Re:Preparing for Pre-Orders! (Framework modular laptop)
by kitsunesoba on Wednesday May 05, 2021 @05:09PM
(#27055872)
> And honestly, I have a lot of old laptops with perfectly usable screens and keyboards that are gathering dust because the CPU is hopelessly obsolete.
Yep. I have a ~2008 15.4" Dell laptop with a 1920x1200 screen that's pretty decent even by modern standards and tons of ports that'd be a perfectly serviceable (if a bit bulky) if it could be outfitted with a modern 15-30W TDP CPU to cut down on heat and boost battery life to something more reasonable.
You could separate the screen and keyboard purchase from the motherboard purchase. And honestly, I have a lot of old laptops with perfectly usable screens and keyboards that are gathering dust because the CPU is hopelessly obsolete. Had they been built like this I could have significantly cut back on e-waste and saved money on the upgrade. You could even have enterprising people building thin clients or dumb terminals out of them. Having a unified spec would enable a lot of niche products. Imagine a Raspberry Pi board that you stuff the Pi into that has the right hookups for a standard laptop case for example. There would be a whole industry for cheapo SBCs that you can stuff in a used laptop case to make an ultra-cheap web browsing machine.