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Re:The Framework Laptop by pedalpete on Thursday February 25, 2021 @05:53PM (#26269387)
Yeah, I get it. I think plastic cases are going to be a tough sell for a company looking to be environmentally friendly. :)

You're also not in the majority, but as I stated, I'd prefer a non-metal looking laptop. I've got a Razer Blade Stealth 13 which I had to put a skin on because it's a fingerprint magnet. Skins really aren't that bad, and they're designed to not block the vents.

Re:The Framework Laptop by Alupis on Thursday February 25, 2021 @06:02PM (#26269468)
Unless you just want to put a skin on your laptop, this feels like the whole "Rubber Band Antenna-gate" thing from Apple years back. The device should work as-is without some extra covering being required.

Not everyone has skin allergies, but if you are mass producing devices that will be in close contact with skin for long durations, made with metals that are well known to cause skin irritation - sooner or later you're going to run into people that are affected.

Re:The Framework Laptop by sudosteph on Thursday February 25, 2021 @06:28PM (#26269706)
Additionally, due to the way that the allergic sensitization process happens - many people only develop a reaction after frequent, long-term exposure. So it's very possible to use a metal laptop without experiencing an issue for a long period of time, and then to develop problems down the road. This, along with the allergens sometimes being from contaminants in the metals (so not listed and somewhat variable) - makes it very hard to predict and to identify afterward.

So while I'm "rare", in that I know I've got an allergy with a very noticeable reaction that can be triggered by laptops - many people don't know that they are at risk of developing it, even though they are. Or maybe they know they have a nickel sensitivity (this issue is very common with people who wear cheap jewelry) - but they don't know a laptop can trigger it.

Unless there's a big push to do some sort of widespread contaminant testing on laptops, I imagine this issue will grow if metal-body laptops continue to be the norm.