Comment by quantum5
17 hours ago
Original author here:
Thanks for linking the documentation! To be clear, when I wrote "header", I meant something with a connector that can be easily used for this purpose. Soldering on the connector is probably more difficult than the pogo pins that I used.
I also can't help but notice the linked connector is less than $1 in bulk on DigiKey and probably cheaper if ordered at Framework's scale.
Sure, but this is just one issue. How many potential $0.78 connectors exist? If one in 1000 customers has a need for a connector, and there are 40 different potential failure modes where a $0.78 connector would make recovery easier, is that worth the extra $30 per laptop?
I checked the pictures of my board, and there are 3 unpopulated headers that I can see. There's also the unpopulated BIOS chip socket, which is similarly cheap. I think I would pay the extra $3 per laptop for better repairability, which is Framework's entire sales pitch anyway.
Moving to sockets adds risk of the socket failing too. But this particular instance of not using an SOIC-8, for which test clips are readily available, seems pretty unfriendly.
I imagine there's a way to program the flash from a header or connector, or maybe it was programmed before being assembled onto the PCB.
Having a BIOS update BRICK the device isnt 'just one issue', they clearly need to do more work to protect devices from this, they can choose what they add but the BIOS needs a safer fallback and recovery process, that much is clear.
Definitley worthy of even an extra $1-2 per laptop if needed.