I don't know what I'd use one more machine for, but having the option certainly will be firmly in the "pro" column when considering whether to get a Framework laptop next time, because even if I don't find a use for it, it increases the chance it might be useful for someone else...
A long time ago I put a full desktop tower in my car to run as a headless music player. It was as impractical and terrible as you can possibly imagine, and I loved every second of it. I can easily imagine a Framework repurposed as a headless in-car assistant. I might explore this idea when it comes time to upgrade.
EDIT: Thinking about it, with a couple of Nintendo Switch controllers and a screen, you can make a DIY Steam Deck.
Unfortunately no, but I guarantee it's one of the mangled beige boxes at the bottom of this photo [0] stuffed behind the drivers side seat and a keyboard in the passenger side.
It's refreshing to see a company follow through on their promised use case. Especially since a lot of devices (home automation bridges, nas, media set tops, etc) are just purpose dedicated computers. I'd love for my next home server to be a laptop upgrade and 3d print away.
I recently did my own case build around a framework motherboard in a retro style https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsOAE5c7YXs it worked pretty well and I actually met up with the Framework CEO, Nirav, when I was recently in SF to discuss ways to better enable this type of project. I truly believe they want to support creative re-use.
I've always wondered what those types of PCs are for, other than enterprise workstations in offices. What do you use your home server for? Serving media?
I have one (i7-6700T, 32GB RAM) that cost me about $250. Runs proxmox. A few VMs for trying new BSD/linux releases, Plan 9, etc. A Windows VM. A minecraft server. A couple dev/test servers. I have another small PC next to it running stuff like Plex and webhosting that I'd like to containerize and move to a VM on proxmox.
Right now my homelab hosts a MediaWiki instance for personal writing, a couple of instances of Foundry Virtual Tabletop for playing D&D over the internet, and a handful of video game dedicated servers. Most importantly though it's a practice environment for genetal systems administration
I've got one in use (it was my father-in-law's desktop PC when he was still alive) as a node in my k8s cluster. It's currently got a couple of Gitlab's microservices, one of Harbor's microservices, ntfy, Nextcloud, coredns, and a couple ephemeral MySQL backup processes running.
The Gitlab microservices run Gitlab; the Harbor microservice runs Harbor. ntfy and Nextcloud are their own services, and coredns serves DNS to the network. The MySQL backup processes are for small apps I host for myself and for a friend's bar.
This is a really nice idea. It's also small enough you could hide it behind the living room TV and it would probably make a nice little media center PC.
If only they had an anodized black option.... The fact that you have to resort to breaking out the rattle-can or use janky stickers on your $3000+ machine just to have it in the most popular computer color is simply maddening.
I just got a new USB-C monitor that delivers 65W watt. I think something like this would be a wonderful desktop for me and I might just get one for a desktop.
