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Framework’s new desktop is mini ITX (arstechnica.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/framework@lemmy.ml
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[–] 14 points 2 years ago (7 children)

You're missing the point. Framework has a very finite amount of resources. They could have dedicated them to making a printer or a phone or a tablet or any number of other products people have actually asked them for. Instead they dedicated it to designing a computer that anyone else could have made and sold and isn't repairable or upgradeable.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    People keep shouting printer like they can just do it like that. Printers are a whole different beast, likely needing a whole seperate team with a different type of engineers. A desktop, given the existing team, is perfectly reasonable.

    Calling a product DOA because of soldered ram is just a braindead take. Also, just because the ram isn't upgradable the whole desktop isn't upgradable or repairable? Are you hearing yourself? Get a grip.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    People keep shouting printer like they can just do it like that

    No one thinks they can "just do it" but they can do it, just like they did for laptops.

    Calling a product DOA because of soldered ram is just a braindead take

    A braindead take is a company that's founded on repairable and upgradeable computers selling a computer that's none of those things.

    Its not just the RAM, the CPU and GPU are also not repairable or upgradeable, and this is in a class of products where everything else is...

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Is your idea of repairable based on whether ram is upgradable? They tried and couldn't do it, so they had to settle for the next best thing.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    Is your idea of repairable based on whether ram is upgradable?

    RAM? CPU? GPU? Is anything at all outside of the SSD? These components make up 90% of the cost of the product so any one of them dying means it goes straight in the trash can. There's tons of hardware that doesn't have those restrictions and works just as well.

    They tried and couldn't do it, so they had to settle for the next best thing.

    No they did not. They could have not sold it, and developed/sold something else instead.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    Framework mentioned that they worked with AMD extensively to try and find a way for upgradeable memory to be on this board. The fact that they went through iterations of simulations suggests to me that the basis for the motherboard was already largely designed in this stage.

    As you mentioned, framework has a finite amount of resources. Once they determined that upgradeable ram is not a valid path forward without sacrificing half the compute capabilities of the APU, what should be their next step? Just can the project that already has a motherboard design? Like folks mentioned, there's nothing really fancy outside of the motherboard. So if that works was already done, it seems financially responsible to me to provide that as an offering. AFAIK they're the only desktop form factor for this apu suitable for a cluster, so I can see why it's worth a gamble after extensive R&D was already invested into designing the hardest part of the product.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    @Ulrich The repairable space is a tricky one. They are a company that makes things designed to be taken apart. They have to support it. Supporting every kid that screws up his first CPU install is a no go. GPUs are a nightmare right now with the things literally going on fire. Ok, the ram could be user replaceable but most PC users only upgrade ram when they upgrade the mobo anyway. This is niche but I think it's the only way they could think of doing it without a million support calls.

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