How to upgrade to Pro from the Framework Laptop 13

Here with me today, I have

>> Hi, I'm Sean Ling. I'm the product

manager of the Framework Laptop 13 Pro.

This laptop is a total groundup redesign

while still being almost fully backwards

and forwards compatible with every

Framework Laptop 13 that we've shipped.

So, what Sean and I are going to do here

today is take this original 11th gen

Intel Core from 2021 and this brand new

Framework Laptop 13 Pro and show you

piece by piece what's different between

the two and also show you how you can

upgrade from that original version all

the way up to the latest and greatest.

>> Yeah, let's do it. Before we open these

up, let's take a look at the outside.

Both of these are actually the same

external dimensions, just under 16 mm

thick, but the parts are entirely

different. You can start to see some of

the differences right here at the front

edge. On the Pro, we increased this

dimension here to accommodate a much

larger battery. If we look at the

bottom, the differences also continue.

You can see here that the feet are

different. The expansion card latches

are different. And both of these designs

actually came to us from Framework

Laptop 12. Our industrial designer,

Esther, who led the ID for 12, was also

the lead designer for Pro. Okay, let's

get inside so we can really see what's

different between these two.

>> Sure.

>> Do you want to race, Sean? Is this a

race?

>> Yes.

>> Okay. It's not actually a race, but

maybe it actually is a race.

>> Okay.

>> Okay, it's a race now cuz I'm ahead. Uh,

this is a race.

>> Before you stay down,

>> it's a race.

>> You can see here that the fasteners

actually are slightly different on the

Pro. They are this refined design that

you can see once you get really close to

it. Now, Sean, let's flip these over and

get inside. There is actually one other

difference here related to the

fasteners. One of the design things that

we did early on in 13 was actually build

in this lifting functionality. So when

you unscrew the input cover, it gets

lifted up a little bit, so it's easier

to take off. Now, on the original 13, we

used a washer inside of that fastener

area, and it worked, but it made this

weird little clicking sound as you're

rotating it. And so we actually got a

lot of customer feedback that that was

pretty confusing. And so we've done here

now on Pro is actually switch this to a

pogo pin. We're getting really good at

pogo pins now across 12, 16, and now Pro

as well. This ends up not having that

issue. And again, this is all about

refinement and fixing things that we

found on the Framework Laptop 13 as

we've done all these generations of it.

Let's take a look at the inside. Even

though this core layout is almost the

same, you can see those differences

start to come out. And especially on

that CNC chassis here, you can see this

entire structure here is just one solid

aluminum piece. Over here on the

original Framework Laptop 13, you can

see it's actually an aluminum formed

piece that has a plastic frame bonded

inside of it. Obviously, this still

works. This is pretty rigid, but it's

definitely not as rigid and robust as

being able to go full CNC. So, that was

one of those major refinements that we

wanted to do on Pro really to reflect

the goals of this product. Since we've

got this input cover off, let's actually

talk about that. So, Sean, you've got

the new haptic version here. Can you

actually take the haptic input cover and

bring it back to an original Framework

Laptop 13?

>> Yeah, definitely. So, you can take this

new input cover on your existing uh 13

chase seat. However, for their old input

cover, it is thicker in areas. Couldn't

really directly apply to the new 13 Pro

chassis that has the thicker battery.

Basically, if you want the new battery

with your existing framework 13, you

will need to pick the new whole pro

chassis or you can also buy the new

button cover upgrade kit that includes

the uh new button cover, the new

battery, and also the haptic input

cover. So, you also get the new speakers

as well.

>> Yeah. So, that is really just the one

place that we had to make the trade-off

to be able to put in a much larger

battery. That battery and the original

input cover don't match each other. We

do have an upgrade path for you. But

let's dig into the input cover a bit

further onto this haptic touchpad

especially. So, if we flip this over,

you can see we've got four Paso

elements. These are driven by a Borious

driver. And so, we've actually worked

with the team at Borius and also our

partner Light on who we work with on

touchpads to tune the feeling of this

thing. And of course, Sean and I spent a

lot of hours in the office playing with

different settings and tunings because

really want to make sure that this thing

is at least as good as the key

competition.

>> Exactly.

>> We already think our keyboard's better.

We want to make sure our touchpad is as

good. And then digging a bit further

again into the structure, you can see

here if we flip over the old input cover

and the new one, that aluminum CNC

structure becomes visible here too. That

this piece, this aluminum cover is

actually one solid piece of aluminum.

Whereas on our original 13, it's an

aluminum sheet that is stamped and

formed and then has this plastic frame

bonded to it. Let's take a look at the

main board. Of course, there's some

major differences visible here. We've

got DDR4 all the way to LP CAM. We've

got PCI Gen 4 to Gen 5. We've got some

major differences on the thermal

solution, including going to a single

heat pipe and some very innovative

thermal venting to reduce the overall

system temperature. We've actually got a

lot of little refinements, too. So

things like antenna cable routing, going

from these rubber bumpers over to these

clips that are soldered into place, the

tags are easier to spot for being able

to disconnect those cables, and even

little things like the colors of the

cables, moving from the default color

that a supplier would provide over to

our ID specified black cables. So Sean,

now let's actually take these mainboards

out and swap them between the two

systems.

>> Sure.

>> All right. Of course, we have to start

by taking out the expansion cards. I've

become an expert at this over years, but

normally it actually is a little bit

difficult to do the uh the one-hand

motion. Whereas, as you can see on

Sean's Pro over there, we actually have

a much easier latching system that just

needs a single finger after you flip

that switch over. Of course, we've got

some cables to disconnect here. The

battery, the speaker,

the audio board, the webcam,

the display, and then we're going to

need to take out the Wi-Fi cards on

both. This is actually another place

that we really, really improved over

time in terms of the user experience.

This was the worst part of Framework

Laptop 13 back in 2021. This terrible,

terrible Wi-Fi clip. I am so, so sorry

to anyone who tried to replace a Wi-Fi

module on their original 13 because

these cables just come right off and is

just terrible to plug them back in.

Actually, a couple of years ago, we

moved to this design here. This little

plastic clip that stays with the card

and actually makes it a lot easier not

to lose those antenna cables.

Otherwise, this is similar here. These