Librem 13 CPU changed from i7 to i5?!

[bp2]

Why have you suddenly changed the Librem 13’s CPU from i7 to i5?

[telzrowb]

Yeah that’s disappointing. I just placed my order the other day with the understanding it would be i7 CPU. It still shows on this page as i7. https://puri.sm/products/librem-13/

[bp2]

Can someone please explain what has happened to the i7.

[jeff]

We couldn’t get the i7 for this particular batch of the 13" model (hoping to provide it as variant, but that means next batch, at a higher price). We’ve been preparing an email with the details for this for those concerned (well, all 13" orders, actually) to provide the options to make this situation work. but couldn’t send it yet, it’s taking longer than expected to prepare, so please give us a day or two.

[ezs777]

Will this at all affect the shipping schedule of the Librem 15, or will they still start shipping around June 28th?

[jeff]

The Librem 15’s shipping schedule should be unaffected.

[not42]

I’ve to say I find this and the delay on official communications unsettling.

[francois-techene]

I’ve to say I find this and the delay on official communications unsettling.

I can understand your point of view not42. We are ourselves disappointed and struggling with this issue internally. We try to be has transparent as we can but we don’t want to communicate on some details before being sure about them. This is the exact root of the original problem. It is a tricky situation. The manufacturing chain is long (and far). The communication is difficult for a small team like ours (very busy and focus on technical stuff) and it takes time to get every details.

Please, be aware that we are so sorry for you guys (I am personally!), and that we try to be fair and transparent to everyone. Most of all, we try to avoid this kind of problems but it happens sometimes. We apologize!

As I said to my son after losing his football game : “This failure has just made you stronger.”
We keep fighting for our digital rights because this is what we want to do.

Thanks for your support!

[conradjohnson]

I haven’t seen any communications about this. What are the options for those of us who paid for (expecting) an i7 with our librem 13s?

[pcguy]

I just received the email through now, very disappointing. I wish there was a clearer ETA on the i7 shipment option, at this stage I’m contemplating a refund.

[bp2]

Could you copy and paste the email you received please.

[pcguy]

Email received from them below:

As we have been ramping up to manufacture the new batch of Librem laptops, it turns out that we had to stick to an i5 processor (instead of i7) for the Librem 13 v2, for a couple of reasons. We had multiple prototype iterations with varying hardware specs, and the i5-based one turned out to be the most feasible at this time. Most orders had been made for an i5-based Librem 13 (thus dictating the bulk of the demand for this batch), and we had not adjusted the cost and pricing of the Librem 13 to reflect a significantly more expensive i7 CPU. We did not want to do a retroactive price hike nor introduce further delays either.

We have worked hard to keep the product table up-to-date with the latest evolution of specifications, and apologize for this miscommunication.

The difference between the i5 (6200U) and the i7 (6500U) are:

• 2.8 GHz vs 3.1 GHz CPU max frequency
• 3MB vs 4MB cache
• 1.00 GHz vs 1.05 GHz graphics max frequency
  The rest of the specifications are strictly identical.

In practice, unless you have extreme performance requirements requiring the absolute fastest processor (bigger cache and 300 additional megahertz), the i5 remains an excellent choice for everyday use, including multimedia work, software development and virtualization.

For those who still want an i7, here are your options:

• Get the Librem 13 v2 with the i5 processor, as originally priced (but with all the other improvements: DDR4 RAM, 6th gen chipset, backlit keyboard, coreboot preloaded, improved multitouch trackpad, newer graphics, better case design, etc. at no additional cost) and with shipments beginning in the coming week.
• Switch your order to a Librem 15 with i7 processor, with 20% off the price difference between the previous Librem 13 base model and the price of the new Librem 15 base model (in other words, $80 off a $400 upgrade). This is the fastest option to get a Librem with an i7 processor, as the Librem 15 will ship before the i7-based Librem 13.
• Convert your order to a Librem 13 “with i7” preorder, paying an additional $160 for it and going back into a preorder queue. We hope to place a new batch order for these parts in the coming month, but cannot guarantee an ETA for the i7-based Librem 13 until then.

Please let us know by Sunday (June 25th) which approach you would like to take. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you again for your support.

The Purism team

Edit: Formatting

[jeff]

Yes, we sent that email to all existing Librem 13 orders (even those who purchased way before we announced we would be moving that model to i7… just to be sure nobody gets caught by surprise). It took a while for us to provide options that would make sense and keep people happy (we spent a whole week debating this and figuring out what could work best for customers).

It’s really a sad mistake on our part, where we thought we were getting i7’s, but had not increased the price in any way, the majority of orders had been i5’s, and we ended up getting only i5’s. If anyone is reading this: we’re ashamed enough about this already, no need to throw rocks.

The plan for now is to exhaust the stock of i5 Librem 13 (there’s only about 40 left) and begin re-making that same batch in a month (which would then take around six weeks, I think) with i7 all across (presuming that’s what everybody wants, although the i7 costs more). The higher cost is the reason why we provided the various options in that mail, and also the reason why we had to raise the base price this week in the store (note: the base price also seems much higher because one of the SSD options is now selected by default in the cart, instead of nothing being preselected).

For now I’m being careful about promises (like exact ETAs) until I can get further confirmation.

[bp2]

Is the CPU upgradeable? Can I order the i5 and pop an i7 in at a later date?

[mladen]

Is the CPU upgradeable? Can I order the i5 and pop an i7 in at a later date?

I’ll just say simply here: no (unless you are expert with proper tools, in which case you wouldn’t have to ask this).

[bp2]

Proper tools? Is the CPU upgradeable or soldered on?

[francois-techene]

Proper tools? Is the CPU upgradeable or soldered on?

bp2, it is soldered on so you cannot upgrade. However, you can already order a Librem13 core i7 (that should be available in august) .

[bp2]

Will the August revision include TPM, Heads? Any other features apart from the different CPU?

[francois-techene]

Will the August revision include TPM, Heads? Any other features apart from the different CPU?

Sorry, I cannot answer that as it is not my area. Mladen should know more than me.

[ezs777]

If the price increase is due to the addition of the i7 processor, then why did the Librem 15 price go up, when they were/are already slated to come with that procesor?