“Reviews of the original Framework Laptop 13 were a little skeptical; my colleague Monica repeatedly pointed out that an upgradable laptop’s value “hinges on future support.” But in 2022, her headline was “promises kept.” And this year, as Framework shipped its third set of CPU upgrades for the Framework 13 while simultaneously improving battery life, she called the 2023 revisions “a DIY dream come true.””
I haven’t researched laptop prices in ages so I’m not sure what things go for these days. They mention in the article that this laptop will be expensive, but I didn’t get a feel for how expensive. What’s the premium for a laptop like this when comparing roughly apples to apples?
I love the idea of this, like most tech people will, but I also think the premium is going to kill them. At some point all the connectors and covers and the logistics are going to be tough to justify versus just a regular machine. Most people don’t upgrade their desktops, which are infinitely and easily upgradable, so doing so on a mobile device is going to be a tough sell (since there always be a price premium). It’s a noble idea that on the surface sounds awesome, but I think these guys will have a hard time. For example, it’s silly to have to “upgrade” your laptop with a couple of extra ports when for literally just pennies, the OEM laptop maker could just add them to all their laptops. Mass production is incredible at driving costs down.
I wish them luck, but I think beyond a base of hardcore nerds, average users will never understand this product.
Framork’s prices are totally reasonable and competitive today. And then if you factor in the savings of not replacing perfectly good parts just because you want to upgrade the processor or replace the battery, you end up saving a lot of money.
Right to repair, minimizing e-waste, and servicability are not exclusive traits of “hardcore nerds”.
The number of average people who would be willing to upgrade anything on their computers is tiny. Again, I personally am all for these devices, but as I mentioned even on a desktop PC, where upgradability has been cheap and easy as hell since essentially the beginning, few regular folks do it. Tech people are going to think this company and it’s products are a slam dunk, but I think in the regular marketplace they will see a lot of people scratching their heads asking “now why would I want to do that?”.
And upgrading the motherboard (CPU) you can still keep the old one for mini pc if you have a monitor
Thats cool
It’s about the same price as a lot of gaming laptops in my area, so, hey, I’d get this over others if I were going for a gaming laptop.