Stop. Never Buy a Laptop Again.

I've been through five laptops in the last 18 years, and I'm sick of the turnover. Granted, technology has advanced impressively in that time, but why the heck did I have to buy a whole new device every time I wanted to upgrade? What a waste of both my money and the world's finite resources!

The Framework 13 was my only daily driver for a few months, and did great during my 3000-mile cross-country move. Now, it's my-go to whenever I'm not working at my desk –

Heck, one of the times I bought a new laptop, it wasn't even outdated – it just fell out of my bag and got damaged. And here's the thing, the damage could have been fixed if the laptop were designed to be repairable.

That's why the last laptop I'll ever buy is the Framework -- I'm done buying technology that's been intentionally designed to break down.

Framework's ethos is simple: they want to "shrink the entire consumer electronics industry." Not something you usually hear from a Silicon Valley tech startup.

Every year, we churn out a staggering 40 million tons of e-waste globally, making up over 70% of our toxic waste. This isn't just a pile of old gadgets; it's a mountain of laptops, tablets, and household electronics. Each of these devices is a hefty investment, crafted from materials that leave a hefty mark on our planet. E-waste doesn't just vanish—it lingers, polluting our soil, air, and water.

Here's the kicker: these products are designed to be disposable. It's a cycle of buy, break, and replace. But what if we could break that cycle? Imagine a world where electronics are built to last, where repairability is the norm, not the exception. Turns out that's what Nirav Patel, Framework's founder, wants to turn into a reality.

"We want to take the notebook industry, this $200 billion industry, and turn it into a $100 billion industry, but one in which we're capturing more of that pie, and that's actually a model that we're going to just continue to take, category by category, across consumer electronics." (Source)

My experience so far

I've been using my Framework laptop for half a year so-far, and I'm beyond impressed. I love this thing. It's sleek, it's sexy, and its AMD processor is more than powerful enough to handle all my tasks -- including running local AI models like the Falcon 3, or LLama 3.2.

I'm just a huge fanboy for the idea of reducing our incredibly wasteful and destructive electronics industry, so the Framework model has me tickled pink

At 14 inches, it's small and light enough to carry with me wherever I go, and I can get as much as 8 hours of consistent battery life (if I'm just writing and web-surfing with the brightness down). Even when I run AI models, though, I still get around 4 hours of battery life on this thing's teensy little battery, which is pretty impressive.

Oh, and here's another thing: It's fricken modular. My configuration has two USB-A and two USB-C ports, but I can hot-swap in more USB-C, an HDMI port, or an Ethernet port at the drop of a hat. The Framework is designed to not only be repairable, but customizable to suit your needs. And it's got a built-in fingerprint sensor and headphone jack, so all your convenience bases are covered.

I run Windows on mine (it's now the only PC I have that doesn't run Linux Mint), but the Framework 13 is well known for supporting the Linux OS if that's what you prefer.

I spent weeks researching the Framework before purchasing one. I almost went with the newer Framework 16 (which has a swappable high-end GPU), but I knew that I eventually wanted to build my own desktop PC, so I decided to go with something light and portable. And I'm so happy.

The Framework 13 was my only daily driver for a few months, and did great during my 3000-mile cross-country move. Now, it's my-go to whenever I'm not working at my desk – perfect for time on the couch, the backyard, or out and about at coffee shops or the park.

My wife's Intel MacBook Air, and the M1 Mac I use for work, both pale in comparison to my little Framework 13. No, seriously, the M1 Mac feels clunky and slow, and compared to the Framework 13, the Intel MacBook Air is like wading through mud in the swamp of despair.

We're thinking of getting her a new laptop in the next couple of years, and I honestly want her to consider dropping the Apple ecosystem in favor of the Framework because it's just so darned good.

Also, at the end of the day, I'm just a huge fanboy for the idea of reducing our incredibly wasteful and destructive electronics industry, so the Framework model has me tickled pink. I just hope they keep developing new repairable and modular devices – maybe a phone next? Who knows!

Do you have a Framework? Tell me what you love about it in the comments!

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I’m Odin Halvorson, a librarian 📚, independent scholar 📖, film fanatic 🎬, fiction author 📝, and tech enthusiast 💻. If you like my work and want to support me, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to my newsletter for as little as $2.50 a month! 📣

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