The Framework Desktop Inspires Some Thoughts
This morning I received an email about the Framework Desktop. After hearing Cory Doctorow wax poetic about the Framework laptop, I joined their mailing list. I was not aware of their effort to build a desktop. I’m somewhat in the market for a new desktop. That is, if I still believe in a two-computer solution.
Establishing Context
It has been my habit to have a desktop as my primary computer, with a laptop in a lesser role. There are a number of reasons for this. Where in the past I used a pair of 24” displays running 1080P, I now find I prefer a single, large display. My desk currently sports a 27” Samsung 4K monitor.
My past habit of dealing with live streaming video benefited tremendously from a dedicated GPU. My preferred tool set (vMix) is specifically written to take advantage of nVidia GPUs. Since I don’t usually undertake streaming projects from a laptop, an integrated GPU has been enough for mobile situations.
After a couple of decades carrying company issued (heavyweight) laptops, in 2013 I bought a Lenovo X1 Carbon with my own money. And another (gen 7) in 2019 when the first was too old to be useful. I admire it’s form factor. It’s absolutely ideal for use on-the-go, but it cannot replace my desktop.
The desktop is another matter entirely. Its time has past. It has started to let me down in some significant ways. I’ve tinkered with its internals over these past five years. Its lone, traditional hard drive was augmented by an SSD boot volume early in its tenure, a third physical drive a little later on.