This is definite validation of our product philosophy, and we're using this partnership to help develop documentation and processes to make it easier to support more partners in the future.
Please make more weird partnerships.
I'd love to have a pen tablet color E-Ink screen with a mechanical keyboard on a 13 inch laptop.
It is a great compromise between the readability of e-ink and the performance of LCD.
This 2015 Macbook Pro is getting rather dated.
The only suggestion I'd make is to get the upgraded screen (sorry, even more expensive). The default screen is OK, but it has a fairly distracting "dot pattern" over it in certain lights that I wish wasn't there, and the lower resolution is tough to go back to after using high-dpi displays. I'll probably get the upgraded screen at some point, but it's tough to justify buying a new screen for a brand-new laptop. Wish it had been available when I bought it, but that's life sometimes :)
The one downside to Framework is that they're nice laptops and (precisely because they're repairable and upgradable) they hold value really well... which means the second-hand market exists but isn't an easy way to score dirt cheap hardware. I can drop $200 on eBay and get a good thinkpad; I can't get any Framework anywhere close to that.
Framework does sell factory seconds for as low as $500 right now, though they need a few more components to be functional.
I'd second this idea. Could be doable by just making every component in the DIY edition optional during configuration, though I don't know how much that'd impact their current manufacturing flow (given that even the DIY edition laptops are mostly preassembled).
As more component upgrades other than motherboards become available, however, it may be that a more useful used market could develop. And it may be that building a 'used' laptop may end up usually involving buying a few new parts. For example, having, over time, upgraded the top cover, hinges, mainboard, battery, wifi card, RAM, and SSD, if I upgrade the display and camera with the soon-to-be-available new modules, I think someone could build a full laptop with my old parts, a bottom cover kit, an input cover, and some fasteners; it may be that the bottom cover (and fasteners) are the only parts there that would need to be purchased new, as I expect other people have replaced input covers (some of my keycaps are starting to degrade, but they actually degrade rather gracefully)
But still, this would be more complex than simply buying a used laptop, and would need a marketplace for all of those parts. I know there was some discussion from Framework hoping someday to facilitate a used component market; that seems like it would be challenging, but on the other hand, Framework seems to have been steadily, actually pursuing the goals they have laid out.