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3 days agoThis is quite an impressive launch from Framework. Even with the high RAM and storage prices, it is still cost competitive with an equivalent MacBook Pro (my yardstick for mid-high end laptops), but with a fully open design you can run Linux on without any virtual machines, and with (claimed) nearly equal battery life. I am somewhat disappointed though by that display, in my opinion touch is not as worthwhile compared to a display with local dimming (OLED/Mini LED).


From my experience trying to find retrofit displays for my ThinkPad P14s Gen 5, there’s two routes Framework probably could go down for this.
An OLED would be the best display option, and is somewhat more available. However, it requires extra voltage circuitry in order to work compared to an LCD, so there would probably need to be a mainboard revision to accommodate this, making it quite unlikely as it locks out users of existing systems (Unless they have some sort of adapter? No idea how that would work but maybe something could be done).
Alternatively, I have seen that there are Mini LED displays with the same connector (40 pin 4 lane eDP) and voltages that can work as a direct replacement, although without the per pixel backlight advantage of OLED. However there appears to be very few panels available in this configuration, probably raising the price a bit, especially since I can’t find any in the 13.5 inch size of the Framework 13. Considering this Pro version has a custom manufactured display though, they could probably source one eventually and sell it as an upgrade.