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I really want to love this thing but at least in the UK, matching specs it comes out as more expensive than the MBP - even worse when you factor in potential di
by kingsleyopara 6mo ago
I really want to love this thing but at least in the UK, matching specs it comes out as more expensive than the MBP - even worse when you factor in potential discounts/sales which framework doesn't offer.
Framework 13 Pro: £2064 (Ultra X7 358H, 16GB, 1TB, default ports, no adapter)
Framework 13 Pro: £2264 (Ultra X7 358H, 32GB, 1TB, default ports, no adapter)
MacBook Pro 14: £1699 (M5, 16GB, 1TB, no adapter)
MacBook Pro 14: £2099 (M5, 32GB, 1TB, no adapter)
MacBook Pro 14: £2199 (M5 Pro, 24GB, 1TB, no adapter) - added as I think it’s an even better deal
- levkk 6mo agoOn top of it, intel chips are not competitive with apple silicon. Why buy a laptop that's 30% slower and uses more energy for the same price?
- wao0uuno 6mo agoTo be able to run any OS you want.
- pb7 6mo agoCan it run macOS?
- cogman10 6mo agoFor now, yes. But probably not for the next macos release.
- clifflocked 6mo agoSee https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
- encom 6mo agoTo avoid having to use Mac OS, and suffering the whims of Apple.
- ezst 6mo ago30% slower than a M5 is a M3/M4. I will take that, thank, and not concern myself with MacOS or the thousand cuts of leaving x86.
- Neikius 6mo agoDoes MBP run Linux? That would be the selling point for me ... But I guess I am not in a big group. Also MBP is not really repairable at all.
- adityamwagh 6mo agoYes, see https://asahilinux.org/ https://asahilinux.org/
- I_am_tiberius 6mo agoWould be super interested if any person on this planet uses this as the main driver.
- gedy 6mo agoI do, for work at least. Works nice aside from the lack of USB-C monitor (mine has a HDMI output so not a huge deal for me.)
- blt 6mo agoIn the dev branch now! https://asahilinux.org/2026/02/progress-report-6-19/ https://asahilinux.org/2026/02/progress-report-6-19/ I will attempt to use Asahi as my daily driver once this is officially released.
- Retr0id 6mo agoI do.
- jazzyjackson 6mo agoYes its much less annoying than macos on my m1 macbook.
- ErneX 6mo agoNot the M5.
- rjh29 6mo agoComparing it to a MacBook misses the point. The reason to buy the framework is modularity, repairability, customisability. You can upgrade your CPU, add specific ports you want, change ram. You can't do any of that with a Mac.
- rick_dalton 6mo agoIn his presentation, Nirav compared it twice to a MacBook. Even saying they want to build the MacBook of the Linux world iirc. While I also agree with you, it’s still a valid comparison.
- matthewkayin 6mo agoYeah, it is a valid comparison, and assuming the quality is close to par with a macbook, I think it would be worth the extra cost. I'm someone who doesn't want to go through a new laptop every other year. I've got an M1 mac right now. I've owned it for 5 years and could easily see myself getting another 5 years of use out of it. Only problem is, the hard drive is small, I can't upgrade it. It only has 16 GB RAM, which is fine for now, but I can't upgrade it. One of the 2 USB C ports gave out on me. I can't repair it. If I had a laptop that I could repair and upgrade that also ran Linux? I would absolutely pay $2k for it - as long as the quality is good - because I think I would save money in the long term by making a laptop like that last a long time.
- buu700 6mo ago
- altairprime 6mo agoEverything that isn’t a MacBook will be more expensive than a MacBook, so you should choose a price you want to spend and then evaluate if you prefer a Framework or a Mac at that price point. If your available spending power is too low for a Framework, you’re not getting a Framework — and, separately, if you want a Framework for some reason specific to the Framework and can afford one, then the price of a Mac isn’t relevant unless a Mac can satisfy that same reason.
- angulardragon03 6mo ago> Everything that isn’t a MacBook will be more expensive than a MacBook Unrelated, but never thought I’d see this kind of sentiment
- pdpi 6mo agoIt's specifically aimed at Framework, though, not PCs in general. Framework is very much a premium brand (where the premium experience is centred on repairability/upgradeability), and don't have the economies of scale Apple do. It's natural that they'd end up being more expensive.
- altairprime 6mo ago> not PCs in general Yeah, I’m assuming just the one of the various tiers here that’s in the same bucket as MacBooks, and that we’re generally talking devices that are specialty-capable; such as media production or Linux development or gaming or what have you. If you lump the entire “portable screen bigger than nine? inches and with an in-box physical keyboard and pointer controller” market together, you’ll disregard ‘glorified word processors’ that cost a couple hundred bucks (before the RAM underproduction grift) in their own specialty niche. Framework isn’t competing there, right? (I could have missed something..)
- stetrain 6mo ago> Everything that isn’t a MacBook will be more expensive than a MacBook Imagine telling this to someone in 2010 or 2015.
- simonjgreen 6mo agoThis is largely driven by RAM prices, which is a real shame.
- nerdix 6mo agoI bought a Thinkpad P16s with 64 GB of LPDDR5x ram in October 2024 for just over $1100. 64 GB of LPDDR5x will add $849 to the price of a Framework 13 Pro. Thats insane. I would love a future Framework 16 Pro but that will probably run $3500 for the configuration that I would want if memory and storage prices don't come down.
- d3Xt3r 6mo agoYou need to consider the upgradability aspect too - the next time you want to upgrade, you just need to buy a new mainboard, which would be considerably cheaper than buying a whole new laptop.
- robocat 6mo agoA new mainboard that may need new memory. From another comment in thread: I have 64GB of DDR4 in my current laptop, and replacing that with the same amount of LPCAMM2 LPDDR5X is probably more expensive than the rest of the laptop itself. And another: I just had my mainboard die, and I was advised there currently isn't another mainboard in stock that works with my old DDR4 RAM
- Lammy 6mo agoDumb comparison, because buying a Framework is a single transaction where I exchange money for a computer, and buying a Mac is an entrypoint to “The Ecosystem” where Apple wants to squeeze me for $<pricing_tier>/month forever. Peep the margins on “Products” versus “Services” and you will understand what Apple's incentives are and why just selling me hardware isn't it: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/fy2026-q1/FY26_Q1_Consolidated_Financial_Statements.pdf https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/fy2026-q1/FY26_Q1_Consol...
- llbbdd 6mo agoI've bought two Apple products in my life, both Macbook Pros, one in 2014 and one in 2021. I have a Pixel phone, zero transactions in the App Store all-time, pay $0 to Apple on any kind of subscription basis. Not disagreeing with the nature of their incentive structure, but if they're intentionally crippling their hardware division somehow to squeeze me for money, they're really bad at it.
- iririririr 6mo ago[flagged]
- llbbdd 6mo agoThey were accused of that by people who didn't understand that batteries degrade over time, and the resulting legal suits were entirely about disclosing the throttling, not the throttling itself. Newer iPhone models still do the exact same thing, they just provide more information about it, and let you toggle it off. The idea that they were doing this maliciously never made sense anyway, customers who haven't upgraded in a while might be the least lucrative audience to target.
- iririririr 6mo agoyet they released a "fix" later. you're just eating up the damage control narrative they pushed later, on ios18. and they also pushed it in 26 for some reason
- yonatan8070 6mo agoAt least it's available in the UK I've wanted to get a Framework for a long time now, but their lack of shipping to Israel (and active prevention of using Freight forwarders) has prevented me. If they were willing to sell me the 13 Pro, I'd sell my Yoga Pro 7 in a heartbeat to replace with a 13 Pro
- porphyra 6mo agoAlso very sad that the M5 dominates the X7 358H in singlethreaded performance, not to mention the M5 Pro that dominates it in both single- and multithreaded performance.
- 4k93n2 6mo agohow would they compare over 10-15 years though. with one you are able to swap out the motherboard when you want an upgrade and with the other you have to buy a completely new device. then when it comes to repairing broken parts they are on opposite ends of the scale where apple actually go out of their way to make it harder for you to do that and its probably more expensive as well since only apple certified repair shops have access to certain parts
- aembleton 6mo ago> the other you have to buy a completely new device. You can sell the old Macbook and recoup a lot of the original investment.
- einpoklum 6mo agoFor reference, comparing against a budget laptop: Leno 14.1": £300.19 (i7-8650U, 16GB, 1TB) Leno 14.1": £341.59 (i7-8650U, 32GB, 1TB) https://aliexpress.com/item/1005010289025003.html https://aliexpress.com/item/1005010289025003.html
- pjmlp 6mo agoSame in Germany, it ends around similar Apple and Thinkpad prices.
- ericd 6mo agoI’d just keep in mind that you’re comparing a niche product from a startup breaking into a notoriously competitive market who are also doing the harder task of making these slim devices user upgradeable to a product from one of the largest companies in the world, with a CEO that is well known for being a master of supply chain, and with all of the economies of scale. And they’re miraculously within 10-20% of each other.
- muyuu 6mo agoIf you're even making this comparison, buy the MBP or keep looking.
- Sweepi 6mo agoIf anything brakes on the Framework, you get all the docs you need to attempt a repair yourself, also spare parts are available, also, you can upgrade SSD/RAM/Mainboard and ports. Apple: Every repair is Mainboard replacement and costs 70% of the used value of the Notebook. Upgrades are impossible. Have a nice day!
- manuhabitela 6mo agoTo nuance this, the more you go up in specs, the more macbook become more expensive than comparable framework. Try to compare with a 64GB framework or 2TB framework for example. One benefit of framework is you may not need to get storage, and just go use the one in your current laptop, saving around £200. And you might even try to source the RAM on your own to save a few more. But I admit that is somewhat difficult these days haha. We should also consider that repairability, upgradability and open hardware/software support don't come for free and are features that are worth paying for.
- mistercheph 5mo agoPrice of computer vs iPad keyboard edition