For those of you playing the home game, my 2015 Macbook Pro went tits up a few months ago.  Since then I have been wrestling with the idea of a replacement.  Apple's current lineup is ...old and kind of crap.  Their recent "California Streaming" event was a massive disappointment (I will not be doing my radio show from a smart phone, KTHX.)  More broadly, I'm kinda done with Apple's anti-repair bullshit.  I'm not done with MacOS, but I think for the next period of time I'm going to be sticking with stationary Apple products (I still have an iPhone, which I dislike but view as an inescapable evil like taxes and leaf blowers.)  

I have never owned a PC laptop.  I don't particularly like Windows.  I mean, it's fine for video games and a few specific audio apps (Exact Audio Copy, Foobar 2000) but as a primary OS?  shudder  With all of this said, I'm seriously considering making my next laptop a Framework.  There have been a bunch of positive reviews of them from prominent tech toobers.  A certain Bob-the-Tomato-sounding Canadian who is prone to making heaps of cash and dropping things liked Framework so much he invested in the company.  

I don't have the operating capital of that high pitched hyperactive YouTube content machine, but as I said I do have a strong need for a new laptop.  Linus squeaks out some good points in this video and the other one he made.  iFixit did a far less, ahem, infotainment focused review, but they also really liked it:

So far I have one beef with Framework's design and it's not a small one.  The keyboard:

What. The. Fuck. Are. Those. Arrow. Keys.  It's 2021, not 1985.  This is a laptop, not a shitty wireless keyboard meant to be used with smart TVs.  That arrow key arrangement is utterly unacceptable. I'm so bothered by it I'm almost not willing to make a purchase.  Keyboards are an important matter for me.  I learned to type on an IBM Model M in the 1980s and the buckling spring permanently affected the way I interact with and view keyboards.  Also, I have freakishly large hands (Canon pro DSLR bodies feel too small for me) and tend type with entirely too much force.  I have broken ...3 laptop keyboards, including my current one.  Again, Apples "fuck you" attitude about repairs is sufficiently annoying that a model with a replaceable keyboard (even with horrid arrow keys) is basically a necessity to me at this point.

Framework's prices aren't too bad either, at least for someone who has been in the Tim Apple ecosystem for the last dozen+ years.  I have a few major fires to put out in the next week including property tax (see above), car insurance (ibid) and two Eat Static album re-issues (a man has to have priorities.)  When the dust from the above as settled and assuming our short-bus-on-bath-salts elected officials manage to raise the debt ceiling and not crater the world economy, I'm probably going to buy one.

by their lineup I'm assuming you mean their intel lineup.  Because the m1 laptops are brilliant.

And by the time the / your dust has settled it may be time for the rumored M1X / M2 laptops ...

 

 

Kind of where I'm at too. Waiting for the MB Pro 16" with M1. Supposed to be coming soon.

It has to be a laptop, right?  You sometimes (and hope to return to) DJing out, right?  So it can't be a Mac Mini or mini desktop (+ keyboard + mouse + mousepad + portable monitor), right?

Yeah, I don't know what to tell you, I tend to stick to the tried and true.  So I ended up pre-ordering an Asus.

I've been following the Framework laptops.  I wouldn't put a whole lot of credence into his investment, though -- that's more of a vote of confidence in their business model of perpetual upgradeability, than it is in the machine itself.

That said, I do kinda really dig that modular, perpetually upgradeable platform.  Tres cool.

And having used both Windows and MacOS, I would suspect you will be reminded of things with the Windows OS that will frustrate you inordinately, that you haven't thought of, yet. 

Am also waiting on 16" M1/M2/M1X/whatever to replace 2016 MBP.

Soon™?

Work is affording me the opportunity to try this:

Lot's to both like and maybe not like about it but given that it isn't my financial risk I figured why not?  It had to be a Win-based machine and for mobile presentations and marking up submittals/schedules/etc. it could be a game changer.

^ I’m interested in that Surface as well. Let me know what you think after you’ve had a chance to play with it. 

7 hours ago, Knuckledragger said:

So far I have one beef with Framework's design and it's not a small one.

Where's the nipple mouse?

7 hours ago, Knuckledragger said:

What. The. Fuck.

Indeed.

Edited October 8, 20214 yr by dsavitsk

16 hours ago, n_maher said:

Work is affording me the opportunity to try this:

Lot's to both like and maybe not like about it but given that it isn't my financial risk I figured why not?  It had to be a Win-based machine and for mobile presentations and marking up submittals/schedules/etc. it could be a game changer.

Awesome! Like @Kerry I'd love to hear your thoughts. I have a ThinkPad X1 Yoga and work/home docking stations, and find it is just about perfect for mixed desktop/portable/tablet usage. The Studio's fold down screen seems like it would be even better than the fold-back Yoga.

Framework announced their parts marketplace: https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/14/22725935/framework-laptop-modular-marketplace-launches-spare-parts-upgrades-expansions

I looked at the new Surface devices, but none of them work particularly well for my coworkers.

I'll start a new thread for this at some point but the Surface Laptop Studio (henceforth SLS) is here and is a pretty impressive device. Not sure I'd be happy to pay retail for it but yay work for ponying up.  I've already played with the whiteboard app a bit and it's pretty neat. More follow but enough thread clogging for now.  

Looks decent, but unimpressive battery life (maybe it would be better with a lower-res display):

https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/framework-laptop-diy-edition-review

AMD and a 16-inch version of Framework laptops coming up:

AMD: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/03/framework-gives-its-modular-laptops-13th-gen-intel-cpus-and-finally-an-amd-option/

16-inch: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/03/frameworks-next-project-is-a-16-inch-modular-upgradeable-gaming-laptop/