Modular smartphones have already been, now it’s time for modular laptops

Today, it is increasingly difficult to find consumer electronics that can be easily repaired or upgraded at the hardware level. Smartphones and laptops are designed in such a way that repairing them on your own is almost impossible or requires a lot of time and skills. Fortunately, there are companies that go against the trends. One of them is Framework, which released a modular laptop with ChromeOS.

First Fairphone, now Framework

A few years ago, the first Fairphone smartphone debuted on the market, which can be repaired or upgraded by replacing hardware modules sold separately. Its manufacturer adheres to its concept to this day. A year ago, the Fairphone 4 debuted, which, in addition to being easy to repair, also offers a five-year warranty.

Although Fairphone smartphones are certainly not bestsellers, such a long presence in the market and announcements of the next generations suggests that the business must be successful. And the Framework company, using the example of its colleagues, decided to implement it, not only in smartphones, but also in laptops.

The manufacturer’s portfolio already included laptops running Windows and Linux. Yesterday, a new model was introduced – Chromebook Edition, which runs on Google’s operating system, that is, ChromeOS.

The Framework Chromebook Edition features a 13.5-inch 3:2 aspect ratio screen and a 12th Gen Intel Core i5-1240P processor. The base specification includes 8GB of RAM and a 256GB NVMe drive. Maximum buyers will be able to order a model with 64 GB of RAM and a 1 TB drive.

Also, the Framework product is distinguished by the aforementioned modularity. What does this mean in practice? Its design allows users to decide how many ports and on which side of the device they need. Also, owners will be able to choose which ports they are most interested in and consider necessary in their configuration. Moreover, the laptop’s BIOS and firmware are based on open source solutions. All this in order to make any hardware modifications as less problematic as possible.

The Framework Chromebook Edition is now available to order on the manufacturer’s website for $999. A $100 security deposit is required for pre-ordering and will be included in the final price of the device. In turn, shipments should begin in December.