Seventh update on Framework Laptop 16 shipment timing (Framework email)

The first Framework Laptop 16’s are now in customers’ hands, with more Batch 1 units in transit to those who have received shipment notices. Both our factory and our fulfillment warehouse are now on Lunar New Year holiday, so the next set of units will ship and production will resume on February 15th in Taiwan. That will include the remaining Batch 1 orders along with the first Batch 2 systems. We’ll remain in continuous production from there, with most of our total factory capacity allocated to Framework Laptop 16 manufacturing.

The various modules that make up the range of Framework Laptop 16 configurations are also in ongoing production at our module suppliers. Our keyboard vendor ran into an unexpected component shortage on the RGB Macropad though that delayed the start of production on it. We expedited the missing component from a US distributor to avoid further delays in their China-based supply chain and it arrived just before the keyboard factory shut down for the holiday. Production of RGB Macropad will begin directly when the factory re-opens on February 19th (the New Year holiday in China is longer), after which modules will ship to our factory in Taiwan to be packaged and then to our warehouse to ship as part of laptop orders.

One other update we’d like to share is the deeper research we’ve done on feedback a few press reviewers had on keyboard deflection. We performed additional measurements on multiple units and found that there is some unit to unit variation, but that there is a greater range across the span of a keyboard in areas that could deflect more or less depending on the support structure below it. The target we’ve set is under 0.6mm of deflection when pressed with 400 grams of force, which puts the keyboard on par with the behavior on Framework Laptop 13. You can see a measurement below on one system with the keyboard aligned to the left, with some keys exceeding the 0.6mm limit:

The improvement on this that we’re currently testing is a set of five additional rubber pads in the locations marked in red in the image below. Our initial testing shows that with these in place, regardless of keyboard position, deflection is below the 0.6mm limit with 400 grams of force. Once we can validate that this is the best solution, we’ll roll it into production and ship rubber pad kits to those with existing Framework Laptop 16 units who are interested in receiving it. We’ll share a request form when this is ready.