I’m in batch 3 and I ordered the 12th generation 1280P due to wanting maximum CPU performance and memory. The good thing is I can upgrade to 64gb memory.
The main reason I bought the Framework was due to the blog post about the difference between the 11th generation and 12 generation post. I have an Asus i7 notebook N550JV which is a really good performance laptop which I run Ubuntu on but unfortunately the spinning hard drive is slow and failing. Maybe I’ll get around to fixing that. I like the excitement of getting a brand new laptop.
The interesting thing even though I am a software engineer I am never that interested in assembling it or disassembling it but I like knowing I can do the memory upgrade or motherboard upgrade when the time comes. But I never bought the framework due to the upgradability. But I appreciate it. It’s a value add.
I also have an 10th generation i7 Intel FNHi7NUC which is awesome and fast. It’s like a more expensive raspberry pi. It is currently my desktop computer and runs lots of virtual machines fine.
I did have a 128GB RAM and 32 core AMD Threadripper but I gave it away to a Church friend due to moving house and I was not well at the time.
I hope you shall share what was the ultimate reason that caused you to buy a Framework. Was it the upgrade ability? The sustainability? Wanted a new gadget?
As you mentioned with the upgradability, the easily replaceable parts means that this could be a long term laptop. The active community that post projects and solutions to problems others are having makes me hopeful for the future of this company. One could also see the framework team commenting on others posts tells me that they are receptive to their customers suggestions. For example they are releasing the ethernet expansion card because a lot of people were asking for it. One thing that surprised me is the 12th gen intel processor upgrade kit. Normally companies would just sell a whole new laptop just for the new processor but Framework made it something that can be replaced.
For me it’s that Framework has shown that they are keeping to their core tenement of upgradability and repairability. I’ve been following along since Linus posted the initial video before he became an investor, and my main question back then was regarding how they will handle generational upgrades. Now that they have released the 12th gen cores and shown what they will do, as well as the release of the basic case schematics, it sold me.
Yes there have been issues as the forum have seen. But the dev and support teams are super responsive and the community is as well. Additionally the Framework team seems to be receptive to community ideas and wants as seen with the Ethernet card.
Plus what geek wouldn’t want to build their own laptop? DIY 12th Gen batch 3 here I come.
The display on my previous laptop was failing after five years, and from the beginning it didn’t have enough memory (8 GB) or storage (128 GB) for some of my work. I started looking for a new laptop with 32 GB of memory and 1 TB of storage and I found that the Framework was very competitively priced (especially the DIY without a Windows license) at those specifications.
I bought another one for my wife when her previous laptop started having battery power issues. She loved the size and look of my Framework, and she appreciated that repairs could make it last longer than her previous laptops.
I have been through a lot of laptops. I have really liked a lot of them. I personally really love the ultra small laptops, but regardless of the format I bought, they all had one thing in common: planned obsolescence. When something stops working because of a design choice and not a supply choice, that is just abusing your customers and mocking their investments.
Framework was a ray of light in a dark dark dark consumer abyss. Not only were they making a laptop designed to be repairable BUT also upgradable. The company has been super supportive of projects involving their amazing mainboard, which is designed to live essentially anywhere and not just in their laptop!!! I’ve been working on a UMPC case for it myself.
There have been a few issues here and there, but the teams response to them has been nothing but reassuring. I’ve seen huge improvements in most of these problems as well. Framework is committed and it is evident. My personal take on some of these lingering problems, is that any complications they might cause are easily fixed just because of how the device is designed. If I have more battery wear because of inefficient sleep cycles, I can easily buy another, for example. (even though standby time has seen huge improvements)
I love Framework. I bought one for my wife as well, and should my kids needs their own laptops when they get older, I already know they’ll be getting Framework ones.
Since getting my own, powerful, workstation at home, I no longer felt the need to get a high performance laptop with a d(iscrete)GPU. After all, if I want to play games at uni I can just VPN to my home network & Steam Play from there!
The next issue I faced was price Vs performance and as @2disbetter mentioned above, planned obsolescence is a cruel mistress. Plus, it’s expensive to replace! I thought I’d give Framework a try since they now offered it in my region. So I saved me pennies and got an order in as my craptop did crap itself and now it’s going to be my daily driver for uni & beyond.
The repairability is also a big money saver over time and it’s better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it. + It’s a flex on the STEM Lords, that’ll certainly quieten them down when their one-upmanship distracts me from my work
The main reason is the open, repairable, customizable nature of the laptop.
My laptop, my way.
I can see, can service and can replace any part of the laptop. Many components I have selected and installed myself.
I’m all about that - I want to see how things work internally, how things connect to each other, how electronic components interact with each other. Don’t hide it from me, I really want to know - especially when it’s my own device.
This leads to a real sense of ownership. I don’t have a sense of ownership at all with my old corporate laptop even though I picked it out myself. It does what it does, somewhat slowly. Just not very exciting. My old personal laptop was very expensive and very very fast in its day but they just do not retain any value - I’m selling it for 25% of its purchase price and still no takers. I had a little bit of a sense of ownership with that one but limited - there was little or no interaction with the company and other owners, I was out on my own installing Linux on it. Just another sale while the laptop company moved on to other things.
I previously had a Surface Pro 4, I had to replace my screen due to flickergate and it was out of warranty. The repair was a nightmare, so much glue and parts were difficult to obtain.
I like being able to repair and upgrade the things that I buy and Framework was the best option.
I wanted to show support for this new company and reward good corporate behaviour.
I was in the market for a replacement laptop anyway and the Framework DIY fit all of my needs. I was able to bring my own RAM, SSD, and OS.
Repairability and Screen ratio. I’ve attempted to repair laptops in the past and it was frustrating how few parts were available. While I was able to buy parts off ebay, quality was difficult.
On the screen front, I’ve always been partial to more square monitors. I’m not a fan of the 16x9 ratios that seem most common.
I was wanting to upgrade from a laptop with 1TB of storage that was getting heavy and unusable, and I didn’t think 256GB would be enough for my needs on a laptop.
Unfortunately, anything relatively thin charged an extra $500 for 1TB, and of course wouldn’t let me get my own storage instead.
That is until I learned that the Framework released, it’s not the thinnest laptop around, but it hits that sweet spot where it gives a nice balance between expandability and portability. I can just swap the drive and the RAM myself at my own desire instead of being locked by my original purchase.
The expansion card option also turned out to be pretty neat. It feels good not to be stuck with a weird array of port that don’t make sense for my personal use case.
New here Also waiting on Batch 3. My old laptop though functional is on its last legs and mainly game and operate on my desktop. Generally haven’t had a real need for a portable computer since changing Jobs, but I’m a hobbyist at heart and I like the Idea of something that I can easily upgrade long term and would like to help the cause.
