draw, especially for coders who stare at a mostly-black screen all day.
- pabs3 5y ago
  I wonder if eink would be feasible.
  - robinsoh 5y ago
    > I wonder if eink would be feasible. It would depend on your meaning. If you mean taking a device like a Dasung or a Onyx and connecting to the laptop and using it as another screen, then sure, that should work fine. If you mean taking out the LCD and popping in a raw eink panel, then no because they have different interfaces. Speaking of which, I don't see any clear specification on frame.work for the LCD connector or power specs. I see they wrote on their blog. " We don’t currently have plans for alternate displays, but we’ve designed the display to be easy to replace and the display connector on the mainboard to be able to support a broader range of possible displays. It’s unlikely we would go lower resolution in this form factor, but I agree there could be an interesting case for a display resolution that works at 2x scaling (at the tradeoff of battery life). " But I couldn't easily find on their website the info for what type of connector and what type of power is delivered to it.
    - nrp 5y ago
      We use a relatively common 40-pin I-PEX connector. We’ll be publishing more detail on it as we have time to.
- nrp 5y ago
  @pabs3, there is actually a 4:3 13.3" e-ink panel that may be possible to fit, but it would be challenging to interface. On OLED, nothing we can share yet, but there are certainly benefits to OLED panels.
  - geniium 5y ago
    I would buy one just to get the eink screen on a laptop!
  - mlboss 5y ago
    +1 for eink. Maybe something to do with collaboration with Dasung.
  - oreilles 5y ago
    My god, if you can make an e-ink display work it would be an insta-buy for me.
  - rraihansaputra 5y ago
    This might be a bit much, but if you offer an e-ink with the same interface as the laptop, it would be very cool to have an external usb-c case for it. So people can choose which display for their "main" monitor, and have the other one as an external portable monitor.
Aeolun 5y ago
I’m curious about these responses. They kind of read like “Yes, but we don’t want to commit to anything right now.”
- heywherelogingo 5y ago
  Sounds sensible. They're working on it but wouldn't want to have an unexpected obstacle turn into broken promises.
  - nrp 5y ago
    That is right. I’ve answered a few questions in these comments where the answer is basically: It’s technically possible, there is a plausible market need, we think it is worthwhile to do, and we’ve designed for it architecturally, but we can’t commit to a specific date because there are always implementation risks, supplier risks (especially this year), and a large number of programs we have to prioritize between as a small team.
    - silverlake 5y ago
      This is the perfect answer. Paste this into every feature request thread.
    - Aeolun 5y ago
      Haha, yeah, that is exactly the long form of what I expected it meant. Sounds good. Thanks for the answer.
- ncallaway 5y ago
  No matter how much you qualify an answer: “yes, but it’s extremely early in design, we may not be able to find the right manufacturers so it may not happen at all, but the earliest possible date would be late 2022”, there is a segment of people that will have an expectation that you will deliver the product before 2023 and will be upset if you don’t.