Those things are too rich for my blood, but it seems to me like the concept is a great idea, and it would be nice if something like that became cheaper and standardized across brands.
I've always been really annoyed by the fact that laptops with socketed CPUs disappeared a decade ago. And these days a ton of laptop manufacturers are very eager to solder the SSD and RAM as well. This occasionally goes as far as laptops with permanent, soldered single channel RAM, and that's horrifying. These things are destined to be e-waste, ending up in landfills far sooner than typical for equivalent desktop components.
When you upgrade a desktop you have so many more options that will save you money over buying a totally new system. GPUs are essentially plug 'n play. You can often upgrade the CPU just as easily, though every once in a while you'll need to replace the motherboard. Same goes for RAM. Everything else can almost always be reused: the case, the fans, the CPU cooler, the storage, the monitor, the mouse, and the keyboard. Even the PSU if you're not getting a significantly more power hungry CPU or GPU. All of that can add up to a ton of money.
Socketed CPUs in laptops are probably never coming back due to how much space they tend to take up. And laptop GPUs will probably never be socketed in the first place for the same reason. But if you could buy a standardized chassis and simply swap out entire motherboards that come in a standardized laptop form factor, upgrading would be so much more cost efficient, as would laptop repair. Also, lets bring back easily removable and swappable laptop batteries while we're at it.
Unfortunately, this all flies in the face of the inherent capitalist enshittification going on with consumer electronics, and I'm skeptical Framework will ever be anything more than a very expensive niche for enthusiasts who like to tinker with their devices. But I don't see any technical reasons why something like this wouldn't be possible and practical.
I agree, they are way too expensive to be even considered as a laptop. Generally for me, laptops should be $600 or less, and 600 is a generous limit. I don't feel comfortable carrying such an expensive machine around with me. I read a quote from a framework laptop video that framework doesn't produce the best laptops in the market, but they are the best laptop producers. Maybe that's true, but it's going to be a good couple of years (probably a decade) before these machines get to a comfortable consumer price range.
It's also a large part of my complaint against manufacturers like System76 and Tuxedo whose laptops also suffer from being way too expensive.
the refurb last gen frameworks were almost in your price bracket back when they sold them I think... laptops are kinda a racket tho in general. performance and battery life always seems to nosedive in short order
Curious how expensive a phone do you have?
lotta people rock phones that come cheap or free with their phone plan or used last gen type stuff.
I have a pinephone pro now ($400 new, I got it secondhand for less than half that) but even before that I've never paid big money out of pocket for a phone. Its a racket, they are nice and all but it doesnt last. for a long time the moto G line was a goto rec for people who wanted a cheap sturdy phone, and thats not $600+
Same here, I've been using the same iPhone since 2017. Got it as a gift from my parents, and since then I've seen no reason to get a new one because it still works entirely fine for my purposes: calling, texting, email, and light web browsing.
Similar position. I use a phone until the battery doesn't carry me 3 hours between outlets and then get whatever meets my needs
Pixel 7a which is around the 500 dollar price range on the google store, but if you get it resale from an online retailer like BackMarket it's closer to $300, it's running GrapheneOS btw.
If you're even more interested, my main work computer is a AMD Lenovo Yoga 6 2 in 1 that I swiped at Bestbuy for ~$450 clearance section running Linux Mint 21.3 with the Linux 6.5 kernel.
Used M1 MacBook Air running Asahi would be the move if I were in the market for a laptop at the moment imo
I've always thought of that, even more now considering that Fedora Asahi Remix is out. I still worry about switching from x86_64 to ARM, but that will change now that Fedora is backing the project. Still waiting for the price to go down even further.
I'm just waiting for Plasma 6/Ubuntu 24.04 to come out to really consider upgrading.