The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent
vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums
here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules
document is now in effect.
Laptop Replacement/Suggestions Thread: Bring out yer dead laptops!
Posts
I think it's the kind of thing where you buy an extra so you can plug it in if you need it randomly. It's not like people are usually sticking an ethernet cable into their laptop long term, and if they are you could probably get a mini pc for much cheaper (or a USB C dock).
yeah, I wouldn't buy it as one out of 4, I'd buy it as something to toss in my bag and use on the rare occasion I need it but at that point is it worth spending $50 CAD on the framework one or just having a $12 USB to ethernet adapter from amazon also in my bag.
i'd just go with an adapter, unless there's a speed reason for the module vs usb device.
Framework being 3:2 is actually one of the bigger reasons why I'm probably buying it. I want more vertical pixels, not super widescreen.
For me it generally comes down to weight more than physical size. Just due to their nature, 16" laptops are heavier. After carrying around a sub 3lb laptop going to something 4lbs+ is a big difference/change. I spent enough time lugging a 5 pound dell through airports in the 2008-2013 timeframe that I really value lighter weight more than anything.
Yeah, I went from a corp issued 12-inch, to 14, to a 15.6 corp issue then a personal machine, then back down to a 14. Them 15.6-inch machines (6+ lbs laptop only! Then add on power brick! Mouse! Numpad! Corp-issue mandatory padded laptop shoulder bag for it all!) felt downright heavy on my old bones.
Ultrabooks were godsent when I finally bought into them. My gaming laptop days are over.
I agree though, i’d never go back to the 6lb plus brick models if i had to travel with it. Had an inspiron for school that was 8lbs and with brick was over 10. Lugging that on a conference killed my back haha.
I can carry a laptop, phone, Switch, and the one charger that charges all of them for less weight than my 2010 Dell laptop was, nevermind the power adapter for it.
Which one do you have?
I have this guy. I love it. You can also buy an extension cable for it, and should you require, international adapters. https://slimq.life/products/100w-3c1a-usb-c-charger
Regardless, I only use it for light web work or spreadsheets/word processing when I'm on a family trip. Some light gaming is possible; for example we've played Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes in the past (however I own a Switch and I'm considering a Steam Deck soon).
Ideally, I want to preserve graphics quality while dropping from a 15" to a 14". I think a 13" is too small; based on the 13" I use for work. The Y50 has a glossy screen I like but I'm familiar working with matte screens. I don't know how to convert/manage nits for brightness measurement.
I can upgrade my own RAM and storage, and I have spare M.2 drives in hand.
The big issue for me is brands. I hate HP because I feel they underpower their laptops; and the one I use for work is......serviceable. HP is also horrible about proprietary ports for stuff like charging. Asus has been a bit shitty with their hardware lately. Gigabyte also has issues; so I'm leaning toward MSI or Lenovo.
For the same reasons you guys state, I'd love a USB-C charger.
"Ideally" I want to keep the cost under $500 US, so I'm open to refurb or open box deals.
I did find this, but I want to dig further to see if it's a reasonable deal. I don't know enough about what's under the hood but I'm starting to check.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/285386837539
And I will point out that most thin and light laptops do not have user serviceable ram, it'll be soldered onto the board in a lot of cases, so if you want the ability to upgrade ram you need to triple check that on whatever you want to buy.
I did notice that nearly all of the laptops have soldered RAM, based on what little poking I did.
Any thoughts/input on LG Gram?
I also found open box versions of this, for around $620 US (I have a flexible budget but I want to stay "close" to $500 US): https://www.microcenter.com/product/663018/lenovo-ideapad-slim-9-14itl5-14-intel-evo-platform-laptop-computer-black
Edit: a quick look, mostly inspirons around that price and have 16gb ram.
Oh god, finally, yes! I've looked at so many chargers that demand to be the sole presence on the outlet, which has been the main reason why I haven't been able to slim down my carrying weight further. No more!
Yea, I like the extension cord, even at at additional $10, just for the option. I honestly rarely use it, but it's super nice to have when I need it. the cable is proprietary to the slimq chargers, so it's not like a standard power bar, but for me it is worth it. And the international adapters work with the extension cable should you also need that capability.
I've owned 3 different slimq chargers over time, an older 65W model that they don't offer anymore, and i've owned two separate 100W chargers. One with 2 USB-C and 2 USB-A and the one I linked that has 3 C ports and 1A. They've always been solid products at a good price, just a brand that's not super well known. That 3C1A charger is newer, and replaced the 2C2A charger in my bag, as I prefer the flexibility of the extra C port. the 2C2A charger now lives in my basement.
and yes, I've tried all the other stuff. re-installed windows, only have the basic windows install and like 3 tools on it that I need. This old XPS13 is just closer to 7 years old than 6 and is at the end of its useful life. At least, a life of being relied on as a daily driver.
Excited for the framework laptop. should be a fun thing. Hopefully I have time to get it set up between wedding prep.
I only ask because LTT discovered a really weird glitch with modern sleep affecting pretty much all manufacturers - even Apple. Modern sleep allows the OS to still work the network to do updates while sleeping. However, this is only supposed to happen when the laptop is plugged in. So there's a toggle in the sleep controller. If laptop plugged in - leave on networking components for updates. If laptop on battery - turn off networking components to save power.
But if you put the laptop to sleep and then unplug it, it'll often not realize it and leave those components on, draining your battery while it's tucked in your bag, trying to run the update process.
Which, I mean, hey, I'm a Framework fan, new laptop yay! But maybe there's a small chance the old laptop isn't, like, full dead. Only kinda dead. Maybe a bit dead.
EDIT: I've never encountered this glitch because I grew up in the bad old days, when sleep was broke af and you couldn't trust your computer to not just...turn itself back on randomly. So I never use sleep.
I don't think there will be a big difference in day to day between intel and AMD. It is going to be similar to the way it is on desktop right now. AMD will have slightly better single core performance, Intel slightly better multi core performance. AMD's GPU performance will be a lot better, so if you're trying to play something resembling a modern game it will matter a bit. But we're still not talking about serious gaming chops here. You're not playing starfield on either of these. Battery life probably won't be significantly different.
There's also other differences. the Ryzen stuff will have AVX512 hardware encode/decode, but intel has quick sync.
But really, we're still talking ultrabook specs here. They're not going to vary wildly.
Thoughts on $900US shipped for this?
I've got other drives and I may sell off the storage modules
Aren't current generation AMD chips more power efficient, and therefore last longer on a charge?
Someone is selling this as a full package. I figured I could sell off the storage cards or figure something out
Edit: I'm not giving enough detail. It's a seller from r/hardwareswap. I'm nearly certain it's a 13" but I'll do some digging. He tried to sell it 2mos ago but didn't get any bites. I may be able to talk him down a little (maybe $850 or so)
I know it's a DDR4 board but I'm not too concerned with having a cureent-gen setup based on my current use case. $900 is the steep side for something I'll use maybe twice per year, but I look at part of that as a cost for entry into Framework's ecosystem.
The big change for me with considering the Framework is that I thought you could only swap out modules. Maybe that was a previous generation? The fact you can swap out boards, displays, and keyboards/trackpads is a game changer for me.
There are no laptops out with the processors Framework is putting in the AMD versionof the 13, so there are currently no official statistics. Might it be a bit better? Maybe. Is is toing to be better enough to take the Framework 13 laptop from 7 hours of battery life to 12? Not likely.
It's a sea-saw again. The Ryzen 6xxx mobile laptops had (in general) a bit better battery life than laptops with the intel 12xx line. But then the Intel 13xx line was a big improvement and passed the Ryzen 6xxx. So while Ryzen 7xxx will likely improve on 6xxx, I really don't think we're going to be talking about massive improvments.
there are a few reasons to buy/wait for the AMD framework 13. the GPU performance being the big one. But I really don't think in day to day use it's going to be so different that one is so far above the other that people should regret any purchases.
The entire deal with the Framework is that it's easily repaired. The nodules are hot swappable trivially like plugging in any USB device. Everything else requires popping the case open.
But it's not much worse than a desktop PC. Screws not glue, etc. The MB and CPU are one unit and the WiFi card is a tiny PITA but everything else is simple.
I totally struggled with installing the Wifi card with my Framework, but I felt like I achieved something when I got it placed and then it worked first try.
I also totally understood when I read that they had started selling the DIY version with the WiFi pre-installed because of how many people had complained about installing it, haha!
You're all enablers.
I'm sad because I did order mine over a week ago and it has yet to ship. And I leave for a trip in a week and a half and would really like it by then....
It listed as "keyboard not working" so I bought it as a project computer (I've been watching a bunch of repair/refurb videos)
Bad news: the power brick that came with it is toast. But I bought a replacement that works a treat.
Good news: Oddly, the keyboard wouldn't work when trying to login after setting up Win10. I grabbed a Win10 image from Dell after some poking around and now it works just fine. I'm going to clean up the software a bit but I think I want to give my mom some of the Dell utilities.
Also the RAM is user replaceable and I found a 16GB kit on Amazon for $30 US.
The drive that came with the laptop is 500GB which is more than fine, plus I have tons of spares.
In all, I'm proud of myself working out the details and figuring out what was really going on. It saved me from trying to find a "for parts" model or source a replacement kb/palmrest assembly.
Plus my mom gets a solid system and I can put her old laptop out to pasture.
oh hey I got my shipping notification overnight, delivery Friday. Nevermind.
I got the Intel i5-1340p configuration, just the base model. going up to the 1360p was an additional $430 CAD which was.... too much money. getting the 61Wh battery instead of 55 would have been nice, but again, not worth $430.
Otherwise, nothing too crazy. I sourced my own SSD and RAM since they were both cheaper than what you can buy off of framework. 1TB SSD for $50CAD (roughly $40 USD), 16GB RAM for about the same. I have access to a Windows license so I didn't have to pay for that. I also liked that I didn't need to buy a power adapter for $60CAD since I own enough USB-C power supplies that I could save that cost as well.
Sourcing my own ram, storage, windows, and not needing the power adapter cut about $400 off the cost of buying it all from framework, and got the cost much closer to what I'd spend on a good/decent 1340p laptop from best buy.
they recommend at least a 60W USB-C PD charger for the 13'', but it can run off of 30 to 45W if not under max load.
the 16'' is going to ship with a 180W charger afaik.