I'm not sure what the hype is around framework laptops and reparability - having looked at a teardown video they are the same design as my Lenovo only each module is labelled with a QR code.
Lenovo already have full service manuals online which have explicit detail of replacement process and spare parts are cheap and readily available.
Yes Framework openly offer schematics, but my Lenovo has 3 year warranty, and once that is over its doubtful its economically viable to perform component level repair on the motherboard.
- It not always being easy to get parts even through it's a very wide spread laptop.
- Lenovo not providing schematics for repair shops.
- Lenovo locking downs components with DRM.
- Lenovo acting against 3rd party manufacturers of components.
- officially only very few parts are CRU
- USB ports are soldered to the motherboard (a problem framework sidesteps with there interface modules as there is no physical stress in the inner ports they connect too)
- all the Lenovo it's repairable only really applies to their ThinkPad lineup, excluding variants like X or Yoga, but frameworks laptop is somewhat competing with exactly that X variants I think.
> It not always being easy to get parts even through it's a very wide spread laptop.
For any framework part you can easily get the equivalent Lenovo part from ebay in much larger quantities.
> Lenovo not providing schematics for repair shops.
After warranty is up its likely not cost effective to repair at component level.
Also full schematics are available on 3rd party sites such as alisaler.com.
> Lenovo locking downs components with DRM.
The radio card whitelist is for FCC compliance - the whitelisted cards wont let you run frequencies outside your home country. Agree they should just do like other manufacturers and not worry about it.
- Lenovo acting against 3rd party manufacturers of components.
Not sure what you are referring to here.
- officially only very few parts are CRU
But practically they are plentiful.
- USB ports are soldered to the motherboard (a problem framework sidesteps with there interface modules as there is no physical stress in the inner ports they connect too)
This also makes the laptop larger.
> all the Lenovo it's repairable only really applies to their ThinkPad lineup, excluding variants like X or Yoga, but frameworks laptop is somewhat competing with exactly that X variants I think.
I wanted to look into this to see how they actually compare. A comparable thin-and-light laptop from Lenovo is the ThinkPad X13 (Gen 2). In the only manual I was able to find they have a small list of "Customer Replaceable Units" which is:
* Keyboard
* Any M.2 parts
* The cover assembly
And that's it. No battery, display, laptop body, CPU, ports, etc. From what it says in the manual this seems to be part of their warranty process, not for general repair.
> If you intend on installing a CRU, Lenovo will ship the CRU to you. CRU information and replacement
instructions are shipped with your product and are available from Lenovo at any time upon request. You
might be required to return the defective part that is replaced by the CRU.
After some more digging it looks like they do actually have repair guides for most if not all of the parts:
But the only things I'm able to actually order are the SSD and the power brick.
So it looks like the framework is a fair bit easier to repair (no popping key caps to unscrew the keyboard for instance), makes all their parts easily available (or at least it's easy to get notified when they become available), doesn't have 20 different versions for each part, but also doesn't offer the same kind of warranty and services that lenovo does.
I think you’re wrong about parts availability. Search part numbers for any major vendor product on eBay and you’ll find just about any component inside a modern laptop for sale. Sometimes you can even find new parts, though that’s hardly necessary for repair. I’ve done consumer electronics repair for a while, and I’m not trying to be dismissive. I’m pretty sure Framework parts are going to be hard to find secondhand, and that is concerning for repairability.
Yep, framework is better in theory, but in practise the sheer volume of Dell/HP/Lenovo laptops means there are plenty of scavenged second hand parts available from aliexpress or ebay.
They are a bit like lenovo from the ivy bridge era. That's not too bad and good as a first step. It would be more compelling if they were to offer coreboot, larger batteries, ecc memory either with xeon or amd, multiple ssds, etc. (i.e., features that are hard to find elsewhere).
Lenovo already have full service manuals online which have explicit detail of replacement process and spare parts are cheap and readily available.
Yes Framework openly offer schematics, but my Lenovo has 3 year warranty, and once that is over its doubtful its economically viable to perform component level repair on the motherboard.