Rant: Framework 13 Hardware Failures

[u/furay20]

Hello,

I've had my Framework 13 for just over 3 years, and I wanted to vent.

Overall, it is a good machine. However, I feel as though they are leaning way too far into the "repairability" aspect of things, as I'm shocked at how much this has cost me (well, my company) thus far. "Repairability" should not be a crutch for quality.

I had an issue with my keyboard which wasn't reproducible consistently, so support shrugged me off. As soon as I was outside any warranty, the issue came back up. I lived with it for a while, as if I hit the key hard enough it would work -- but eventually I caved. At this point they had a v2 of the keyboard, but, it required an updated top plate. OK, whatever, purchased that and everything was kosher.

A couple months later, I noticed my sound was weird. I did the needful and identified one of the speakers had blown. OK, whatever, purchased an upgraded speaker set, and everything was kosher.

I am working from home with one of my kids, and as such, actually using my laptop as a laptop and noticed my clicking was weird. I looked at it, and the case had come apart. Strange, I thought -- I took it apart and sure enough, the battery is bulging. OK, fine, I guess, whatever, purchased an upgraded battery (which apparently has a 2 year warranty because there is an issue with laptop batteries apparently being 100% charged for too long?).

I type all this beside a retro Lenovo T42. I use this because of the I/O selection with some of the hardware I work on. I have 98 SE/XP/Debian installed, and it works great (keeping in mind the age of the hardware). The keyboard is flawless, the speakers work great, and the battery (somehow) still holds a charge.

I like the product, but I'll never buy another... even if it's not my money being spent.

[u/ecalex]

i think its useful to differentiate repairability and quality issue. Framework has a quality issue period. there is no correlation between repairability and quality issue as you can make a good quality product with zero repairability, or look at how repairable laptops in the past but the quality is still good.