We’re excited to share that Framework Laptop 16 pre-orders are now open, with configurations powered by the latest AMD Ryzen™ CPUs and AMD Radeon™ GPUs. This is truly a notebook like no other: thin and refined, while empowering you with desktop PC-level customization, repairability, and upgradability, including a fully reconfigurable input deck and modular discrete graphics. Prices start at $1399 USD for DIY Edition and $1699 USD for pre-built systems with Ryzen™ 7 7840HS, and adding an AMD R...
At that price I’d honestly just get a MacBook. I know there’s a lot of Apple hate here, but they make phenomenal laptops.
I probably also wouldn’t ever upgrade my laptop, so framework probably isn’t for me anyways.
Definitely not worth buying if you’re not planning on upgrading it in the future. The point of framework is the customizability and future-proofing, otherwise it’s pretty expensive compared to similar spec-d laptops.
The point of this machine is to be repairable, not cheap. It allows you to keep the same machine for longer and reduce your e-waste in the long term.
EDIT: and yes, if you’re not interested in repairability then it’s not really worth it.
According to configurator, for 2000$ you get a Linux capable laptop with 32 Gb RAM, 2Tb SAD, and one of the top CPUs on the market. It’s definitely not price that MacBooks compete with this on, as anything comparable starts at 500$ more.
M1 versions do compete on price, but there’s a whole other set of trade offs there.
Enjoy your soldered storage. If it breaks you have to pay out the nose to replace an SSD, the easiest of upgrades/repairs
You can’t boot Windows or Linux natively on a MacBook, so that would be another reason to not go for it (if you care about that).
But yeah, this machine is definitely not for people who don’t want to upgrade or modify their device.
Isn’t Asahi Linux native?
It is, but I don’t think it’s developed enough to be considered ready IMO.
Honestly after my experience with the MacBook Pro 13 2017 I can’t take anyone who says that Apple makes phenomenal laptops seriously.
You can’t just say that and not explaining why
It is for different people.
I have been daily driving an apple silicon macbook pro for over a year. Honestly couldn’t see myself going back and I only use my PC for gaming now.
Still some small annoyances, but the battery life…
I am glad framework exists though. It would be the top of my list if I needed a windows laptop for sure.
Great, then I’d have no software to run.
No Linux on new MacBooks from what I understand.
Honestly I prefer macOS over Linux for laptops
If you’d buy a new laptop, you could upgrade the old one instead
I could, but by the time I need a new laptop (last one I bought was 2017) the chassis and screen end up beat to shit and need to be replaced anyways.
I also just have no use for upgrades in my laptops. They’re always single purpose machines and I replace them when they break, not when they get slow.
I have a desktop that keeps up with modern hardware. Never got the need for the same in my laptop
But… you could replace the part that breaks instead of buying a new laptop
No Linux on new MacBooks from what I understand.
Linux is available for m1 and newer machines but your point stands.
It’s funny, I felt that way for years, then I actually learned the OS after using windows for the past 20 years.
I can confidently say I’ll never buy a new windows laptop again due to the OS. I can’t live without my trackpad gestures anymore.
It’s not for everyone, but I’ve yet to find a use case outside of gaming that a windows laptop is better for.
People also sleep on the unified memory of apple silicon. If you get 16gb your GPU can use it. Your cou can use it. Your ML cores can use it.
I can run some large ai models on my air just because of the unified memory. And the ML cores are insanely fast.
My m1 Mac air was the first apple product Ive owned and I have to say, I’ve never had a better laptop. It’s so well built, everything works with no driver issues, and iterm2 is one of the best terminal emulators out there.
You might run into a lot of driver issues if you try to run anything besides MacOS.
I used nothing but Apple computers from the early 80’s right until around the time that Steve Jobs died. I really liked what they were back then. Snow Leopard was an amazing OS. I’ve found that the spirit of what I liked about those earlier Apple computers is more present in Linux than in modern Apple computers these days.
I know there’s been some success with running Linux on Apple hardware, but even so, I’d favor buying into a positive philosophy of how a business should be run and how products should be made just as much as the quality of the hardware. And in the case of Framework, it doesn’t appear they’re making remotely bad hardware.
I used nothing but Apple computers from the early 80’s right until around the time that Steve Jobs died. I really liked what they were back then. Snow Leopard was an amazing OS. I’ve found that the spirit of what I liked about those earlier Apple computers is more present in Linux than in modern Apple computers these days.
I know there’s been some success with running Linux on Apple hardware, but even so, I’d favor buying into a positive philosophy of how a business should be run and how products should be made just as much as the quality of the hardware. And in the case of Framework, it doesn’t appear they’re making remotely bad hardware.
It’s worth it to not be doodling around with some fartbox Lego computer company. Every 8 years or so I don’t even think about what laptop I’m going to buy, I just go to the Apple Store website, max out the specs, and pick it up in a week. Beep boop I’m done. If shit breaks, they fix it. If something isn’t right they make it right. My life improved greatly once I decided to stop cheaping out on stuff I use.
I just did that and it ended up being $6499 USD. Idk about you, but that’s a bit steep for a laptop to my taste. Id rather buy a $2000 laptop and if it breaks I can literally buy another one while still spending less, or just use the warranty.
I’m on my laptop for hours and hours every day, if I get 5 years out of a $6.5k laptop it’s about $3.50 per day, it’s even cheaper when you can wait longer because you got top end shit. Plus you probably don’t have to worry that gateway or compaq are going to be out of business.