I hope it's possible to fit a pointing stick (TrackPoint) keyboard within that 3.7mm, and that someone first- or third-party makes one. I'm keen to try replacing my ThinkPad with a Framework as soon as that's available, but not before.
And as keyboards get thinner, trackpoints lose in quality. On linux it seems the software side is also not as good as before with libinput.
So I'd be really surprised if any one new on the market would go about making keyboards with trackpoints now.
Pre-covid I'd made do with whatever garbage keyboard and garbage monitor $job dumped in front of me, but almost by happenstance I ended up with a 16:10 monitor and an IBM M4-1 keyboard, and surprisingly it is an enormous improvement in work environment and I'm actually somewhat more effective at $job. (And I should have known this -- I "grew up" using IBM F / M or Focus fk-2002 keyboards that these days sell for actual money on the used market; spent a decade in front of enormous tubed workstations, etc, but normalization of deviance is a real thing)
Anyhow -- perhaps with framework's more modular approach they'd be able to make a form factor with more depth in the case to allow for a "real keyboard". Or more likely I'm just asking for a manual transmission station wagon. Safety Yellow please.
I think station wagons just mostly went out of style. I think it's dumb but the American public has always gravitated towards physically bigger and bigger cars, to the point where it's considered totally normal to commute to an office job in a 12 mpg super duty pickup with extended crew cab and duallies in the back.
If you live some place where the SUV's just not going to fit and energy's more expensive, you get the smaller vehicle and everyone else does too.
There are tax rules around huge vehicles in the USA -- you can fully depreciate an enormous work vehicle so there's a surprising number of vehicles that fit just barely into that enormous category.
The only way to get a "manual" these days is to get an electric car. Not exactly a manual, but more like a manual than a slush box.
Wow, that's exactly what I own. Manual, diesel, brown, station wagon. 10 years old. Bought new though, still going strong. =)
I can't think of a single vehicle available in the US that fits that description since the 90's.
My specific model is a Renault Megane Estate.
There's nothing like the feel, and my RSI issues that I was starting to get improved greatly not bottoming out on a sponge for every key tap.
Unfortunately, switched keyboards for laptops are limited and don't have much travel... they do exist and are definitely superior though. Would be a cool option for framework, but not sure how well they fit for clearance, or what kind of switches framework's kb uses... I've been using an M1 air that I had bought before hearing about framework for personal use, but don't use it much... in a few years, will likely buy from framework and hope they're still around.
One can imagine a double thickness framework with either somewhat bigger battery and mechanical keys or super huge battery and the smaller keys; and of course more (or at least larger) expansion cards.
But of course the idea for something is worthless - it's the execution that matters. I hope they succeed enough to be able to expand their portfolio to more niche markets.
while the company certainly seems interested in providing options, i would strongly suspect that this level of variability would be a step (much) too far.
I'm trying to decide whether my next laptop will be a Framework or a Thinkpad. If the Framework was available with a pointing stick, the decision would be made. If the Thinkpad wasn't, the decision would be made. The other things that have attracted me to Thinkpads are repairability and Linux support, but Framework does those better.
I'm on my sixth Thinkpad, and there are definitely more out there with the same preferences.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-promises-TrackPoint-wil...
They removed it from the ThinkPad X1 Fold and got enough negative feedback that it was reintroduced in the ThinkPad X1 Fold 16.
What wouldn't surprise me is that they fuck up the trackpoint (e.g. by making it thinner). The Z16 laptop has a newer TrackPoint without dedicated keys, for example, and the newer T14s have flat keys.
I weight train regularly. Lots of forearm tension. I noticed one day that it always hurt more when I was scrolling (using an original Apple Magic Mouse). Brutal repetitive strain injury. However, when I went for periods of time only using the trackpad in my MacBook, my arm would feel
Upon realization, pretty much immediately switched to a trackpad at my desktop as well, and problems went away.
It took about 18 months to get from "my arm really fucking hurts" to "yeah, it was the mouse". People always ask why I use a trackpad at a desktop, I tell this story. I don't remember the last time I used a mouse on my computer.
Many people, developers included, use the mouse to point and click when they need to change the caret position while editing text. If you do enough of that, the amount of precisely controlled movement involved quickly add up to repetitive strain injury on your hand/wrist. I've seen colleagues in their 20s/30s suffering from this problem, to a point that they needed to use the mouse with their other hand.
I'd recommend using the keyboard to navigate within a document. It's going to take some getting used to, but it'll be best for your hand health in the long run. Meanwhile, switching to a trackball (remember those?), a trackpad, or a trackpoint mouse, will definitely alleviate the symptoms.
I always use tables that my elbows rest on the table.