Hi,
As you can guess, I have a Framework 13 with Intel 13 processor. I was looking at the motherboards available, and if I want a meaningful upgrade, I guess I should at least go for AI 9 HX 370. I would also need new RAM then, DDR5 instead of DDR4.
It seems to me that would get rather expensive. It would be easier to save up a little more and buy a new laptop.
Or is there some strategy, so upgrading parts is economically more interesting (as for the planet I would prefer to do it that way).
In my opinion, the strategy that combines reduced environmental impact with reduced cost of upgrades is to wait, and buy something like the ai9 hx370 later once it has been discounted due to newer releases ( for example, see the prices of old-gen mainboards which are significantly cheaper than at launch).
Even less costly would be to buy a motherboard secondhand, which is becoming easier as framework’s username grows.
Do you need the extra performance right now?
Edit: with a brief search, most laptops with that processor are more like 3000€, cheapest I found is a ThinkPad for 2000. The framework mainboard is 1100€. Edit: I guess with the current price of ram it might indeed get pretty close to that ThinkPad’s price. Up to you to question why you bought a framework, whether the ThinkPad’s build quality and features are ok for you, whether you don’t need swappable IO ports, or future screen upgrade options.
Hi @Kyuhae ,
You’re making good point there. No, I don’t need the extra performance right now, so there is no pressure. I’m a little interested in testing ollama, but I’m not in a hurry. Recently I needed to run Figma a few times and that’s a case where I feel my Framework is underperforming.
Buying a secondhand laptop or motherboard seems like a good idea. I also bought this Framework secondhand :-). One drawback of secondhand computers can be that somehow the software always seems to need exactly what the new hardware possibilities are. We never feel advantage of new hardware. I f we where to run a 1990 OS and applications on a current computer, that should be lightning fast 
So a secondhand computer will feel powerful for a short time and then it will fall behind, I think.