Modular laptop concept

[Michael Butash]

I mostly think of thinkpads as chinese crap-gadgets anymore since ibm
discarded the brand name to lenovo.  I have one from my current customer, a
T14, I7 proc, dock, etc, and not a bad box - other than it runs windoze
that I can't simply blast and put linux on (outside a vm I run on it).  I
don't really know that I trust it much, to me it's a dumb windoze box to do
dumb windoze crap that only works on windoze for them.

I considered a thinkpad for a bit before I bought my last xps15 dell, but
1) price killed the notion (you'd think they'd be cheaper being owned in
china), 2) I don't really trust they're up to par with old ibm-based
thinkpads, and 3) simply don't trust them at all.  Everything is made in
china these days true, but still rather not invest directly in china, trust
they aren't adding some snoop hardware ala the Supermicro hardware fiasco,
and simply take the blue pill.

I agree this frame.work laptop concept is probably a long-shot, but the
notion is novel.  Not seen one like the framework, but likewise burned on
kickstarters and such, I mostly avoid them all together.  Here's to hope
for better days I suppose.

My old xps15 9560 still holds up currently after upgrading to 64gb of ram
(and a new battery recently) every day, so while I probably could use a new
laptop, it works fine to fidget too much to get a new one. I've been
watching for a sleek ryzen/epic amd laptop, and will probably wait for that.

-mb


On Fri, Feb 26, 2021 at 6:52 PM Aaron Jones via PLUG-discuss <
plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:

> Thick thinkpad improvised weapon chads rise up. I can web dev or I can
> breach a door....
>
> > On Feb 26, 2021, at 6:32 PM, Matt Graham via PLUG-discuss <
> plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
> >
> > On 2021-02-26 17:56, Aaron Jones via PLUG-discuss wrote:
> >>> Michael Butash wrote:
> >>> https://frame.work/ [1]
> >>> Might look at one of these if/when they come about.
> >> I backed one of these projects and the dude never shipped. His was a
> >> modular framework for upgrading a laptop and it ended up getting
> >> demolished by shoddy work in the shop they chose in China.
> >
> > These will be more expensive than other laptops in the short term.
> Making computer parts that fit together into a frame that is not
> custom-designed, in form factors that humans can work on, and supported by
> metal frames instead of glue requires effort and money.  And regular
> consumers are super-sensitive to price.  So I think the only way this won't
> be a hastily-discarded boutique product is if 3rd-party manufacturers start
> making other modules that are cheap and do interesting things.  Which is
> possible but unlikely IMHO.  (Observing the x86 industry for 22ish years
> has made me a tad pessimistic.)
> >
> > Also, I do not give a **** about how thick my laptop is.  In 1999, I had
> a Thinkpad 380D that could probably have been used as an improvised
> weapon.  It was 2.5 cm in height and weighed 3.6 (?) kg.  A modern machine
> with that form factor and weight would have a crazy long battery life.  I
> am obviously in the minority, as marketers have conditioned the general
> population to think "looks trendy" >> "functions well".
> >
> > --
> > Crow202 Blog: http://crow202.org/wordpress
> > There is no Darkness in Eternity
> > But only Light too dim for us to see.
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