l’d like there to be a portable, modular PC, and I want one for myself. I’d like the ability to have a larger, replaceable battery (maybe with multiple batteries a la Toughbook that can collectively exceed 100Wh); a Synaptics-style trackpad with three physical buttons; more USB-C ports (at least Framework laptops can do this one); more memory; centered keyboard with Caps Lock and Left Control physically swapped; a desktop-style, physically-removable, larger, better-optics webcam that can be left in a small case and attached only when I want to use it; an HMD instead of standard display when we hit the point that they’re a viable display replacement; a case that doesn’t rely on a spudger to open; a case with space to put air vents somewhere other than the bottom so that using the device on a soft surface doesn’t obstruct them, and so forth.
However, I don’t think that it makes sense for all laptops to do that. Modularity does come with costs, and not everyone wants to pay them.
Physically, more size and weight. Need more space to make all these individually-structurally-sound components. I don’t care about this, as I throw my laptop into a backpack, but some people will.
More power usage to use more widely-separated chips. Phones can be light on power in part because they’re using an SoC, the opposite of modularity. I don’t care about this because I’m fine with just throwing bigger batteries at the thing, but some people will.
Easier to test and validate that a fixed number of devices work together (not a big deal for me, as I’m fine with where desktops are today).
Security issues. External bus devices have historically not been trusted, but internal bus devices have been. If I can get physical access to your laptop and I can easily replace an internal component, that might have security implications.
Yeah, it’s definitely not a complete list of wants above. I don’t personally use pointing sticks, but I totally get the lack of availability driving people who do want it bonkers.
My guess is lack of scale. I mean, the overwhelming bulk of laptops don’t have them either, and Framework is already working at limited scale.
I’m not saying “Framework is bad people” – they gotta work with what they have. But, like…for their current build, I remember reading a blog post about how they were using rounded-edge screens that they found a large batch of that someone else wanted for something else to try to compensate for their lack of scale and bring prices down. They already have to struggle with scale issues that large laptop manufacturers don’t.
Every individual option that they have to go engineer up is gonna add cost, and that has to be paid for by spreading the cost over a relatively-small number of laptops. That’s why you’d want something like Intel putting out a standardized laptop form factor, though – if all laptops support a standardized “laptop keyboard” form factor, then suddenly you have an enormous amount of scale available, anyone can just buy and snap into place a new laptop keyboard with a pointing stick, and suddenly, anyone making these things has a huge amount of scale, because they’re designing the thing for laptops from a wide range of vendors, instead of just for one small laptop vendor.
FYI, if you can tolerate hauling around an external keyboard — and unless your laptop is a hybrid tablet that lets you swivel the keyboard out of the way, getting its internal keyboard out of the way means having to put the laptop on a stand, haul around and use an external display instead of the built in one, or shove the built-in display back further than where you’d want it relative to your eyes — it’s possible to get an external keyboard with a pointing stick. I just had a comment the other day that listed several USB keyboards that provide this. It was, unfortunately, in someone’s troll post on !trackballs@discuss.tchncs.de and so the whole post got deleted, so I can’t link to it, but here’s a copy:
Note that I own one of the last, a model from about ten years ago. The buckling spring keyswitches are indestructable, and the nipple itself is fine, but the mouse button switches were much less durable and wore out a long time back. I have no idea if they still use the same button switches.
l’d like there to be a portable, modular PC, and I want one for myself. I’d like the ability to have a larger, replaceable battery (maybe with multiple batteries a la Toughbook that can collectively exceed 100Wh); a Synaptics-style trackpad with three physical buttons; more USB-C ports (at least Framework laptops can do this one); more memory; centered keyboard with Caps Lock and Left Control physically swapped; a desktop-style, physically-removable, larger, better-optics webcam that can be left in a small case and attached only when I want to use it; an HMD instead of standard display when we hit the point that they’re a viable display replacement; a case that doesn’t rely on a spudger to open; a case with space to put air vents somewhere other than the bottom so that using the device on a soft surface doesn’t obstruct them, and so forth.
However, I don’t think that it makes sense for all laptops to do that. Modularity does come with costs, and not everyone wants to pay them.
Physically, more size and weight. Need more space to make all these individually-structurally-sound components. I don’t care about this, as I throw my laptop into a backpack, but some people will.
More power usage to use more widely-separated chips. Phones can be light on power in part because they’re using an SoC, the opposite of modularity. I don’t care about this because I’m fine with just throwing bigger batteries at the thing, but some people will.
Easier to test and validate that a fixed number of devices work together (not a big deal for me, as I’m fine with where desktops are today).
Security issues. External bus devices have historically not been trusted, but internal bus devices have been. If I can get physical access to your laptop and I can easily replace an internal component, that might have security implications.
I don’t even know why doesn’t Framework have trackpoints. It’s such a missed yet not too expensive feature.
Yeah, it’s definitely not a complete list of wants above. I don’t personally use pointing sticks, but I totally get the lack of availability driving people who do want it bonkers.
My guess is lack of scale. I mean, the overwhelming bulk of laptops don’t have them either, and Framework is already working at limited scale.
I’m not saying “Framework is bad people” – they gotta work with what they have. But, like…for their current build, I remember reading a blog post about how they were using rounded-edge screens that they found a large batch of that someone else wanted for something else to try to compensate for their lack of scale and bring prices down. They already have to struggle with scale issues that large laptop manufacturers don’t.
Every individual option that they have to go engineer up is gonna add cost, and that has to be paid for by spreading the cost over a relatively-small number of laptops. That’s why you’d want something like Intel putting out a standardized laptop form factor, though – if all laptops support a standardized “laptop keyboard” form factor, then suddenly you have an enormous amount of scale available, anyone can just buy and snap into place a new laptop keyboard with a pointing stick, and suddenly, anyone making these things has a huge amount of scale, because they’re designing the thing for laptops from a wide range of vendors, instead of just for one small laptop vendor.
FYI, if you can tolerate hauling around an external keyboard — and unless your laptop is a hybrid tablet that lets you swivel the keyboard out of the way, getting its internal keyboard out of the way means having to put the laptop on a stand, haul around and use an external display instead of the built in one, or shove the built-in display back further than where you’d want it relative to your eyes — it’s possible to get an external keyboard with a pointing stick. I just had a comment the other day that listed several USB keyboards that provide this. It was, unfortunately, in someone’s troll post on !trackballs@discuss.tchncs.de and so the whole post got deleted, so I can’t link to it, but here’s a copy: