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> Too many sub-variant models This is a strength: many parts you can swap (or install later: put that empty WWAN port to a good use!) > a simple BIOS update i
by csdvrx 4y ago
> Too many sub-variant models
This is a strength: many parts you can swap (or install later: put that empty WWAN port to a good use!)
> a simple BIOS update is enough to make or break that experience
In my experience, not with Lenovo, but personally I rarely update the BIOS. In fact, I prefer very old BIOSes, hoping for a bug that'll lead to interesting work or exploits: I don't want say the keyboard microcode holes plugged by marking the flash regions read only: that'd lock me out of exploiting them later, say to alter the keycodes!
> No safety in numbers, no network effect:
This is a very VERY wrong take: thinkpads are what linux hackers use the most, on both end of the spectrum:
When they are brand new, you have highly technical people and companies doing fixes or original work (ex: linaro work on the MHI driver for the LTE/5G chip). That's expensive, and likely outside the reach of Framework.
Then when they're old, you've got students, hobbyist etc who find new ways to teach old dogs new tricks: like motherboard swaps (X62, X210 etc)
The framework is interesting, and 10 years from now, maybe it'll be the right choice. Not now, not in the next 5 years.
It's at best a niche choice for people who don't want to tinker too much, and prefer something "average": you won't get bad surprises, but you won't get good ones either.
I like foldable OLED, nice hardware and all that you won't find in a framework now. Maybe later, which is why I really hope they'll be successful!
- davidy123 4y ago> Then when they're old, you've got students, hobbyist etc who find new ways to teach old dogs new tricks: like motherboard swaps (X62, X210 etc) Yup. I'm going to break a few taboos here and post this: https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/338007901_6072044896165933_3527237163519858246_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=itPZzT_WkDYAX-eBc58&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=00_AfDoyVrPJI9Obicx0Wy1_QDpDU7mSL6FlXj5Xgd6ayI7JA&oe=64296686 https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/338007901...
- mablopoule 4y agoThe window XP. The ricing, the stickers, the business / quirky users, everything is so on point. I'm saving this, thanks you.
- bitwize 4y agoThe programming socks...
- csdvrx 4y agoPlot twist: it's the same person (Top comment from reddit a few days ago)
- bitwize 4y agoTrans, furry, plural... sounds about right. It's missing a Rust crab sticker.
- zamnos 4y ago> Not now, not in the next 5 years. I wonder how long it'll actually take Framework. ThinkPads are built on experience going back to the first one by IBM Japan in 1992 and have certainly evolved through the years. The modularity of the Framework means that they can sell things in batches, so newer hardware becomes available as they make them. The question is how much time/money/effort they'll put into iterating the frame itself. Since they don't have to wait for a generation to elapse, the laptop frame team can just keep iterating as often as they're allowed to. A physical case issue with a gen 1 X1C Thinkpad had to wait until the gen two X1C were ready. The framework just has to wait for a factory to have available capacity and to have the funds to pay for it, decoupling the laptop's frame from the hardware inside of it.
- csdvrx 4y agoI don't see that as a problem of iterations, but scale: Framework just doesn't have the same engineering capacity as Lenovo (at least, not yet). They are bound to make errors, or make suboptimal choices because the optimal ones are costly. It's the same for smaller manufacturers like GPD. > A physical case issue with a gen 1 X1C Thinkpad Physical cases issues with thinkpad are extremely rare. Comparing the framework case to any random X1 thinkpad, I know which one I'd pick without hesitation. > decoupling the laptop's frame from the hardware inside of it That's addressing the wrong problem - and it's nothing special: Framework could have started like the X62 project and offered motherboards for current thinkpads. It would have been less ambitious, more expansive and would've reduce the market size (as paying for a thinkpad + a framework motherboard would be strictly greater than just a thinkpad and making do with say the Thinkpad keyboard if you don't like it) but it would have guaranteed a better results. I sincerely hope they succeed, because more choice is always better, but right now, they'll have to be reinventing the wheel for a while.