Just to be clear: You are comparing today's Framework regular prices to a laptop you bought months or years ago, on sale?
Almost every Windows laptop is perpetually on sale after the first few months.
If we want to crank it up a notch,
MSI Raider 16 Max HX (2026): 16" QHD+ 240Hz OLED, Intel Ultra 9 290HX Plus, RTX 5080, 32GB DDR5, 1TB SSD $2299.99 https://slickdeals.net/f/19458276-msi-raider-16-max-hx-2026-...
A 5080 laptop with 16 GB of VRAM Vs about 3000$ for the Framework with a 5070 and 8 GB of VRAM.
At the price of the RAM (I never fill my 32GB, why would I buy any?), not buying a new machine basically pays for the first laptop premium.
Next upgrade, I'll be saving money.
And giving money to an ecosystem I like, creating a stronger competitor with those values.
Love it.
If you watch the sales on other laptops you can easily get similar specs for half of what framework is charging. I have a 5070TI laptop I purchased for around 1200$ after a rebate.
Not only does the Framework 16 only offer the significantly weaker 5070 addon, it ends up totalling to about 2500$.
Maybe in 5 or 6 years Framework will sort out its QC and offer better GPUs, but it's not for me today.