3 ms·

I find it interesting we need a start-up to cater for the desire for a repairable and upgradeable laptop. Dell, HP, Asus, MSI etc have already got the money and

I find it interesting we need a start-up to cater for the desire for a repairable and upgradeable laptop. Dell, HP, Asus, MSI etc have already got the money and the expertise. If there's really a market here why haven't they already taken it? My guess is that the market is small though disproportionately represented on HN.

wmf 5y ago
There appear to be several ThinkPad models that are just as repairable as Framework but maybe they don't count because they're black. Framework's real niche appears to be repairable shiny aluminum laptops (that don't run macOS). Compare https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/t14s_gen2_x13_gen2_hmm_en.pdf https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/t14s_gen2_x13... and https://guides.frame.work/Guide/Mainboard+Replacement+Guide/79 https://guides.frame.work/Guide/Mainboard+Replacement+Guide/... Dell recently showed a repairable concept https://www.delltechnologies.com/en-us/blog/pushing-the-boundaries-of-sustainable-pc-design-concept-luna/ https://www.delltechnologies.com/en-us/blog/pushing-the-boun... that gives pretty strong "don't buy Framework, just wait for us to catch up" vibes. Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29569470 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29569470
caslon 5y ago
A market done correctly can cannibalize another market, and that's very much a bad thing when you own both markets. You want to attempt ventures that can get new customers, rather than moving a subset of customers onto a platform where they will spend less money. Forcing people to upgrade often makes more money. Capitalism doesn't optimize for efficiency, it optimizes for revenue. Small companies are a great tool to squeeze out market inefficiencies. Just look at EVs, which have been useful for decades and only recently seen companies spending large amounts of money on them as a (formerly) small company was laying the marketing groundwork.

wmf 5y ago

There appear to be several ThinkPad models that are just as repairable as Framework but maybe they don't count because they're black. Framework's real niche appears to be repairable shiny aluminum laptops (that don't run macOS). Compare https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/t14s_gen2_x13_gen2_hmm_en.pdf https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/t14s_gen2_x13... and https://guides.frame.work/Guide/Mainboard+Replacement+Guide/79 https://guides.frame.work/Guide/Mainboard+Replacement+Guide/... Dell recently showed a repairable concept https://www.delltechnologies.com/en-us/blog/pushing-the-boundaries-of-sustainable-pc-design-concept-luna/ https://www.delltechnologies.com/en-us/blog/pushing-the-boun... that gives pretty strong "don't buy Framework, just wait for us to catch up" vibes. Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29569470 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29569470

caslon 5y ago

A market done correctly can cannibalize another market, and that's very much a bad thing when you own both markets. You want to attempt ventures that can get new customers, rather than moving a subset of customers onto a platform where they will spend less money. Forcing people to upgrade often makes more money. Capitalism doesn't optimize for efficiency, it optimizes for revenue. Small companies are a great tool to squeeze out market inefficiencies. Just look at EVs, which have been useful for decades and only recently seen companies spending large amounts of money on them as a (formerly) small company was laying the marketing groundwork.