These guys do a mechanical keyboard on a laptop. similar idea as framework, maybe a bit more raw.

https://www.crowdsupply.com/mnt/reform

Yea this is the real hacker dream machine, I’m always sad framework is getting more love when it’s not open hardware or open source.

$1500 for a machine which is so underpowered it's hardly anything more than an expensive toy for programmers with too much money. I love the trackball and mechanical keyboard though. Shame it's far too overpriced and underpowered for any kind of daily driver usage.

I mean, that's literally what it is, an expensive toy for hackers

Well, I would give my left nut for a laptop like this that's actually useful though.

But $1500 for a fun weekend project is a disgusting waste of resources that I can't afford. I used to have to live off of less than that for the whole month, so the mere thought of it makes me angry.

I don't think the fun of it will last only a weekend, and I don't think you have to get angry at expensive toys. It's more than I would want to pay though.

I currently use the "digital piano" measure of price. My Roland FP-10 + stand cost me around 500 euros, and that is going to bring me many hours of practise and interest. I don't think it's likely that this laptop will beat that, so it's not great value. I don't think it's really terrible though

I really don't think it would last more than a weekend. If I can't use this thing for anything peoductive, why is it even in a portable form factor? If I wanted to tinker with computationally cheap software on the go, any shitty laptop from 10 years ago would be fine. If the only thing I want is tinker with hardware, that's only gonna happen at home anyway, might as well just get a raspberry pi. I just don't see a point of this being portable with such weak components, at that price.

It's my dream laptop form factor with useless hardware in it. Just too good to be true I guess. Maybe someone will make a board with a real computer for it, fingers crossed

I know a few people whose main hobby for many years has been fiddling with their Linux distribution, so I can see it lasting a long time for people like that

The SoM can be swapped out, and other ones are in development. The ability to just slot in 18650s for the battery means it could outlast most other laptops (as a portable machine) as well.

Definitely more raw, but lots more open hardware on the Reform than you'll get from Framework:

https://source.mnt.re/reform/reform

But yes, it's a slow ARM system, so you have to temper your expectations. I've been using mine a bit more lately and enjoying it though. :)

> democratizing higher end computing

Framework's PCBs and schematics are proprietary and patented.

It's just a proprietary laptop with some parts made easier to replace.

If you are referring to the price - they are not exceptionally cheap.

They don't design PCB's completely themselves. Usually these designs are created with the actual manufacturer, which don't allow open sourcing of their designs.

Framework is not perfect, but they come way closer than other companies. Not even companies like System76, which are open source focused, are able to go that far (they use Clevos with Intel ME largely disabled).

How is this "democratizing higher end computing"?