If the very real (and unfortunate) possibility of Framework going out of business exists, how many parts can be realistically sourced outside of Framework? (Even as of right now, where they do exist.)
The RAM and storage M.2 SSDs come to mind immediately at first, along with expansion cards. Would something like the screen, speakers, battery, etc. be somewhat available outside the (hypothetically defunct) marketplace?
I know there has been posts of displays being replaced already from non-framework provided ones so that’s good. I am fairly sure as long as there is a need some aftermarket components could also become available like batteries and speakers since the connections are not that uncommon… not sure about the mic / camera part though. I really hope something like this doesn’t happen but if it does I would hope that they would have a fire sale on all the items they do have… 'cause I would get a loan and buy it all LOL.
I’m operating with the expectation that this is just the beginning of the road for a strong and growing company. I look forward to their next effort. If they somehow do not succeed, the main board of the laptop is designed to run outside of it, so if parts become scarce and some key component of the machine (other than the main board) fails and cannot be replaced, the logic board can be housed in a separate case and run as a standalone device. See the project that @CJ_Elevated put together, for example.
One other place to get parts would be other Framework laptops. What I mean is that in the far future, you could buy old Framework laptops from ebay and salvage functioning parts.
I know I will be looking out for a broken but cheap framework laptops on the secondhand market and salvage its parts just in case.
I bought my Framework because it met my needs.
While I could have gotten the same performance for a bit less money in a less-repairable system, the customizability was something I found really appealing, and budget devices often leave me questioning the quality of the components I can’t get a look at.
Even if they go under before a 15th gen Intel or AMD board comes out for it, I won’t feel left down. I’ll still have a solid, sexy laptop that does what I want, and the critical parts like storage and memory can be replaced easily.
And I can’t wait for used 11th gen mobos to hit the market in a few years.
I think the question is, what is the level of effort to replace a given part. I suspect the mobo can only be replaced by a framework mobo. But the frame could probably be 3D printed. Mic/camera/battery I imagine can get third-party replacements but will take some searching. I have no idea the specs one uses to select them. Hopefully someone smarter than me would post that information. A lot of the parts are straight COTS.
Expansion cards should be easy enough. People are already selling them via third party 3d printing sites. Some would probably be harder to do / more expensive than directly from framework but they should still be gettable. Pretty sure the smaller parts like cameras and speakers will be sourceable from outside of framework. The motherboard is where I see the biggest potential issue.