I think the idea is that at the point when you would upgrade you would just buy the new motherboard rather than a whole new laptop so the future prices will be cheaper for you but the price to initially get on board is kind of steep because of it. But this is also putting a lot of trust in that at the time you want to upgrade they’ll still be making compatible boards.
I had this perspective too when I made the decision to buy one in 2022. But recently what I learned is that their modern gen mainboards often cost between 2/3rds - 3/4ths of a full laptop with the exact same CPU from competitors.
With the amount I have spent on the initial purchase, and now an upgraded board, I would have easily been able to buy two laptops from some other company. I likely would have also ended up having a better display, a better battery than what was available in 2022, newer wifi, and so forth. So no, “upgradability” is not an actual benefit of Framework laptops in my experience.
That aside, I ultimately don’t regret my purchase because I did spill a beer on it last year and I was able to fix it for about $50 worth of parts. Framework’s value comes almost entirely from being able to repair it and eco-friendliness/sustainability.
I think the idea is that at the point when you would upgrade you would just buy the new motherboard rather than a whole new laptop so the future prices will be cheaper for you but the price to initially get on board is kind of steep because of it. But this is also putting a lot of trust in that at the time you want to upgrade they’ll still be making compatible boards.
I had this perspective too when I made the decision to buy one in 2022. But recently what I learned is that their modern gen mainboards often cost between 2/3rds - 3/4ths of a full laptop with the exact same CPU from competitors.
With the amount I have spent on the initial purchase, and now an upgraded board, I would have easily been able to buy two laptops from some other company. I likely would have also ended up having a better display, a better battery than what was available in 2022, newer wifi, and so forth. So no, “upgradability” is not an actual benefit of Framework laptops in my experience.
That aside, I ultimately don’t regret my purchase because I did spill a beer on it last year and I was able to fix it for about $50 worth of parts. Framework’s value comes almost entirely from being able to repair it and eco-friendliness/sustainability.
It’s sad that eco friendliness comes at a premium