Framework is great, but it’s just so insanely expensive.
I was buying a new laptop about 2 years ago. A framework one cost more than twice the price of a regular ultrabook with comparable (but better) specs.
Sure, you pay more for a Framework, and you can upgrade it later instead of buying a new laptop. Makes sense, but even then - a Framework one is more expensive than 2 laptops with similar specs. It only gets cheaper on the third upgrade. Which for me may be 10 years away.
Personally I’m not thrilled about investing in a laptop that will pay off in a decade. Who knows what laptops will be like by that time. Hell, it’s not unconceivable that devices like Framework will be outlawed. Or that Framework goes out of business.
It might make sense for people who upgrade often, but I don’t. Or for people who don’t, but are wealthy enough to pay the premium anyway. If anything, I feel like having a Framework would make me want to upgrade more often, which would be a waste of money.
Framework’s whole thing is upgradable laptops. The increased cost is what you pay for the upgradable platform instead of buying a new laptop.
Repairability has already been proven multiple times by several OEMs like Lenovo.
Even if the repair process itself becomes tedious, the mark of a quality OEM is offering parts and schematics that allow repair shops to disgnose and fix broken machines.
Unlike Apple, which actively prohibits their vendors from selling any parts to anyone except Apple.
I haven’t owned a laptop since smartphones and tablets took off. It’s become a redundant form factor. Framework would be my go to choice if I ever did need one though.
I can’t afford that kind of money on a laptop!
I’m a Linux nerd FFS… I’ve never owned a new laptop in my life!
Honestly if the average person can’t buy it at Best Buy or Target, they won’t. Most people don’t know about this stuff.
Wherever a random coworker or family member asks me which of two laptops to buy, it’s always between a couple of prebuilt machine at a big box retailer.
I love the idea of Framework myself, but I can’t afford to buy one.
Too niche for the average buyer, too expensive for the rest of us.
My Thinkpad X1 Carbon 6th Gen is quite repairable thank you very much, and it was like 400 bucks, and it comes with an i7, 16gb of ram, and a 256gb ssd. It’s only marketing that has people convinced they will fall behind unless they have the latest and greatest.
The Lenovo spare parts program is great. OEM replacement screen saved my X1C6th, as all aftermarket panels were bad quality TN
How much? With what money?
Come now, these products that cost 3x what they should don’t get to claim it did not work out due to lack of demand. No one has pissing away money anymore and products made for some odd not rich but well off tech people is just not going to happen.
$1100 isnt laptop money. Apple and Alienware poisoned the market 15 years ago. What happened to the dream of a $100 laptop? Wasn’t there a whole movie or three about making this stuff affordable?
Best ive seen for value is chromebook. I think i bought 4 laptops one year for nieces and nephews for less than the cost of a single used MacBook pro or whatever was popular at the time. They do all the Facebook and Gmail that 95% of people actually need a computer for.
That’s because they’re really expensive and actually quite mediocre. I really wanted to love my framework, but the build quality is way worse than the price tag would suggest.
I’ve had mine for years, repaired and upgraded it, and I love it!
To be clear, I’m not saying their laptops are bad. I’m saying they’re mediocre and overpriced. They’ve got some really neat features, like how easy they are to repair and upgrade, but if the price of buying one laptop from them, then upgrading it once is the same as buying three comparable traditional laptops, then I really don’t see the point.
The price isn’t that much more. You can easily compare that.
They are expensive up front. I have one of the first 11th generation Intel ones. I bought a new CPU fan last year instead of getting a new laptop. One of my kids dropped it, and I’ll need a new screen for it here soon.
Instead of buying 3 laptops, I bought 1 and repaired it. Super worth it.
s/willing/can afford/
I would gladly buy one, if i had disposable income.
speaking of Framework. did anything turn out of their “big tent” approach as they were saying it? was there any continuation of that thing?
for those who have no idea, there was some controversy around Framework when they were collaborating with omarchy and its founder of some specific beliefs
Yes, pretend it’s something wrong with the right idea (a repairable /upgradable device) and not the fact that America took a giant, wet trump all over the entire economy and a combo meal at mcdonalds is $16 with a small, non-refillabke drink and everything else is exponentially fucked from there.
Give us a reasonable pre-trump PC market, with this being a slight premium above that, do projections to normalize cost of ownership over say 10 years and it would grow. But we live here, so no.
Please make a post in response to this one because you really got your stuff together on knowing facts
Edit: Not a jab at post OP either just saying we need repairable laptops and when it becomes norm even cheaper ones will be good
You think trump caused, or even had anything to do with current pc prices? 🤣
You’d have to be borderline mentally invalid to ignore the impact trump has had on the entirety of American business and the economy, let alone the RAM crisis him and his loser AI cronies are causing.
You think Trump is responsible for AI companies buying all the RAM and SSDs?
TDS at its best.
Donald Trump’s administration literally writes the laws of the country and can absolutely limit and regulate AI companies but they chose not to and in fact paid open AI in government contracts for their garbage.
Do you even know anything about this subject or are you just hoping trump sees this and offers to let you suck his little weenie?
So you think they should have made laws to stop AI companies from buying hardware? Based on what? Why?
You can’t blame an administration for companies buying things from other companies in bulk lol. You do not want a government making ad-hoc laws to stop things like that, that is an absolutely insane thing to even suggest.
It has nothing to do with trump. How about you try and look at things not just through a “how can I blame this on trump?” lense?
A few AI companies made deals for future fabrication from a literal oligopoly of RAM makers.
Consumers are getting locked out, are you even paying attention?
Buying years worth of future fabrication for shit that other industries and consumers need is anti competitive as fuck.
Bro open a fucking book for 5 minutes or something holy shit you’re dense.
I think he’s saying, in this particular instance is that Trump’s fault? It’s B2B, and probably would have happened regardless of who’s POTUS (see GPU shortages under Biden’s term).
Don’t get me wrong, Trump is totally interventionist as long as it personally benefits his family. But this far he’s not made any plays wrt to supply/demand of hardware. From whats been officially released, the only interventionism he’s done wrt AI companies is get then them to have backdoors and be used for military applications.
Tariffs made many things more expensive for consumers including computers and parts, yes.
Tariffs have nothing to do with it, clearly, when countries other than the US have the same prices and issues with RAM and other pc parts.
I like the idea of owning one. Then I see the prices and I compare them with the prices of refurbished ThinkPads… (No, I don’t need a new laptop)
Nothing wrong with buying a used machine.
I bought one because I want to support modular/repairable tech. At the time I had the disposable income for it. I dig it.
Samsies. I also got the amd version that came out before the AI 300 stuff, so it was discounted, which was nice
What about buying a used framework?
The reason used ThinkPads are so easy to find in good condition at bargain prices is because management in corporations just lease them for 3-5 years and continuously replace them even if they don’t actually need to do so. They probably don’t even know that they can last decades but accounting wants a lease, so they get a lease.
There isn’t a similar “infinite supply” of used frameworks that constantly drives prices down
