Discussion
FrameBook.
tosh: I remember these Macbooks did tend to break apart at the corners of the palmrests.But I like the idea of re-visiting Macbook plastic chassis w/ new inside.I would love to know what the weight is in the end.Can the old Macbook chassis lead to a lighter weight computer than the current 1.23kg Macbook neo and Macbook air?
linguae: That’s what happened to my 2006 Core Duo MacBook after about three or four years of use. It was an excellent laptop that was quite user-serviceable (I upgraded the RAM and hard drive), but I did have problems with the palmrests, and the Ethernet port stopped working after four years.It was my first Apple laptop and I have fond memories of using it during my college years.
seized: An ebook reader from Framework would be awesome....
hedora: This is probably close enough:https://pine64.org/devices/pinenote/
mikepurvis: I had one of those machines in university too and had the same stained/cracked palmrests. That said, I also paid for extended AppleCare and had the whole top case swapped for free multiple times throughout the three years that the coverage lasted.
dlcarrier: Wow, 64 GB of RAM.I'm really tempted to build a modern computer into an HP Jornada case. I really miss that form factor. It's pocketable yet has a usable keyboard.
zikduruqe: Or a printer...Or a phone ...Or a router ...
asimovDev: I’d love the same thing but with the titanium powerbooks / intels. What a beautiful design it was.
sourcecodeplz: So it's a Hackintosh?
vrganj: 610 Euros seems quite steep for an eReader.
dmoy: Idk what the word for it isHackintosh typically refers to running not-MacOS on apple hardware? Imo this project of removing almost all of the inner guts and using effectively a Frankenstein'd collection of things to reconstitute it into laptop needs a different word.If it were me I would chooseFranekntosh
Kwantuum: Hackintosh refers to doing things the other way around: running MacOS on non-apple hardware. So no, this is not a hackintosh.
varispeed: Is it easy these days to get a mortgage for 64 GB of RAM?
LoganDark: That's called Affirm
shen: I wish the same could be done with the 11 inch MacBook airs, still my favorite laptop I’ve owned.
delecti: No, Hackintosh specifically refers to running MacOS on non-Apple hardware.I don't think there's a word for running other OSs on Apple hardware, because it's officially supported.
Chris2048: You mean one of the wider ones? Look a little like cyberdecks.
ycprobe260308: Very cool project. That compact, highly portable laptop form factor still feels hard to beat.
ycprobe260308: Same here — that small keyboard-and-screen form factor still feels unusually practical.
jebarker: I still rock one of these running Linux and it’s plenty capable for my hobby workloads. Just had to replace the inflating battery!
hamdingers: Looks like Windows with a very MacOS-esque theme rather than a proper hackintosh, the screenshot says Windows 11 IoT Enterprise.
luyu_wu: For people curious, it looks like it is MyDockFinder. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1787090/MyDockFinder/I previously had a pretty good experience with it before moving to Linux.
larodi: Indeed, is not a Mac, I really expected some old MACOS
m3rcury: theseus's macbook, love it!
sspiff: I used to run Linux (JLime Linux) and NetBSD on those. I did prefer the bigger NEC MobilePro competitors though, but I spent so much time on those Jornadas in college.
zeagle: I would imagine battery life would not be great. I used a boox onyx (12 or 13"?) for a while and two issues: the display was very fragile & did it in in the end, color was a bit of gimmick, the resolution was not good enough read journals/PDFs/~A4 format publications crisply without zooming in... but the rest was decent. I switched to a kindle scribe I got for 1/3 the price after but it can't read the guardian or anything like that unfortunately like an android tablet.
zeagle: This is pretty impressive! I'm always impressed with what one can 3D print to fit commercial products into a previous case! Modifying to fit the larger webcam module, battery in that way was neat too. Does the display connect via framework's cable without modification? I have an old motherboard running headless I was thinking of resurrecting but if I need to hook up a USC-C display.
metabagel: They never actually say what the project is, LOL. I figured out that it’s to put the guts of a framework laptop into an old MacBook case.
s0rce: I liked my old magnesium Thinkpad T41p but it was a different aesthetic.
serf: very cool project. id like to do something similar with my favorite thinkpad models.that said, practice soldering, the insulation on those wires[0] and the sheer distance that they wicked solder upwards makes me really wonder how much heat got dumped into those tiny pads![0]: https://fb.edoo.gg/assets/images/image06.jpg?v=86ae0ddf
scsh: Agreed, this got me thinking maybe I should try something similar with my own old macbook pro. They did mention that this was the first time they had soldered anything, so it's great that they went for it and it worked! So now it's just a matter of improving technique.Long term, that may need to be redone. Really want less exposed wire in the final product, tin the tips of the wire first so they don't suck up the solder and trim to the appropriate length(only a bit bigger than the size of the pads at most). This is a good example on tinning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRPF4wpXX9Q And if you need to expose a lot of wire then just use some heatshrink so it's not exposed once you're done.In a perfect world, you'd want to remove all the existing solder and then re-solder everything. But de-soldering can be its own skill and isn't always strictly necessary. Just something more to work toward.
xattt: [delayed]
Lerc: I have an old aluminium 17" MacBook. It got retired fairly early because it suffered from a design flaw but was outside the free replacement window.Its screen is nice, and there looks to be plenty of room inside. I have been keeping an eye on options for putting something else inside. Its mostly the power delivery for the display that I think is beyond my skill that's holding me back.
adammarples: Well done for figuring it out
cosmic_cheese: You may be interested in this Framework build that converted a 17" MBP.https://community.frame.work/t/i-converted-a-macbook-into-a-...
znpy: In a way, it’s the exact opposite
znpy: At some point some kristoff guy was developing some flashrom boards so that jlime linux on the hp jornada could have actual suspend to ram.On one hand, it would’ve been cool.On the other hand, at the time netbooks were becoming common and were essentially taking the spot of those kind of devices (jornada 728 etc).
retired: Just buy it on credit and then delete the app.
Footprint0521: Scrolled down just to find this commentI was initially so happy to see a Linux build that looked so much like macOS, but then saw windows 11 pro on the about, and died inside..I guess that’s why it has 64 gb of ram, so that there’s 10 left for applications after windows is done lol
twodave: The mid-2000s Yahoo chat writing style is too grating for me in this article.
retired: When I was a broke student I would buy MacBooks with broken palm rests for a discounted price, drop them off at Apple for a free repair (under extended warranty) and flip them for a profit. Three hours of my time turned into €100 profit. Minimum wage was €6/hour back then.Did the same years later buying up first gen iPod Nano and trading them in for sixth gen because of the battery recall.
roughly: Can I just say again that I absolutely love what Framework's built/enabled? Between projects like this and things like the RISC dev board, they've immediately become the hacker supplier of choice. When they first debuted, I was skeptical they'd survive, but they've really shown you can build a successful company for a niche audience, and they've had a huge impact for the maker community.
scumblr: Melted GPU? I’m still sore about that one.
vasac: The worst part is that the discrete GPU was used to drive external displays, so now I’m stuck with a 17” integrated display, which is large for a laptop but still small for a computer that I’ll never again lug with me (it’s heavy by today’s standards).
Lerc: Mine is a random reset when GPU kicks in, Apparently it's a single tiny component that needs to be changed, but to get to it requires almost complete disassembly. The cost of having it done professionally probably more than it's worth. Chance of breaking it by doing it myself too high.But now I'm just thinking of it as a solid box with nice screen and keyboard attached.
profer602: Interesting approach to collaborative diagramming. I wonder how it handles complex, highly-interconnected graphs as the number of collaborators and nodes scale. Real-time collaboration can quickly devolve into a confusing mess without robust conflict resolution and clear ownership models.
huddert: Who writes like this? Pass.
ddxv: Interesting because I always felt like the Framework already looks like a Macbook Pro with the grey case and the black keys.
montymintypie: Love the energy with "i decided to just go for it.". The soldering to the touchpad is absolutely frightful, but you know what? First time soldering (to small testpoints no less), it works, it can always be fixed later if the joints fail. I've been getting too caught up in perfection with my recent projects, it's a good reminder that with a userbase of 1, it really doesn't matter.
nekiwo: for cool framework thinkpad project, see https://github.com/Maglev-Rabbit/702_Project_Public.
haunter: No one will make a printer because the margins are so low. They are like the FMCG [0] of the tech world0, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast-moving_consumer_goods
velocity3230: * OpenPrinter has entered the chat.https://www.opentools.studio/
nabq5272B: Noice!
maltris: That is pretty cool, I would not have the time, creativity and dedication to start something like that. Wanted to donate a nice comment. Best regards
pantulis: > . i learned alot from this project, from how to solder,This part is simply amazing, the "nothing is impossible" drive!
eikenberry: I want a laptop form factor that is basically a briefcase with the display, computer and battery with space for a keyboard and mouse of some kind. I basically hate laptop keyboards/trackpads but want a portable computer. Plan on building my own at some point using frame.work components as the base but I haven't started on it yet. One day.
_diyar: could this not be solved by just getting a laptop and also carrying external kb and mouse?
eikenberry: I'd like it in a setup that makes usable as a portable without a lot of setup. IMO it is feasibly to disable the keyboard/trackpad and just put my keyboard on top but it isn't ideal.
lproven: This is so established a thing that it has a name: Sonshi Style.https://dylanbaileywrites.medium.com/sonshi-style-an-obscure...I have an external Thinkpad USB keyboard with full-travel keys, a built-in trackpoint, 3 physical buttons, and no trackpad. It cost me about £60 new, 3 years ago.I use it with my MacBook Air when travelling, and a cheapo external USB-C screen with a broken laptop mount.The MBA is slim, light, and 3 years on, its battery still lasts several days. It's perfectly able to do 8-10 hours of near-continuous use. But the keyboard and trackpad are awful.So, external keyboard, external screen, pocket USB-C hub to connect them, which also gives me a spare full-size USB port and Ethernet.If you don't need the battery life, I suggest investigating a ?20 era Thinkpad.The X220 is quite portable and though the screen is small the keyboard is great and the range of ports good.The T420 is moderately portable, has a decent screen and the i7 has a discrete GPU. Works surprisingly well with Wayland these days.The W520 is not really portable at all but has a lovely big screen, tonnes of ports, and quad-core models have 4 SO-DIMM slots so 24 GB is cheap and 32 GB doable.For all, get an i7 model, fit 2 SSDs and max out the RAM, and the result is perfectly usable in 2026 if you're a gamer or "influencer" who needs to edit video.Cost, £200 or so.And there's the 701 DS which has 2 screens, a numeric keypad, and a Wacom tablet built in.Hard to find and expensive, though.
Gracana: Ha. I frequently visit this site to check out the latest little gadgets: https://liliputing.com/
randusername: I love these project posts that take a design people enjoy and upgrade the guts.I think they speak to the importance of good design in the objects we use the most. Function but also form.When everything is mass-produced, everything is ill-fitting. Normalize tailoring.
nrp: DIYers are a core audience for us (along with Linux users), but actually we’ve had a lot of success with other audiences too!
