Framework makes laptops that are designed to be easily disassembled and upgraded but are as thin and light as mainstream models. Prices start at $999 for an off-the-shelf model and $749 for a bag o' parts kit; depending on how you configure it, it'll ship in September or October.
A thin, lightweight, high-performance 13.5" notebook that can be upgraded, customized, and repaired in ways that no other notebook can. Proof that designing products to last doesn't require sacrificing performance, quality, or style.
In the video above, PC World tears one down and is impressed; the reviewer declares that all laptops should be made like this. Early reviews are good, too. After a few efforts along these lines, perhaps this is the one.
"A poster child for the right-to-repair movement, Framework's modular laptop is one of the smartest designs I've seen in a long time."– Lori Grunin, CNET (8.5/10)
"It's the ultimate Right to Repair laptop." – Gordon Ung, PCWorld
"The Framework Laptop is more than just [a] worthwhile experiment in modularity, it's also a great laptop." – Luke Larson, Digital Trends (4/5)
One note for many of the people who I think would be interested: it comes with Windows 10, and Linux support is still at the haruspicy stage.
Here's the pitch:
Consumer electronics is broken. We've all had the experience of a busted screen, button, or connector that can't be fixed, battery life degrading without a path for replacement, or being unable to add more storage when full. Individually, this is irritating and requires us to make unnecessary and expensive purchases of new products to get around what should be easy problems to solve. Globally though, it's much worse. We create over fifty million tons of e-waste each year. That's 6 kg or 13 lb per person on earth per year, made up of our former devices. We need to improve recyclability, but the biggest impact we can make is generating less waste to begin with by making our products last longer.
