Anyone have a list of changes that they've made to increase battery life? I've got about three hours (with 80% limit in BIOS, which I might get rid of), so I'm sure there's a lot that can be changed.

As much as I love the idea of the @framework laptop, and as much as I want one, I just can't seem to justify it over my current Lenovo T480. Other than a faster/newer processor, I'm not sure that I'd truly get any benefit at this point in time. :sadness:

I'm looking for a docking station for my frame.work laptop running Linux. The big ask is I want to be able to hook up to my big monitor with a 3840x2160 resolution (I think it is 8K?).

Has anyone found one that works with that combination of factors?

I've read a bunch of posts on the frame.work forums and looked at a bunch of docks on Amazon, but haven't found one that gives me confidence it'll work.

...in using my Framework 2.5GbE cards to speed up a large data transfer to 2.5Gb. Got 0.28 instead. 🤭

These aren't the USB-A to USB-C adapters I was looking for. 😂

I know the drivers come in the distro package manager, but, is there a set straight from AMD? Trying to use Brave causes freezes and black screen flashes, which I'm pretty sure is a driver thing.

Neat diagram that I hadn't seen before. I plan to keep this image saved so I can refer to it and make sure I am using adequate ports as I swap cards around.

https://knowledgebase.frame.work/en_us/expansion-card-slot-functionality-on-framework-laptop-16-rkUjGm7cn

After the 3.03b Beta it looks like the release version is out. Good news for people with USB-PD charging issues. My own anecdotal experience: I have a few USB-PD chargers that refused to handshake with with my FW13s including one big Satechi unit. Since the update all are working happily.

Our final assembly factory for Framework Laptop 16 and all of our sub suppliers are now up and running smoothly. We had a few bumps as we ramped, with an early material shortage on the RGB Macropad and product serialization and data systems issues delaying some of the keyboard versions. All of those issues are now resolved, and we’re on our way to utilizing full manufacturing capacity. We’re currently aiming for an approximately 5 day cadence between sending out “preparing your batch” emails from batch to batch, with a goal to speed that up to 4 days as we reach peak factory output. We sent out the email to Batch 4 late last week and plan to send the Batch 5 email this week. We expect to fulfill all Batch 5 and most Batch 6 orders before the end of Q1 and all current pre-orders before the end of Q2. We’ll be updating the timing that appears on your order in your user account to reflect this. We optimize manufacturing throughput by scheduling larger runs of each configuration, which means we will have anywhere from 1 to 4 different batches in the midst of fulfillment at any given time.

We also wanted to provide an update on the the open issues that we shared in earlier emails:

1. Keyboard deflection - We shared an improvement in an earlier email which involves adding five additional rubber pads around the Mainboard to provide additional support to the keyboard. In parallel to our manufacturing partner completing qualification testing on this, we’ve started dogfooding it internally in Framework. If you’re not familiar with “dogfooding”, it comes from the idea of “eating your own dog food”, or making sure you’re testing what you’re making before others do. As we mentioned in the earlier email, once we complete testing, assuming the results are positive we will roll this into new production and share a form for existing Framework Laptop 16 owners to request a kit of pads.
2. Secondary SSD may disappear - AMD has provided us with the necessary BIOS fix, which we’re now testing as part of an overall Framework Laptop 16 BIOS update. Our initial testing on it is positive. Once this BIOS is ready, we’ll share it into the Community first as a Beta release before the final release.
3. Display frozen after smart MUX switching - AMD has shared an updated graphics driver with us that has the fix for this along with some new features and performance improvements. This is also currently in our test process, and it will follow the same release path as the BIOS update.

Thanks again for your patience, and we’re excited to get your Framework Laptop 16 to you (or the rubber pads and software updates if you already have yours).

Has anyone bought some of the components (e.g. a hard drive or RAM) somewhere else instead of buying the full laptop from the frame.work website?

Was is worth it?

Looks like an easy possibility to save a few hundred dollars/euros...

Just curious...

I don’t know much about graphics cards, but the framework laptop seems to offer an “AMD Radeon™ RX 7700S” and stable diffusion requires Linux ROCm.

It’s not completely clear if ROCm runs on AMD Radeon™ RX 7700S, so I was wondering if anyone had any experience with setting it up on framework.

This might be a stupid question but does anyone know:

• if it's possible to directly plug in usb-c cables into the expansion card ports?

The first Framework Laptop 16’s are now in customers’ hands, with more Batch 1 units in transit to those who have received shipment notices. Both our factory and our fulfillment warehouse are now on Lunar New Year holiday, so the next set of units will ship and production will resume on February 15th in Taiwan. That will include the remaining Batch 1 orders along with the first Batch 2 systems. We’ll remain in continuous production from there, with most of our total factory capacity allocated to Framework Laptop 16 manufacturing.

The various modules that make up the range of Framework Laptop 16 configurations are also in ongoing production at our module suppliers. Our keyboard vendor ran into an unexpected component shortage on the RGB Macropad though that delayed the start of production on it. We expedited the missing component from a US distributor to avoid further delays in their China-based supply chain and it arrived just before the keyboard factory shut down for the holiday. Production of RGB Macropad will begin directly when the factory re-opens on February 19th (the New Year holiday in China is longer), after which modules will ship to our factory in Taiwan to be packaged and then to our warehouse to ship as part of laptop orders.

One other update we’d like to share is the deeper research we’ve done on feedback a few press reviewers had on keyboard deflection. We performed additional measurements on multiple units and found that there is some unit to unit variation, but that there is a greater range across the span of a keyboard in areas that could deflect more or less depending on the support structure below it. The target we’ve set is under 0.6mm of deflection when pressed with 400 grams of force, which puts the keyboard on par with the behavior on Framework Laptop 13. You can see a measurement below on one system with the keyboard aligned to the left, with some keys exceeding the 0.6mm limit:

The improvement on this that we’re currently testing is a set of five additional rubber pads in the locations marked in red in the image below. Our initial testing shows that with these in place, regardless of keyboard position, deflection is below the 0.6mm limit with 400 grams of force. Once we can validate that this is the best solution, we’ll roll it into production and ship rubber pad kits to those with existing Framework Laptop 16 units who are interested in receiving it. We’ll share a request form when this is ready.

They posted the first bit of reviews, and seems like people are getting some soon

We’re happy to share that we started our mass production ramp of Framework Laptop 16 this week. We received quantities of the final CPU heatsink (after a brief pause sitting in Taiwan Customs), which was the last gating item for getting the manufacturing line moving. Lunar New Year means that both our factory and our fulfillment warehouse will be closed from Feb 8th through Feb 14th, so we’re working on producing and fulfilling as many units as we can ahead of that. For those of you in Batch 1, we’re also sending out the Batch 1 preparation email tomorrow. We’ll be sequencing through the remaining batches as quickly as we can. We’ll continue on additional update emails to keep each of you who have pending pre-orders up to date on production, though we may not stick to the two week email cadence now that we’re up and running.

You’ve probably also seen press reviews go live earlier this week. We flagged in the last email that press units came from an earlier build with some issues that we’ve since fixed. We wanted to share the full set of changes and improvements we’ve made for all customer units for your reference:

1. High frequency noise from Mainboard - We identified an incorrect capacitor value that results in a high pitched noise during high load while using a 28V or 36V power adapter. This is resolved on customer units.
2. Buzzing noise from Graphics Module - We identified a scenario where the inductors on the Graphics Module can buzz under high variations in load. We’ve updated the Graphics Module inductor assembly on customer units to resolve this.
3. CPU thermal module performance - Our thermal module supplier improved their vapor chamber soldering process, which reduced thermal resistance. While this was only intended to improve manufacturing yield, it actually ended up improving thermal performance too. All press units passed the same pass/fail criteria that we use for CPU performance on customer units though, so we consider press unit CPU benchmarking to be a fair representation of what customers will receive.
4. Liquid metal barrier adjustments - We made some adjustments to the liquid metal application process to prevent any leakage risk on customer units.
5. Cold GPU performance - For GPU benchmarks, on a cold first run the scores may have been lower than subsequent warm runs. We resolved this through a BIOS update that we provided to reviewers partway through the review cycle. Some reviewers may have benchmarked ahead of that time. We know that LTT was on the newer BIOS in their benchmarking.
6. DPC_Watchdog_Violation blue screen - There was a system stability issue that occurred primarily when scrolling the touchpad that could result in a blue screen. This was an issue that The Verge ran into, and we’ve since resolved it in the BIOS that is on customer systems.
7. Speaker attenuated on left or right channel - There was a bug in the smart amp DSP driver in which the left or right channel may be attenuated at certain times. We saw a reviewer specifically call out that audio sounded shifted. We found the root cause of this and resolved it in the driver on customer systems.
8. Touchpad Module sliding friction - The mechanical structure that the Touchpad Module slides into is slightly deformed on some press units, resulting in higher sliding friction. This is resolved on customer systems.
9. Display alignment - On some press units, the display was slightly misaligned in a way that resulted in the bezel covering the edge of the active area. We bypassed screening for this during press unit manufacturing, but are checking for this during production of all customer units.
10. Display color gamut - In the Windows OS image that was on press units, we did not have the color profile necessary for wide color gamut. We have since added this in the Driver Bundle. Note that the initial batches of pre-built systems also have a Windows image that will not have the color profile pre-loaded, but installing the Driver Bundle loads it.
11. Minor fit and finish in the Input Modules - There are some mechanical refinements in customer systems that improve the alignment of the pins in the Mid Plate to the holes in the Input Modules, as well as reduce visible gaps along the top edges of Spacer Modules. There are also minor improvements in the flatness of the Touchpad Module and Touchpad Spacers in customer systems. 

There are also a few issues that we are still tracking, but which we aren’t holding production for: 

1. Keyboard deflection - We’ve seen largely positive feedback on the input deck feel, but also specifically saw LTT’s video in which they flagged keyboard deflection and the workaround they applied. We’re investigating whether there could have been either an issue on that unit or a scenario that can result in the mid plate not being flat. In either case, if we find that there is an improvement we can apply on this, we will do so and ship out any parts necessary for that to customers whose units have already shipped.
2. Secondary SSD may disappear - We found that the secondary SSD (the M.2 2230 SSD) may not be visible on some boots or may rarely disappear during sleep. We’ve debugged this issue with AMD, who have traced it back to a bug in the platform firmware. They are releasing the fix to us, which we will include in a BIOS update. We’ll share BIOS updaters for Windows and Linux when this is ready, as well as roll the BIOS into the factory for new system production.
3. Display frozen after smart MUX switching - We’ve seen instances where after closing a graphics-heavy application, the display will freeze as the display switches from the discrete GPU to integrated graphics on the APU. AMD has root caused this issue, and is preparing a driver update that resolves it. We believe there are reviewers who have also seen this issue, potentially including The Verge. Once AMD provides us the driver, we’ll package it up as part of a Driver Bundle.

We’ll keep you up to date as we go.

Again, the best part first:

We’re happy to share that we’ve started mass production manufacturing this week, with the first units leaving the factory before the end of January. These will go directly to our fulfillment warehouse in Taiwan and then out to Batch 1 customers. Pre-orders are still open, and we expect to fulfill all current batches before the end of the first half of this year.

Full email below:

The first press reviews of Framework Laptop 16 are now live. Check out some of the early feedback:

"Framework 16 truly feels like someone brought my personal hardware wishlist to reality. I’m not only impressed by the extreme modularity, but also the thought and care put into this premium feeling device."

– iFixit

"The other new party trick, the bespoke upgradeable removable AMD graphics card is so sick."

– Alex Clark, Linus Tech Tips

"Framework has built on top of something incredible and seems to be the only company that has managed to make modular laptops actually work."

– Joel Loynds, Dexerto

"I was blown away by the additional customizability available with this 16-inch laptop thanks to the larger form factor while the motherboard, I/O ports, and other upgradeable options with prior Framework Laptops remain available."

– Michael Larabel, Phoronix

"I was surprised to find that while this laptop looks big it feels surprisingly light in my hands."

– Alex Wawro, Tom’s Guide

This is the largest batch of review units we’ve ever shipped, and we expect more reviews to trickle in over the next week. For context on our press units, many companies ramp into production, manufacture a large quantity to fill retail channels, and cherry pick some golden units from that as review samples. For us, because we’re entirely direct to consumer, our ramp is extremely fast, and units go to customer hands immediately. That means to get press units out weeks ahead of time to provide a sufficiently long review period, we send out production-intent qualification units. The “intent” part of that is that these are usually functionally identical to what ships to consumers.

With Framework Laptop 16 though, the product is complex enough that we identified issues during manufacturing qualification that we’ve since fixed. Changes and improvements we’ve made on all customer systems include resolving some instances of audible electrical noise in the Mainboard and the Graphics Module, reducing sliding friction on the Touchpad Module, optimizing the thermal resistance of the CPU heatsink, making improvements to the liquid metal application process, fixing a couple of instances where a firmware bug could result in a blue screen on Windows, resolving an issue where the left or right speaker channel could be attenuated in Windows, improving the fan control algorithm on the Graphics Module, and a number of smaller fit and finish refinements related to the Bezel and Input Modules. In retrospect, we would have loved to get these improvements into the units we sent to reviewers, but it's most important that our customers have a system that works smoothly.

Framework Laptop 16 has the largest set of pre-orders we’ve ever had on a product, and we doubled our factory capacity in the second half of 2023 in preparation to work through this as quickly as possible. We’re happy to share that we’ve started mass production manufacturing this week, with the first units leaving the factory before the end of January. These will go directly to our fulfillment warehouse in Taiwan and then out to Batch 1 customers. Pre-orders are still open, and we expect to fulfill all current batches before the end of the first half of this year.

###Framework Laptop 16 resources Whether or not you’ve ordered a Framework Laptop 16, you can now also get your eyes on the setup guides and documentation around the product. We’ve launched a centralized resources page that has links out to all the information and tools you need. This includes beta web and desktop utilities for Windows and Linux for configuring Input Modules like the LED Matrix. We’re trying something new with our step-by-step Quick Start guides as well. Since many of the modular interfaces on Framework Laptop 16 are pretty novel (for example, the hot swappable input devices), the guides have short videos for each step alongside the written instructions. Let us know what you think!

For the German keyboard layout FW decided to keep the English name ctrl on the left, which would be fine, if they hadn't translated the right ctrl key....

If you recently placed an order, check your email.

Good on them for coming clean so quick.