My favorite laptop of 2022 is from 2021, and that’s a problem
My favorite laptop of 2022 is from 2021, and that’s a problem.
I’m thinking of course about the Framework Laptop, which launched in the summer of 2021 as the most user-repairable and upgradeable laptop I’ve ever seen.
If you’ve missed our coverage of the company, Framework is the team building a business out of selling laptops you can take apart and repair or upgrade yourself. They design their laptops to be easily opened and put back together, with just a few screws and a screwdriver included with every unit sold. Inside all the parts are labeled, complete with QR codes which link to repair guides as well as places to buy replacement parts. Framework also publishes repair guides specifically so that third-party repair shops can easily repair these laptops if you can’t or don’t care to.
When I first heard Framework’s sales pitch I thought it sounded ridiculous, but not because it was a bad idea. To the contrary, I think it’s a great idea, but I didn’t believe a modern startup would really design a piece of consumer tech that could be so easily repaired, modified and tinkered with; years of increasingly anti-customer designs and business practices from the likes of Apple, Microsoft et al had ground down my trust in tech companies and their promises.
Framework continues to make one of the best laptops on the market, with a unique selling point no competitor can match.”
I was wrong.
When Framework sent us a review unit I scoured it for weaknesses: Performance shortcomings, corners cut with cheap parts, poorly-designed guides, bloatware, the works. I found almost nothing to complain about, and certainly no smoking gun to suggest Framework was anything less than serious about its mission to build a more repairable, recyclable laptop that isn’t bulky, ugly or prohibitively expensive.
To the contrary, I found that a fully-assembled Framework looks nearly identical to any other sleek ultraportable at a coffee shop, and its performance and pricing make it competitive with the best laptops from Apple, Dell, Microsoft, Samsung and more. And that’s without even mentioning its innovative Expansion Card system. which lets you assemble a collection of Cards and swap them into the Framework’s four…
