I got the cheapest possible one - it's going to be covered in stickers anyway - which came to US$60 with the deluxe package. Honestly, I wasn't thrilled at the price but they're the only ones doing precision cut covers - and it does cover the top, bottom, and wrist-rest.

Here's how it looks out of the box:

And here is is fitted:

There are decent instructions on how to apply but it's fairly simple. The sticker can easily be pealed off if you need to re-apply it. Which is just as well, because some of the thinner strands need to be reapplied several times. Weirdly there are stickers which cover the fan holes. Not sure what that's about!

It applies really smoothly and air-bubbles are easy to push out.

There's also a wrist-rest cover:

Again, slightly fiddly to get it lined up perfectly. There's also a trackpad cover sticker. Personally, I prefer the way my finger glides across the bare surface, so I left it off.

The top cover is a blank rectangle. It grips tightly enough that the embossed logo subtly shows through:

The material is 3M™ Controltac™ which has a fairly neutral texture, smooth finish, and a consistent colour. The reverse is sticky but doesn't leave a tacky residue.

There are some great looking skins at dbrand - but if you're happy with a plain colour, they're about $25 + shipping. I got the deluxe version and a pack of silly stickers to get up to $60 for free international shipping. A little expensive, but the cuts are precise, the material sticky enough, and it gives your laptop a bit of personality.

Right, time for more stickers!

I want to add an NFC reader to it.

So, step one was to find an NFC circuit board which worked with the hardware and was relatively small.

Enter the ACM1252U-Z2. It works perfectly with Linux. It has a USB-Micro socket - but a USB-C OTG cable allowed it to work with the Framework.

It is about as small as they come - but will it fit?

Thanks to Alexey for sending me some 3D printed samples of the Framework expansion plugs, I was able to make a bit of progress.

The board is slim enough in height and width to fit into to the casing:

But it will stick out rather alarmingly:

It's useful to have the antenna that far out - but I'm worried about bumping it.

What about under the casing of the main laptop? There are two spacer units which can be removed, and there is access to the internal USB connectors under the numpad.

Will it fit? The answer, again, is… oooh! Just about!

If the trackpad was moved left, there'd be plenty of room horizontally.

It will still need something sturdy covering it - and that will need to be transparent to RF.

So here are my next thoughts:

1. Can I (or someone else) desolder the USB-Micro plug and solder on a USB-C OTG plug?
2. Is having a protruding expansion going to be annoying or dangerous?
3. How hard would it be to replace the spacer and wire directly into the vacant USB pins under the numpad?

If you have answers to these questions - please drop a comment in the box.

I splashed out on the larger Framework 16. Again, I only bought one stick of RAM (32GB) so I can buy more when the price falls. Similarly, I only got a modest 500GB SSD, and I didn't bother with a super-premium CPU or extra graphics card. Total cost with all the gubbin was close to £1,700.

So here's a quick review: it's really good.

OK, here's a slightly longer review:

Set Up

The setup guide is beautifully designed. It has text and video to show you exactly how things work. All the screws are numbered, and are tackled in order. They all use the same (supplied) torx screwdriver. Oh, and the main body screws are attached, so they won't go flying.

Removing the case, fitting the bits, and putting it back together was a breeze.

The BIOS / UEFI is an ugly pig of an interface. No worse than any other laptop, but really detracts from the quality of the product.

There was a BIOS update which was easy enough to apply - unzip it onto a USB drive, shove it in, wait.

Installing Pop_OS Linux was simple - although you do need to disable "Secure Boot" in the UEFI.

Everything worked without needing to futz about. WiFi, sound, keyboard back light, Bluetooth, camera. Once I installed fprint I was able to use the fingerprint reader to log in!

I got 4 USB-C expansion ports and, reluctantly, two USB-A for legacy devices. I didn't bother with HDMI or Ethernet - I have USB-C hubs. To the future! The expansion ports slide in easily and can be locked in place. They are annoyingly small though.

Usage and tweaking

The screen supports 165Hz. That's bonkers. Yes, it does look gorgeous, but it probably eats battery life. So I set it back down to 60Hz.

The screen is beautifully tall - with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The resolution is 2560x1600 which, again, is probably too good! Everything looks crisp and gorgeous - but tiny. I used Wayland's fractional scaling and set it to 150%, I also boosted some of the fonts.

Sound is strong - for a laptop. Bass was just enough to feel it in my legs, voices were clear, there was no obvious clipping or distortion. But, it is only a laptop. It isn't going to drown out the neighbours or deafen you.

The trackpad is geneously large and very responsive. It worked with multi-finger gestures and has a pleasing click to it.

Keyboard

The en-GB keyboard and numpad are great - but they're a different layout to my old one which makes my tired old brain a little confused. I don't get why insert / del share a key.

Other oddities:

• There's no right context menu key:
• The backlight is only a single colour (white) and only has 4 levels of brightness including off.
• The numpad backlight is not controlled by the keyboard
• There's a keyboard information site but no easy way to remap keys.

On the plus side:

• The dedicated calculator key is nice.
• The function keys have controls for media playback, volume, brightness etc.
• Impressively, both Function Lock and NumLock remember their state between reboots. Sadly there's no indicator light on them.

Battery Life

Fine. Looks like 5-8 hours of moderate use. To be honest, I spend most of my time near a USB-C power source. The UEFI has an option to set a maximum charge for the battery, so I set it to 75%. That's a good balance between usable battery life and preserving its longevity.

Suspend seemed to work and wasn't too heavy on the battery overnight. It runs cool - I haven't heard the fans spin up yet. That said, I'm not running loads of 3D games or recompiling my kernel.

Niggles

There's a significant gap between the touchpad and the chassis when it is clicked.

After reassembling, there is a slight but noticeable lip between the trackpad unit and the spacer units.

The BIOS update seemed to take longer than the OS installation! Seriously annoying having to watch it transcribe each bit via the pony express. It doesn't stop when finished, so you'll need to keep an eye on it otherwise it goes through it again.

The hardware switches for the camera and microphone feel fragile. Because they're slightly stiff, I'm always worried I'll damage the screen when I use them.

The microphone is ridiculously sensitive. I had to set it to the lowest level otherwise it would pick up sounds from other rooms and made me sound a bit boomy.

Here's an audio test of it.

The setup guide didn't mention the tape which needs removing from the thermal pads - I only found out about it by reading the comments.

The expansion ports seem like a good idea, but they are ridiculously small. There's just about enough space to fit an HDMI socket and a smidgen of circuitry.

Personally, I'd have liked them to be even longer to allow some more complicated expansion ideas. I think I'm going to struggle to design an NFC reader for them.

WiFi

The 5GHz WiFi seems slow. I can hit 250Mbps on the Framework. Another laptop in the same position hit over 300Mbps. I've also noticed it drop out once or twice. I don't know if that's the hardware, software, or firmware.

Obviously, that's plenty fast for most day-to-day operations, but it is a bit weird that it is noticeably slower than other machines.

WebCam

1080p @ 30fps. Excellent quality. The hardware switch disables it. I usually prefer a physical cover - but the switch does the trick. Here's a quick recording.

More than good enough for endless video calling. The tallness of the screen is an advantage here - it puts it much closer to your eye-line.

Final thoughts

I've only been using this for a few days, but it is a dream. Screen is big and bright. Keyboard is responsive. Sound is decent. The community are friendly.

The total cost of the laptop and accessories was £1,700. That's a fair whack of cash! But I wanted to support a new way of building and designing laptops. In the few days that I've been using it the performance has been excellent and build quality is solid.

Is it a lightweight and svelte powerhouse like the M3 MacBook Air? No - but it isn't designed to be. I'm hoping this machine will last me into the 2030s with significant upgrades along the way.

If you have any questions - please drop a comment in the box. And if you have any laptop stickers, send them my way - it is looking a little bare!

My options were:

1. Ignore it.
2. Scrape off all the paint and replace with translucent stickers.
3. Buy a new keyboard.

Even if I were happy with the aesthetic of a hard-worn keyboard (I wasn't) the flaking paint just didn't feel nice under my fingers. I also figured that scraping the paint further risked damaging the keyboard.

So new toy time! One of the problems of buying non-mainstream tech is that there is a dearth of components and 3rd party accessories. I found a few Ali-Baba sellers which were selling similar keyboards, but nothing which looked identical. So I contacted the retailer and, after a few weeks, they were able to ship me a replacement. In cherry red!

For future reference, the keyboard's model numbers: CVM18H96GB9430 P/N: 6-80-N15Z0-19D-1

The laptop is the same base as the System76 Darter Pro 6 - and they have a handy repair guide.

The keyboard can be replaced without full disassembly.

On the back, undo the screw which has the keyboard symbol next to it:

Undo the screw which has the keyboard push symbol next to it:

Insert a screwdriver into the hole and push. There should be a disturbing crack noise.

Gently lift out the keyboard.

Underneath are two clips for the cables.

Lift the clips and the cables will come loose. The whole keyboard can be removed.

To fit the new keyboard, do the whole thing in reverse! Plug in the cables, lower the clips, push the keyboard into place, screw back together.

Assuming you've plugged it all in correctly, it should light up:

Huge thanks to PC Specialist for sourcing the keyboard and selling it for a decent price. And thanks to Clevo for making laptops which are easy to repair.

These laptops come with an HDMI port and a Mini DisplayPort. Here's how to get both working simultaneously so you can have three screens.

Enter the Dragon BIOS

• Restart your laptop.
• Press the F2 key when the manufacturer logo displays.
• You're now in the BIOS.
• The screens may look different from mine.
• Enter the Setup Utility
• Select Advanced
• In "Advanced Chipset Control" go to "DDI Control" and set "DDI to mDP". That puts the Display Digital Interface to the mini DisplayPort.
• In ThunderBolt Configuration, set the "Security Level" to "Display Port Only".
• Save and Exit. Your computer will reboot and Linux will be able to see all the monitors.

I hope that's of some use to you!

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

New blog post!
I've built a physical <blink> tag!
shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/05/b…
Please forgive me 😁 pic.x.com/a7bjpxmbfj

---

Buy them!

So I bought 200 of them for use as laptop stickers. I have an understanding wife.

After some feedback from the sticker experts at TwenT3 - I redesigned them to be green text on a black background.

The lenticular lines give it a bit of a CRT quality, don't you think?

In non-COVID times, I'd be handing these out at conferences as swag. But *looks at the world* I don't know when those days are returning.

So, I'm selling them. Prices include shipping to the UK.

ALL SOLD OUT!

• [Buy 1 for £6]
• [Buy 5 for £25]
• [Buy 10 for £45]
• [Buy 20 for £60]

Please include your address details!

If instead of PayPal you want to send me a bank transfer, Amazon vouchers, or pizza - please contact me. If you want postage outside of the UK, let me know and I'll find out the price.

Only 0 stickers remaining!

I've been like that ever since. I have a crippling fear of doing something artistic which cannot be undone. That's why I prefer computers to the corporeal world. Mistakes are only ever a CTRL+Z away from being fixed.

My new laptop is bare. An blank canvas of "Space Grey". Anonymous in a sea of similar shells. So, like all good geeks, I decided to add stickers to it. Being in lockdown means I'm not visiting conferences any more, so I don't have any hip-cool startup branding to plaster over the cracks in my personality. So I raided my unused pile, and ordered a bunch more from RedBubble.

And then I got the fear.

If I put that one there it will overlap with that other one. But I want this one in the corner, which means that one won't have room. Will these look silly next to each other?

Liz Eden

@summerbeth

Replying to @edent@edent @edent can confirm concentration levels on the Serious Business of perfect laptop sticker placement! pic.x.com/zO3RNdhYzz

---

ARGH!

Eventually, I settled. I'm at home. No one is going to see this for months. Hell, I won't even see it because it's facing away from me! Stickers are pretty cheap, and so is cleaning fluid. No one's life is getting ruined because of my poor sticker placement.

But still…

No! Stop it!

Ta da!

I've got a few more coming in the post - and I hope to do some sticker swaps with friends once the pestilence has been driven from the land. If you have interesting stickers - or want to swap with some of mine - let me know.

Anyway, enough waffle, here's the end result:

This uses 2-frame lenticular printing.

History

No browser supports the <blink> element any more. It used to make text blink. It was a silly idea that got out of hand.

And now I have summoned it back to life in physical form. I am bad. Please don't report me to the W3C.

Cost

Lenticular printing is expensive. Most places I found in the UK quoted me around £4 per sticker - but with a minimum order of 100. Youch! They used to give these away free with cereal packets, right?

I contacted a couple of sellers on Alibaba. They quoted around £2.20 per sticker - but with minimum quantities in the thousands. I'd probably have to pay import duty as well.

Eventually, I found TwenT3. Their costs were a much more reasonable £100 for 100 cards. Also, they were the only place which were willing to sell me a single business card, as a sample. Total cost? A fiver - including postage!

I then used some double-sided tape to stick it to my new Linux laptop.

E-Ink

I did consider Eink - but even small displays are expensive. And frequent refreshes can damage the screen. I wanted to stick this to the back of a laptop, and I couldn't find a thin, battery powered board.

What's the point?

SHUT UP! YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!

Taiwanese manufacturer Clevo makes the N151CU laptop. They sell it directly to resellers, who in turn sell it on to consumers. It has excellent Linux support. Both Entroware (in the UK) and System76 (in the USA) sell it pre-installed with Ubuntu. I purchased mine from PC Specialist where they sell it as the Lafité IV.

PC Specialist sell it "bare bones" with no operating system. They don't officially support Linux, but their forums are full of people discussing Linux tips and tricks.

UNBOXING!

Pop OS

System 76 provide a customised version of Ubuntu 20 called Pop OS - it's a full Ubuntu install with a few tweaks. You can change the Desktop Environment if you don't like the UI. I picked it because I'm comfortable with Ubuntu and I figured System 76 would have added any weird drivers needed for the hardware. I dumped it onto a USB drive, shoved it into the new laptop and clicked next a bunch of times. It took less than 5 minutes to install.

What Doesn't Work?

Keyboard backlight. It has a multicolour backlight - but it's stuck on blue, with no way to dim it. I'll blog later in the week how to get it working.

That's it. Everything else worked perfectly. Sound, WiFi, Bluetooth, Suspend.

Quirks

Charging via USB-C. This was the main reason I bought this laptop. The laptop's USB-C port does support charging. But, weirdly, it is supplied with a barrel charger. I used a 65W USB charger and it worked just fine.

The BIOS supplied by PC Specialists is pretty restricted. I understand that they don't want people fiddling with settings that may be destructive. Depending on how restrictive I find it, I may try flashing the OEM BIOS and firmware. What's the worst that could happen?!

Webcam. It's a 720p model. In this age of endless video-conferencing, I'd have preferred something a bit better. But it works fine.

Hardware Review

So... many... ports! Do you need HDMI and Mini Displayport?

I'd have preferred another USB-C port rather than a Mini Displayport. There are adaptors and hubs. But nothing beats in-built.

There are 3 regular USB sockets. More than enough.

Despite having a pretty decent microphone built in, there's a 3.5mm mic port and a separate headphone jack. Weirdly, there's a Mini-TOSLINK built into the.... Yup - this laptop has optical out for digital audio!

There are slots for 2 sticks of RAM. I got a single 16GB stick - with the aim of shoving another one in there after a few years of use.

It also has 2 M.2 slots. One contains the WiFi card, the other the SSD. Once WiFi 7 comes out, I might upgrade the connectivity. Similarly, the SSD I got is big enough and fast enough for now, but might be replaced in the future. Do note that Linux has problems with NVME drives at the moment.

All I need is to read MicroSD cards, but this has a full width SD slot. Sadly, it's only half depth, so a full-sized SD adaptor sticks out: Just like the MacBook Air!

The trackpad is pretty good - but has two small flaws. Firstly, the buttons underneath it feel a bit flimsy. Hard to describe, but they work, and you can tap / right tap on the trackpad. The second flaw is that there's a fingerprint reader built into the trackpad. I can't make it work in Linux - but it makes the top left corner of the pad unusable. If your finger glides over it, the cursor stops moving. It's a weird design decision - but not a show stopper.

Keyboard is as good as any laptop I've used. The layout takes a little getting used to - but you can't beat having a proper number pad!

Speakers are a bit quiet and tinny. OK for voice calls, but for music you'll want to use headphones. Pop OS automatically detects when you've inserted a pair and routes the audio accordingly.

Fan noise is about the same as other laptops. It gets a bit warm on my lap, just like other laptops. Battery life is fine - depending on what you're doing with it.

Cost

Total cost including shipping was £738. You can configure it to a much higher or lower spec depending on your budget.

I got it from PC Specialist in the UK.

Verdict

I frickin' LOVE IT! It's light, has a big bright screen, silly light up keyboard, and worked flawlessly. I'd been considering a Dell for twice the price - but I'm glad I went for this.

It's a light, sturdy laptop which runs Ubuntu like a dream.

Full Spec

For those that like such things:

• Lafité Series: Aluminium Chassis: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED (1920 x 1080)
• Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor i5-10210U (1.6GHz, 4.2GHz Turbo)
• 16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB)
• INTEL® HD GRAPHICS (CPU Dependant) - 1.7GB Max DDR4 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
• 256GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (1900 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
• Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
• 1 x 65W AC Adaptor
• 1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
• 1 x Lafité Battery 54WH
• Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
• GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
• 1 x THUNDERBOLT PORT (USB-C) + 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT Keyboard Language
• INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
• 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
• 1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs

Loads of people have recommended the Dell XPS13 series. I'm looking at them and I'm a bit confused (so what else is new). I'd appreciate your advice gentle reader.

There are two models available. Here are the main differences between them:

So, for a hundred quid less I get more RAM and more ports. And a faster(?) CPU with more cache. Or, do a pay a bit more for a screen which is a smidgen bigger?

Am I reading that right? Is there any other advantage to the newer system?

I write code, browse the web, and do some light media editing. I don't play games or do 3D rendering. So I don't need ridiculous power.

Or, should I be looking elsewhere? I want something with Linux support from the manufacturer - mostly to not have to faff around too much with weird drivers, but also to support the market.

If you know of a UK supplier of Linux laptops which charge over USB-C - please leave me a message in the comments!

TIME TO BUY A NEW LAPTOP!

Because shipping in non-essentials from China is so easy right now... Nah, I'll just replace the battery. A fifteen quid job rather an a grand for a new machine.

I've had this laptop for about 6 years. It has served its master well and is still fast enough for all the browsing, development, and writing I do. But over the years, it has become Trigger's Broom:

1. A new power cable when I lost the original.
2. Newer, faster RAM when the old lot started throwing errors.
3. Improved WiFi / Bluetooth card - the original never worked well with Linux.
4. SSD to replace the hunk of spinning rust it came with.
5. CD ROM replaced with a DVD burner.

Basically, the only original bits are the bashed up case, motherboard, screen and keyboard. And the keyboard has started to stick recently. No amount of cleaning has fixed it. The coating is wearing off the trackpad buttons.

My employer provides me with a laptop - so I'm still able to work. And lucky enough to be employed. I don't need a monster which can play 3D games and live-encode video.

So I should just save money and buy a battery. And a keyboard. And not start lusting after a Dell XPS running Ubuntu. Right...?

The MacBook I'm using doesn't have any lux sensors that I can see - most phones have a separate sensor which means the camera isn't in use all the time.

What I find curious is that the camera's hardware light isn't on. It turns on when an app is accessing the camera - but not when the OS is.

Is that a security hole?

Anyway, if you're wondering why your screen isn't adjusting its brightness correctly, uncover your webcam. If you've got nothing to hide...

This is a sponsored post from ebuzzing

I love my little Dell Laptop - it's served me well over the years. And it has become a magnet for stickers - some for companies who have long since gone bust! Recently, I've upgraded the hard disk to a pure solid state drive. The speed increase is incredible. Coupled with adding an extra GB of RAM, the machine is now faster than ever. It's just a pity that Dell limited the machine to 2GB of RAM.

But, there's no denying it's getting a little long in the tooth. Video playback is only possible at fairly low resolutions, editing is a nightmare, there's no built in camera, and I think the headphone port is on the way out.

I Hate Tablets

Tablets are great if all you want to do is watch a movie or do some idle scrolling. That's no good for me - I need to work on my machine. I hate using touchscreen keybaords - either my fingers are too fat, or the screens are innaccurate. Even the best oleophobic screen gathers fingerprints and scratches if used for a sustained period of time. That said, I do like tablet's portability. I like the ease of use if I am just surfing. But unless I can plug in a keyboard and mouse - or any USB peripheral - a tablet is functionally useless to me.

Enter The Duo

Is the Duo the best of both worlds?

Dell's Inspiron Duo laptop is an intuitive machine, hailed as “the new convertible” thanks to its innovative flip-hinge design. Switching effortlessly from tablet to laptop, it’s perfect for both work and play.

I wouldn't call it intuitive - but it is innovative. It's only £450 for the base model - which is cheaper than an iPad 2. The tech-specs are fairly good - but not dramatically so. For a device which is going to be moved around a lot, I would have expected an SSD as standard. As it is, it's not even one of the customisable options. Some enterprising people have cracked the case open and added their own SSD. But it's not for the faint-hearted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMOiHRGpsLE

There is, however, a rather odd "AudioStation". Essentailly, it's a dock for the Duo. Quite why it needs it when you can stand it up using the keyboard, I don't know. At £99 for a charging station with built in speakers, it's not high up my list of must-haves. There are only two USB slots available on the regular chassis and - bizarrely - no HDMI or VGA output for connecting to an external screen. In keeping with the "seamless" ideals, there's not ethernet port - this is a WiFi only device. There's no 3G support - so you'll need a USB dongle or to tether to your phone. The battery - which doesn't look to be easily upgradeable is good for 4 hours. Again, it's ok, but it's not astounding. The Duo also comes with Windows 7. I suggest you reject the Windows EULA and ask Dell for a refund of the Windows License.

Ubuntu Support

Despite Dell's much vaunted support for Linux, it appears that support for the Duo is incomplete. The touchscreen mostly works - but there's no multi-touch yet. Similarly accelerometers don't detect that the screen orientation has changed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6HLXtIprUg

There's a long running thread on Ubuntu Forums which should step you through the rather easy set up of Ubuntu. There are a few manual files to edit - but the basic hardware is well supported. Other Linux distros should work just as well.

The Competition

Want to win one of two Dell Duos? Of course you do!

Eligible contributors (18+ and UK resident) will be in with a chance of winning 1 of 2 Inspiron Duos, and 10 runner-up prizes of We7 premium memberships (3 month), just for letting sharing with us your favourite work and play tracks through the work, play, love application. The closing date for the competition is 21st April 2011.

Dell have set up a Facebook page which has their new Work and Play application. To enter, simply select your 10 favourite tracks for Work and Play. So, think of the tracks you use to inspire you in work and play - tell Dell - win a laptop. Nifty!

Conclusion

I'm certainly leaning towards the Duo as my next laptop. If Dell were to include a working version of Ubuntu - and perhaps an SSD as an upgrade option - it would be a no brainer. As it is, I'll see how Ubuntu develops as the community hacks away at it. I've already proved to myself that I can easily upgrade a laptop's hardware - but I'm not that keen to go poking in the guts of another machine. The Duo certainly represents value for money - especially if you're a Windows user - but I'd be prepared to pay a little more if they offered some more flexible options. As will all my sponsored posts, your feedback is important to me. Vote in the poll or let me know in the comments what you think.