UMVA has learned that a highly anticipated laptop, the Laptop 13 Pro, has hit a snag in production, causing a delay of about a month in shipments. The delay is due to a pair of manufacturing issues, one related to the laptop's stellar display and the other to the haptic touchpad.
The Laptop 13 Pro's display issue, which was one of the standout features during the hands-on experience, has pushed the first shipments from late June to late July, with some units now expected to ship in early August. Despite the delay, the company has assured customers that all orders are fully refundable.
According to information obtained by UMVA, the company has been transparent about its production challenges, typically issuing updates on its blog to explain issues with sourcing components and shipping products. In this case, the problems were discovered during the mass production ramp-up, and the company claims to have found solutions to both issues.
The touchpad issue, which was tested extensively during development, was found to have spurious bugs that triggered rarely on some units, causing the touchpad to reset itself after repeated clicking. The company worked with suppliers to identify an electrical issue in the PCB design and released a new PCB spin for fabrication to resolve it.
Unfortunately, the firmware changes did not mitigate the issue, and the failures multiplied. As a result, the company is holding production to wait for the new PCB, which will be used for all shipments. The delay will not affect shipments of the company's modular Mainboards, which will continue to ship on time.
UMVA can exclusively reveal that the company will be offering the option to add replaceable LPCAMM memory to the Mainboard order. This move should ease the minds of customers, as LPCAMM memory is expected to be the upgradable memory of the future for laptops.
The delay is undoubtedly a disappointment to those who were eagerly awaiting the Laptop 13 Pro. However, the company's commitment to transparency and customer satisfaction may ultimately prove to be a silver lining for those invested in the product.
