Why is AMD so important to you? Are there any instruction set extensions these days that are only available on AMD? I can only think of things that are the other way around - only on Intel. And if you need something niche like some SIMD extension I guess you're running a server not a laptop?
Why is there so little interest in ARM-based Linux laptops? Does AMD (or Intel) have anything even close in performance / watt that one can get from an ARM-based system?
AMD and Intel both have processors that perform much better than anything ARM-based except Apple's M1 processors (which of course nobody else has access to). That might change once Qualcomm release the new design they are supposedly working on, but that's not available yet.
ARM-based laptops are definitely more niche and if you don't have a large company like Apple forcing the adaption, you'll have a hard time to support proprietary software, including stuff like drivers. It would absolutely be cool to have an open ARM-based high-end laptop, but it's not drop-in like AMD.
Does anyone know if the Framework laptop use a mainboard form factor that is available with AMD chips?
The modularity of some components can be assumed because they are industry standards, like wifi modules I suppose. Other components perhaps Framework have designed their own range of modules with a common form factor, but it must be very expensive to engineer a compatible mainboard in the same form factor with a different chipset, unless they are using an existing standardised design.
I'm not totally sure, but I think their mainboard is of their own design. They would need to adapt, but they could do it. I also think the differences are not too large, since most mainboard manufacturers offer surprisingly similar mainboards for either brand.
capableweb|3 years ago
This is the only thing stopping me from getting a Framework laptop right now. I'd pay a premium for it as well.
chrisseaton|3 years ago
hericium|3 years ago
coder543|3 years ago
samtheprogram|3 years ago
criddell|3 years ago
Why is there so little interest in ARM-based Linux laptops? Does AMD (or Intel) have anything even close in performance / watt that one can get from an ARM-based system?
nicoburns|3 years ago
Sebb767|3 years ago
robotnikman|3 years ago
There was a good thread here the other day on the subject of ARM hardware and the difficulties of things such as device trees and odd boot processes
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31409273
simonh|3 years ago
The modularity of some components can be assumed because they are industry standards, like wifi modules I suppose. Other components perhaps Framework have designed their own range of modules with a common form factor, but it must be very expensive to engineer a compatible mainboard in the same form factor with a different chipset, unless they are using an existing standardised design.
Sebb767|3 years ago
robotnikman|3 years ago