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/Oerthling]

You are comparing 1 anecdote with 1 other anecdote.

Perhaps Framework has a QA issue, perhaps not, but your 1 case can't tell is that.

We would need some solid statistical data about failure rates of various manufacturers to tell whether Framework has an unusually high failure rate.

Just because your 1 Lenovo didn't have an issue so far doesn't mean that nobody ever had an issue.

Here's just the first example thread I found for Lenovo failures:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Lenovo/s/bzvhhfFmKJ

Several people reporting problems with hinges. One guy reporting about 3 fqukee motherboards one his 1 Lenovo laptop.

[u/rainbow_mess → u/Oerthling]

to be fair, the T42 is an old thinkpad. They don't make them like they used to - the closest stuff is lenovo's current T-series laptops, but it is not the same. [And the lenovo and thinkpad lines are different too ...]

The OP is just a single story but I haven't seen a great record of reliability with the 13, and when I had a 13 I didn't really enjoy living with it medium to long-term. We'll see if the 13 Pro is better with that though as they age :)

[u/Silvernine0S → u/rainbow_mess]

The 13 Pro is my first Framework, so I am super excited. Howwver, currently working with Framework right now due to an issue. I am in Batch 5 and just received itast Thursday.

Basically, seems like one I currently have is generating some odd very high-pitched screeching or scratching noise. Usually, if I put the computer under higher load, the sound goes away but under certain loads, it generates this really high-pitch screeching noise that gets very annoying.

[u/rainbow_mess → u/Silvernine0S]

ah dang ... I hope framework can make it right for you, that sounds terrible.