Framework delays delivery of the Laptop 13 Pro by a month

Delayed launch of Framework Laptop 13 Pro

While preparing the Framework Laptop 13 Pro for mass production, we discovered two things, one on the new haptic touchpad and the other on the display. We started rooting and got answers for all of them. However, in order to bring these changes, we have to delay the start of mass production, which pushes the first shipment for a month from the end of June to the end of July, with the risk of some units in early August. This probably pushes most July trips into August. We are planning to meet our announced dates in August, but there is a risk of late August batches going into early September. We don’t expect late production to begin until August. We don’t want to delay anything, but we want to make sure the Framework Laptop 13 Pro is as strong and reliable as it can be. If the new delivery time no longer applies to you, your previous order will be refunded. We will continue to update you as we complete verification, start the production process, and begin shipping batches. In the meantime, we will begin shipping the new Intel Core Ultra Series 3 Mainboards in time to customers who have ordered them, and will also begin introducing modules that do not have a touchpad or display.

Haptic Touchpad Design

For the haptic touchpad, our goal from the beginning has been user perfection. The first hope we see hands-on testing at our launch event and at Computex it shows that we are getting it right. This requires tight and iterative integration of hardware, electronics, and firmware design. On the firmware in particular, we’ve gone through a lot of internal releases to fine-tune the haptic tone and force uniformity and resolve front-end cases on touch and click. Throughout last year’s development, we found and resolved a number of firmware issues and nits to improve reliability.

Over the past few months, we’ve discovered some rare bugs on some units that cause the touchpad to reset after repeated clicks. Working with our suppliers Lite-On and Boréas, we found an electrical problem in the PCB design around the base that we believe was the cause, and we issued a new PCB to be designed to fix it. Similarly, we identified a firmware update that we believe will also reduce the problem in the original PCB design. When we first started the production process with the original PCB, we found that modules with firmware updates were still showing failures, and at a higher rate than we had seen in the development build. Therefore, we are in production waiting for a new PCB, which will be used for all shipments. We have collected the first examples of this and are convinced that it will solve the problem. We are now finalizing the proof of no further regressions (this includes several tests such as 200,000 consecutive clicks), and starting to generate a high volume of data to speed up the system. The new modules will arrive from the haptic touchpad supplier to our final assembly factory in mid-July. We’ve started making some small batches at this point, so we can assemble, test, and release laptops quickly.

Showing off

Similar to the touchpad issue, when we started developing the new display, we found a bug that caused the panel not to start on a single panel. Our demo provider, CSOT root, ran into this problem and found it to be a side issue related to some root issues. We have worked with CSOT on an updated firmware that is in production. We hope to design and ship modified panels to fit the haptic touchpad module, so this will not affect our laptop system. However it affects the ordering of the new display, and now it ships from July instead of June.

Mainboard shipping

Finally, as previously noted, we will be starting to ship the new Framework Laptop 13 Pro Mainboard with Intel Core Ultra Series 3 in time for June. We usually start shipping pre-orders around the time press reviews appear on a new product, so you can review the reviews and decide whether to reserve your order. However, the press reviews of Framework Laptop 13 Pro for the whole system will be in July. This means that for the Mainboard at the moment, you have to rely on the articles and videos that have been around so far, as well as many reviews of the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors.

Another change we have on the Mainboard is to address the feedback we have received from previous customers regarding the availability of LPCAMM2 memory. There are a few retail options where you can purchase an LPCAMM2 to use with your Mainboard, so if you want to modify an existing order to include memory, you can contact our support team and make an update. Note that if your Mainboard is in the June batch, adding LPCAMM2 to this system may delay shipping. In the future, we will implement a bundle that will allow customers ordering a Mainboard to select memory along with their Mainboard order.

We apologize for the delay in making Framework Laptop 13 Pro. The goal of Pro is to improve the performance, control, and durability of the Laptop 13 Framework, and we want to make sure that the final product does just that. We’ll keep you updated as we move into the production process, and we look forward to working with you on the electronics.

Framework group