Framework’s software program and firmware have been a multitude, however it’s engaged on them

Since Framework confirmed off its first prototypes in February 2021, we have usually been followers of the corporate’s modular, repairable, upgradeable laptops.

Not that the corporate’s {hardware} releases thus far have been good—every Framework Laptop computer 13 mannequin has had quirks and flaws that vary from minor to quite significant, and the Laptop 16’s upsides wrestle to steadiness its downsides. However the {hardware} principally does a superb job of functioning as an everyday laptop computer whereas being far more tinkerer-friendly than your typical MacBook, XPS, or ThinkPad.

However even because it builds new upgrades for its techniques, expands gross sales of refurbished and B-stock hardware as budget options, and promotes the re-use of its products via external enclosures, Framework has struggled with the opposite aspect of computing longevity and sustainability: offering up-to-date software program.

Driver bundles stay un-updated for years after their preliminary launch. BIOS updates undergo lengthy and complicated beta processes, conserving customers from getting characteristic enhancements, bug fixes, and safety updates. In its group assist boards, Framework staff, together with founder and CEO Nirav Patel, have acknowledged these points and promised fixes however have remained inconsistent and imprecise about precise timelines.

However in accordance with Patel, the corporate is engaged on fixing these points, and it has taken some steps to deal with them. We spoke to him in regards to the causes of and the options to those points, and the corporate’s strategy to the software program aspect of its efforts to advertise repairability and upgradeability.

Guarantees made

This is a living proof: the 12th-generation Intel version of the Framework Laptop 13, which prompted me to begin monitoring Framework’s software program and firmware updates within the first place.

In November 2022, Patel announced that this mannequin, then the latest version, was getting a pleasant, free-of-charge spec bump. All 4 of the laptop computer’s recessed USB-C ports would now develop into full-speed Thunderbolt ports. This wasn’t a dramatic practical change, particularly for individuals who have been principally utilizing these ports for primary Framework growth modules like USB-A or HDMI, however the improve opened the door to high-speed exterior equipment, and all it could want was a BIOS replace.

However the BIOS replace by no means confirmed up. Practically a 12 months and a half later, Framework’s assist web page for that Twelfth-gen Intel laptop computer still says that there’s “no new BIOS out there” for a laptop computer that started transport in the summertime of 2022. This factory-installed BIOS, model 3.04, additionally would not embody fixes for the LogoFAIL UEFI security vulnerability or another firmware-based safety patches which have cropped up within the final 12 months and a half.

And it isn’t simply that the updates do not come out; the corporate has been dangerous about estimating once they would possibly come out. That Twelfth-gen Framework BIOS additionally would not assist the 61 WHr battery that the corporate launched in early 2023 alongside the Thirteenth-gen Intel refresh. Framework informed me that BIOS replace could be out in Might of 2023, and it nonetheless hasn’t been launched. A battery-supporting replace for the Eleventh-gen Intel model was additionally promised in Might 2023; it got here out this previous January.

Framework has been making an attempt, however it retains working into points. A beta 3.06 BIOS update with the promised enhancements for the Twelfth-gen Intel Framework Laptop computer was posted again in December of 2022, however a ultimate model was by no means launched. A newer 3.08 BIOS beta entered testing in January 2024 however nonetheless gave customers some issues. There’s been no communication in that thread from anybody at Framework since early February.

The result’s a number of lengthy discussion board threads of pissed off customers asking for updates, interspersed with not-untrue however unsatisfying responses from Framework staff (some model of “we’re a small firm” is without doubt one of the most typical).