Live data from Hacker News

I'm a laptop weirdo and that's why I like my new Framework 13

blog.matthewbrunelle.com

51–60 of 314 posts

Re: I'm a laptop weirdo and that's why I like my new Framework 13

#51

I’d like to read from someone who has at least 5 years of experience with Framework. New stuffs are always interesting. But I prefer something that can last for 5 plus years. Framework afaik does not have long term guarantees which is a concern.

I think that's a reasonable point - is there anyone doing "State of My Framework" reports? It's hard to know how true their claim of timelessness through upgrades and repairs is without that.

Re: I'm a laptop weirdo and that's why I like my new Framework 13

#53
I thought Framework was worth a gamble.

I replaced my last laptop after 10+ years because the battery gave out, the end-of-life hardware was so old it no longer got OS upgrades, and eventually apps stopped working. I like the idea of getting to easily throw new hardware at my machine to keep it going.

(I also tired of Apple shoving bad experiences down my throat (TouchBar, Butterfly keyboards, thin glass screens that crack, USB-C and no USB-A...) so I spec'ed out my Framework with USB-C and USB-A.)

But aside from repairability when stuff breaks, a laptop's hardware slowly becomes obsolete because software is usually written for the new stuff. If you're like me and you keep your laptop for 10 years, that means: in year 1 you have 1 year old hardware, in year 6 you have 6 year old hardware, etc. So your laptop gets worse and worse performance because you can't incrementally upgrade your hardware... you only upgrade in a big bang every 10 years when you buy a new one. Towards the end of its life, you're really struggling to keep the thing above water.

With a Framework, in theory I can upgrade the hardware incrementally over time rather than needing a big bang every 10 years. So instead of having 6 year old hardware at year 6, I'll probably have 2 year old hardware again. So I'll more closely match the industry improvements curve.

Will this work in reality? Will it be expensive to replace all the parts, and will the case be able to cool new CPUs, and will I have to get a new mainboard, etc? Who knows. But I thought it was interesting enough to take a gamble on the laptop. And worst case, it's not a fatal decision... I can just go back to MacBooks...

Re: I'm a laptop weirdo and that's why I like my new Framework 13

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Will I be able to use the same mainboard for a decade? Maybe, but you can actually just upgrade the mainboard. Framework has already done that cycle a couple of times. And they made sure the mainboard can work without a battery (not exactly a high bar, but it's better than most), so your old mainboard can pop into a small case and get a second life as a NUC

The mainboards typically cost as much as a new laptop. What really excites me is the prospect of 3rd party mainboards and other components. This ecosystem is still just getting started though. It seems like this is the beta product, I'll wait for the finished one.

They don't?

Ryzen 340 mainboard: $450 https://frame.work/products/mainboard-amd-ai300?v=FRANTE0005

Ryzen 340 laptop: $1100 https://frame.work/products/laptop13-amd-ai300/configuration...

Yeah it's certainly the single most expensive component, but it's still cheaper than a whole new laptop and, more to the point, less waste than a whole new laptop

Re: I'm a laptop weirdo and that's why I like my new Framework 13

#55

The really special thing about Frameworks is that you can quickly buy and replace basically any part, not just the usual RAM and SSD -- case in point, when I managed to damage my FW13's keyboard such that it was no longer usable, I could just... go straight to Framework's website and buy a new one for $40. And, I even had the option of a slightly improved one, that shed the Windows key and lacked the god-awful copilo…

Exactly - imagine if early MacBook Butterfly keyboard users had the option to simply upgrade their keyboard to a fixed version for $40...

[1]https://www.keyboardsettlement.com/

Re: I'm a laptop weirdo and that's why I like my new Framework 13

#56

I’d like to read from someone who has at least 5 years of experience with Framework. New stuffs are always interesting. But I prefer something that can last for 5 plus years. Framework afaik does not have long term guarantees which is a concern.

Framework as a company is only 5 years old, but they've already done several generations of upgrade parts (including webcam, keyboard, display, mainboards, etc...) and have large availability of repair/replacement parts. So unless their parts are uniquely bad in that they randomly fail after 5 years, it seems pretty clear that they are delivering on the long term ownership goals?

[deleted]

Re: I'm a laptop weirdo and that's why I like my new Framework 13

#57

>You can't change the RAM on laptops now. >You can't change the SSD on laptops now. I literally just brought a laptop 3 weeks ago and I've already upgraded both of those. It's a newer model with an RTX GPU. I think framework has potential, but it's going to be a decade to see how things pan out. Will I be able to use the same mainboard for a decade? So far what I'm seeing is a laptop brand which charges between 50% a…

> Will I be able to use the same mainboard for a decade? Maybe, but you can actually just upgrade the mainboard. Framework has already done that cycle a couple of times. And they made sure the mainboard can work without a battery (not exactly a high bar, but it's better than most), so your old mainboard can pop into a small case and get a second life as a NUC

7 times, for the Fw13.

Re: I'm a laptop weirdo and that's why I like my new Framework 13

#58

I thought Framework was worth a gamble. I replaced my last laptop after 10+ years because the battery gave out, the end-of-life hardware was so old it no longer got OS upgrades, and eventually apps stopped working. I like the idea of getting to easily throw new hardware at my machine to keep it going. (I also tired of Apple shoving bad experiences down my throat (TouchBar, Butterfly keyboards, thin glass screens that…

I can't even recall when I last needed USB-A, literally everything I have uses USB-C (or bluetooth for mouse and keyboard). What do you use it for?

Re: I'm a laptop weirdo and that's why I like my new Framework 13

#59

>You can't change the RAM on laptops now. >You can't change the SSD on laptops now. I literally just brought a laptop 3 weeks ago and I've already upgraded both of those. It's a newer model with an RTX GPU. I think framework has potential, but it's going to be a decade to see how things pan out. Will I be able to use the same mainboard for a decade? So far what I'm seeing is a laptop brand which charges between 50% a…

> Will I be able to use the same mainboard for a decade? Maybe, but you can actually just upgrade the mainboard. Framework has already done that cycle a couple of times. And they made sure the mainboard can work without a battery (not exactly a high bar, but it's better than most), so your old mainboard can pop into a small case and get a second life as a NUC

We’ve done seven different versions of Mainboard for Framework Laptop 13 already!

* 11th Gen Intel Core

* 12th Gen Intel Core

* Chromebook Edition

* 13th Gen Intel Core

* Ryzen 7040 Series

* Intel Core Ultra Series 1

* Ryzen AI 300 Series

There are a couple of third party boards from DeepComputing too.

Re: I'm a laptop weirdo and that's why I like my new Framework 13

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Will I be able to use the same mainboard for a decade? Maybe, but you can actually just upgrade the mainboard. Framework has already done that cycle a couple of times. And they made sure the mainboard can work without a battery (not exactly a high bar, but it's better than most), so your old mainboard can pop into a small case and get a second life as a NUC

The mainboards typically cost as much as a new laptop. What really excites me is the prospect of 3rd party mainboards and other components. This ecosystem is still just getting started though. It seems like this is the beta product, I'll wait for the finished one.

No they don't, they start at a few hundred. They'd all be an upgrade for my bought-at-launch £750/800ish Framework 13.

An upgrade like that does mean I need new (DDR5) RAM too though, which tightens the gap a bit (or a byte, at the moment).

Post reply on HN