Sure, but if you factor in the possibility of never having to do a full system upgrade again, and instead just upgrading individual parts (including the chassis) as needed, the long term cost of ownership would be way lower if you commit to framework
Everything I've read about Frameworks quality control makes the above very doubtful.
If you watch the sales on other laptops you can easily get similar specs for half of what framework is charging. I have a 5070TI laptop I purchased for around 1200$ after a rebate.
Not only does the Framework 16 only offer the significantly weaker 5070 addon, it ends up totalling to about 2500$.
Maybe in 5 or 6 years Framework will sort out its QC and offer better GPUs, but it's not for me today.
It's already the case. I plan to upgrade my old 13 with some parts from the pro next year. I won't have to pay a full machine for a new screen, battery or touchpad.
At the price of the RAM (I never fill my 32GB, why would I buy any?), not buying a new machine basically pays for the first laptop premium.
Next upgrade, I'll be saving money.
And giving money to an ecosystem I like, creating a stronger competitor with those values.
> If you watch the sales on other laptops you can easily get similar specs for half of what framework is charging. I have a 5070TI laptop I purchased for around 1200$ after a rebate.
Just to be clear: You are comparing today's Framework regular prices to a laptop you bought months or years ago, on sale?
I don't think that is actually true - upgrading by selling your old laptop and buying a new one is still going to be cheaper than Framework's upgrades. I wish it wasn't but it is.
Not necessarily true, and not necessarily even a option sometimes.
In my case for example, the ThinkPad Z13 was the best laptop for me at the time. My main criteria generally is a top-tier AMD APU, first-class Linux support, machined aluminium body, 12-14" display. Only the ThinkPad Z13 met my criteria at the time, but there wasn't any in stock in my country. So my only option was to import it, and it was pretty expensive with all the import duties. A Framework would've been cheaper, but they didn't ship to my country and they also didn't have an aluminum chassis.
It was worth it though, I'm still using the ThinkPad and it's hands-down one of the best laptop+Linux experiences I've ever had.
It's now time for an upgrade. Unfortunately, Lenovo killed the Z13 line with no equivalent replacement, and everything else on the market currently has some or the other limitation (for me) - the most common limitation being lack of official Linux support.
Thankfully, Framework finally started shipping to my country this year, and their laptops also finally meet all my requirements (the previous models were all lacking the machined aluminum chassis). This also means that I may have found my "final" laptop at last, assuming Framework continues to deliver on their promise. Never again do I have to go hunting around for a Linux-first machined-aluminium top-tier 13" AMD laptop. And the best part is, I can just swap out the mainboard the next time I want to upgrade - which I guarantee will be way cheaper than buying a laptop that meets all my requirements, assuming it even exists.
But if you're not like me and you're fine with any random el cheapo Windows laptop, then yeah Framework is probably not for you.
