You can just be an informed consumer and not buy laptops with non-replaceable components. Don't give bad products money and incentive to keep making more like them.
the difference between a thinkpad T14 with replaceable RAM and SSD and a T14s with soldered RAM and SSD are minimal. depending on the specific generation and features, the T14s can be heavier than the T14.
i'd accept soldered RAM if it is at least 16GB, (though 32GB would be better) because i'd rarely need more than that. but a soldered SSD never. that holds my precious data, and even if i have a full backup, i do want to be able to take out the SSD when the laptop dies, or replace a broken or worn out SSD (as i had once). the risk of not being able to recover data from a soldered SSD is just not worth the few grams saved in weight.
The nice thing about picking up older laptops is that the upgraded models don't really hold as much extra value compared to what they cost new so if you keep looking you can get a pretty maxed out machine for not a lot more than the more common low-end ones.
a cloud backup for a 2TB disk is too expensive or to slow. an offline backup is not automatic and only current the moment i run it. a combination of both is more complex. an always synced full backup is difficult to achieve. it is possible when the only places where i use the laptop are at home and at the office. as soon as i add traveling and using expensive mobile data my backup becomes unreliable or to expensive to maintain or restore. in other words, even if i have a full backup, i can't always rely on it.
the data storage alone is not the issue. the cost of accessing that data is. not every place has unlimited fast internet that would allow you to download that much data without problems.
with a replaceable SSD i can (and in fact just did a few weeks ago) take the SSD from the old laptop and put it into the new one. took me 5 minutes.
restoring all that data from the cloud would have cost me a few hundred dollars in mobile data fees. or several weeks of visiting a restaurant which has free data, but would also have racked up a restaurant bill not to mention the time that would have been taken away from working.
it's reliable in the sense that the data is there and won't get lost, and i can always access it to download bits and pieces if i need them. it is not reliable in the sense that i could always do a full restore from it without cost. having an unsoldered SSD reduces (but doesn't eliminate) the risk of me having to do a costly full restore from that backup.
I travel for work not as much as I use to. But a full day on and off planes with layovers can turn into 14 hour days.
And that 14 hours turns into 8 going back and forth between conference rooms with it powering a USB C portable monitor which is getting power and video from one USB C cord.
not the same person, but i don't. however my laptop for sure does because even when i am not working it is used as a communication and entertainment device. and when traveling those hours go by fast. unfortunately battery run time is one of the issues that linux hasn't cracked yet. i wish i could get 14 hours of battery time out of my laptop
I don't think there is any middle ground left between thin and portable and all soldered and replaceable components and "transportable" instead of "portable".
Gaming like laptops are a no no for me, sorry. And I doubt there's anything just slightly larger than a macbook pro but with upgradeable components.
I really, really, really wanted to like Framework, but for the type of work I do with a laptop (GPU / CPU / RAM intensive video editing) I can literally get a laptop with twice the performance of a Framework laptop for half the price. Not to mention Framework laptops only display option is a (admittedly decent) IPS panel, when miniled and OLED panels are becoming increasingly commonplace on devices that cost less and offer better performance. They have also not come out with a new GPU module since launch, and their current GPU offering is woefully under powered, especially given it's absolutely ludicrous $550 USD price tag and there are seemingly no plans for any more powerful GPU modules in the future. I love the idea of a repairable / upgradeable laptop, but I really can't justify spending twice as much for half the power just for the thus far unrealized promise of future potential.
I have the 16” Framework model and I bought it as a replacement for my personal 2019 Macbook Pro 16 after the Macbook screen died last year. Apple wanted more than $700 for a replacement screen. After 17 years of owning Powerbooks and Macbooks, I decided to ditch Apple and instead buy a laptop that I could repair and upgrade easily. I’d compare Framework models to the Macbook Pro in terms of battery life and performance. The battery life and performance of new Framework builds don’t quite match the stats for new Macbook Pro models but the tradeoff is that the Framework models are less expensive, upgradeable, and very closely resemble the portability of a Macbook Pro.
They’re noticeably bigger and run warmer with less battery life than a Macbook Air.
You realize that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement right? Everything you are stating as a negative has been a solved problem for four years.
Portability in terms of weight it might be close. But according to the reviews I’ve seen they run hot and loud.
Because of timing and layovers, I spent an entire day going from ATL-LAX-SJC. Not having to worry about battery life and actually being able to use it on my lap without having to worry about infertility from the heat was a godsend.
There are always going to be tradeoffs. For me, on both my 13 (11th Gen Intel) and 16 (AMD), the battery lasts long enough ("a few hours", depending on workload), and they run cool and quiet enough (again, depending on workload). Still performant, still portable, more flexible than any other laptop I've ever owned.
Assuming Framework remains solvent and doesn't change the physical layout of their motherboards, I don't anticipate ever needing to buy another laptop.
> Other than an incredibly annoying habit of failing to sleep when its discrete GPU is awake,
I don't think we can blame Framework for that on their own, Microsoft must surely have a contribution to this.
But still, after getting used to apple's offerings I don't think I'd like a laptop where you need to check if it actually went to sleep instead of just closing the lid and moving along.
> They’re noticeably bigger and run warmer with less battery life than a Macbook Air.
Bigger is fine to a point. Less battery life, same. But the heat and noise when you have alternatives that don't have the problem...
> The fact that the battery lasted over 14 hours on a single charge in our battery life tests again shows just how good the 13-inch MacBook Air is for people who want a compact laptop they can use almost anywhere.
sadly, i'd prefer a size in the middle, a bit larger than 13.5 inch. also, i really need a trackpoint and dedicated mouse buttons, as i keep triggering the touchpad accidentally, so i have to disable at least the tap options, if not the whole touchpad alltogether. if framework would add some options there i'd consider it.
That's the miracle with apple's OS. And I say OS because I'm sure it filters out accidental input in software. The trackpad is made by whoever makes them for the x86 laptops too, but I really can't remember when it registered a touch when I didn't want it.
(I'm sure it happens occasionally, but not enough to be worth keeping track of.)