Image description: Image shows batches 1, 2 and 3 sold out for the Ryzen 7 7840HS which costs $1,399.
For now both DIY and prebuild edition (all configurations) are in batch 4 which ships in late Q4 2023.
this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2023
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I just had a look at their motherboards, nearly AUD$1000 shipped for the cheapest available 12th gen board... board only.
Just bought a ThinkPad with 16gb dual channel and 1TB nvme for $60 less than this and it has an on-site warranty.
I love the idea but the pricing is insane.
Just pricing the minimum possible 16" machine came to AUD$2400 with no ram, no SSD, no OS, no numpad and no charger.
Add all this things, even self bought your looking at over $3k or even $4k if you want the GPU
I wish them luck... They're going to need it.
I just got a pre-order for one of the Framework 16's. The issue Framework has at the moment is scale. Lenovo has the size and customer base to produce an absolute insane number of laptops compared to Frameworks operation. So cost is going to be 30, 50 or even 100% more than the big boys like Asus, Lenovo or HP. They won't ever get that scale unless people believe in it and buy one.
However, there's one other thing which I justified my purchase with. I could buy a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme with the i7-2700H, 32gb of ram and a RTX 3050ti for $AUD4,929. Or I could buy the Framework 16 with Ryzen 7840HS, 32GB ram, Radeon 7700s for $AUD3,916. Both of these processors and GPUs are similarly speced, in fact I believe the benchmarks had the Framework slightly ahead, but the framework comes out over $AUD1000 cheaper. Yes the Thinkpad X1 Extreme is their uber premium model, but just as you pay a premium for Lenovo's business grade hardware, you pay a premium for Frameworks repairability.
As a person who works in e-waste, probably off by magnitide when it comes to how much companies with leasing divisions (Dell/HP/Lenovo) produces over companies that dont (Pc part manufacturers like Asus/MSI/Gigabyte). Its obscene how much desktops/laptops go straight to resale/recycling.
Just popped that Lenovo into my small business cart and got $1000 under what you've mentioned (assumed you went with upgraded screen, the 60hz 300nits screen is a piece of crap and shouldn't exist in a machine of that calibre), but even at that price the framework does seem more attractive.
No doubt if you take money out of the equation it's a good option, but if you're on a budget you could hunt down a similar specced Lenovo Legion or something for a bit less.
I believe the price difference came from you being part of the Lenovo business store, I didn't use that the last time and just used the standard consumer store.
I just re-entered the specs on the consumer store for the X1 Extreme Gen 5 16" and got 5,214 Australian Dollars. Otherwise it might be if you aren't in Australia, did you get the local dollar amount and convert to AUD or did you use the Australian store directly?
Anyway, doesn't change the main point as you say that if you are bargain hunting, the Framework 16 isn't the way to go but it's still a good laptop from what we can see. I don't mind spending more for the framework since I believe in what it stands for. Plus who knows what might come with upgrades down the line.
Maybe Australia's offerings are different, but I see this board with an 11th gen i5 for USD $299. There's a ton in the $300-500 price range with several different configurations. That's really the interesting range for doing hobby projects.
I deliberately ignored 11th gen, is old enough that refurbished equivalents can be bought for the same price on eBay with a case, power supply, ram, storage, wifi and OS licence for the same money.
With the framework board you get none of that.
And as for it being an option for embedded use, there are far better options.
I know this all sounds negative... But I'm truly trying to like the idea. I can't see it catching and reaching the mass needed to become more sustainable at this point.
It's just going to remain a niche untill they die... Or maybe they can survive on the small numbers? (Which I think would be great by the way, I'm very proud choice, just not a fan of the price!)
Honestly, I'm impressed they're selling to Australia.