“We hope you are enjoying your Framework laptop! We only provide full schematics and assembly drawings to repair shops who get Framework products in for repair. Let us know if we can help with anything else.”
You can upgrade your mainboard/cpu, RAM, SSD, wifi card. Swap in a new speaker, display, hinge, keyboard, touchpad, webcam, fingerprint reader, antenna, headphone jack, etc.
And complete schematics are available to repair shops under an NDA if you would like to have your mainboard or similar repaired at the component level.
I can do all that with every Lenovo laptop I’ve owned. All parts can be purchased.
Displays definitely break in laptops. I replaced one in an old Acer after it cracked in a backback under a seat on a plane. It took some work to find compatible ones and some details on the disassembly. The little plastic clips that often break made it fussy and annoying. Compare that to framework which has a magnetic bezel around the display and easy disassembly, sells the panel directly, and makes available a guide for something that will only take you 5 to 15 minutes: https://guides.frame.work/Guide/Display+Replacement+Guide/86...
I replace the ram/ssd/wifi in my X1 Extreme Gen 1. And ordered a speaker from Lenovo to replace it.
Yes it’s more complicated to repair. But look at the hardware you get in the form factor compared to the framework.
Doesn’t change the fact you can order parts on Lenovo laptops and fix them.
Not everything is as hostile as a macbook.
I don't see why someone would spend $1000 for a laptop, then spend as much as an entire laptop to swap a single component that provides less utility than another laptop at the same or lower price.
If Framework had a killer warranty or even a buy-back / trade in option in their marketplace, I would reconsider, but any upgrade leftovers aren't useful to other Framework owners barring hardware failures, which shouldn't be a barrier because they are marketed as being repairable.
As it stands, they've just externalized the costs of responsibility in an attempt to create a market for premium modularity.
You also cannot buy a Framework chassis without a mainboard. Why not, if they aim to be eco friendly? Why create a barrier to buying second hand components?
A few decades ago nearly all but the most complicated devices could have their entire schematic printed in the last few pages of the owner's manual.
Today... a typical PC mainboard schematic might be hundreds or thousands of pages dealing with all sorts of complications for RF and stuff.
What would 99.999% of people do with such a schematic?
Go find one and take a look. Seriously, they're out there. Google an OEM name followed by "schematic" (quoted, because otherwise anti-repair Google will misdirect you to owner's manuals and other shit) and start reading. I'll challenge you to find one that's over 100 pages, because I personally haven't seen one. They're closer to 50-70.