One thing I’ve wondered about the FW is if it will look pretty much exactly the same 3, 5 or even 10 years down the line.
Not that I think theres anything wrong with the design (its just about perfect), but I wonder if FW will release a “new version” that isn’t fully swappable with the old version.
My guess would be they release a new “shell” that may or may not be compatible with the old motherboard, maybe smaller bezels, or whatever new thing is popular at the time. Maybe they just decide to release a very similar shell, but that is made from new materials with some minor changes that make things so that they arent fully backwards-compatible.
I think they’ll release updated boards for the old gen for maybe 2 generations before only making new board for the "new"design.
Im predicting this will happen in around 3-4 generations from now.
What do you think?
Eventually? Yes.
Soon? No.Keep this in mine from the Framework ‘About’ page:
Even better, what we’ve done to enable repair also opens up upgradeability and customization. This lets you get exactly the product you need and extends usable lifetime too.
Repairability and upgradeability are central to who they are as a company. Changing the case design from FW13 to FW13.2 breaks that.
I’d imagine their case designs were created with some attempt to look forward and not design themselves into a corner. At the same time, things evolve and at some point a very compelling reason for a case design change may come along. But I cannot envision this company undertaking a redesign lightly.
I’ve thought about this a lot before buying my AMD framework. The design is fairly dated now. It’s not as thin or light as I’d like to see in a late 2023 laptop but to me that’s acceptable for the flexibility of the expansion cards and only having to carry two extra cards (Ethernet and HDMI).
But I would assume after the 16 is in production and released to the public then a redesign of the 13 will be on the cards. I would also assume they will keep the same motherboard design. Which ultimately is the point of framework, to reduce ewaste. Probably keep as many parts as possible from the existing model and offer the new chassis to existing customers?
I agree I dont have many gripes with the current chassis. I still use my T480s, which is big and heavy compared to todays thin and lights - but its completely fine for me - and if I could keep upgrading that laptop I would.
I think my biggest gripe with FW at the moment is it just kind of looks cheap. I havent felt it, so I cant comment, but im a snob about build materials and keyboard, so I havent decided to spend the money on a FW yet.
If they came out with an “upgraded” chassis that makes the old one look like a toy Id get one for sure.
For now im waiting untuil I can get one used for cheap.
Unless there’s any major pain point with the current design, they will keep it. I could see them making a shell that has more slots for expansion cards, and make it so that future mobos could take advantage of that, or just have some.inaccessible slots if stuck into an OG shell.
Nobody’s gonna read this but I think that if the ARM revolution happens, and they figure out a way to keep the same chassis and everything, then it’ll never change
Perhaps they release a new version that’s compatible with the old motherboard
I imagine they’ll keep the mainboard form factor around for as long as possible. It’s pretty neat to think eventually they’ll redesign the chasis and we can just plop our main boards into the new design. Basically like moving your PC components to a new case!