A FULLY upgradeable laptop. Better ultrabook than Dell, Lenovo and HP and MUCH better than Apple.

[Ethosik]

I keep scratching my head why people are obsessed with upgrading laptops. In the past 25 years with all the laptops I've owned, Apple and otherwise, I've done the following upgrades:

• Upgraded RAM in a Powerbook G4
• Upgraded the hard disk in a Toshiba or Acer (can't remember)
• Upgraded RAM and SSD in a Razer Blade 15 (2020 model) because Razer did not offer the config I wanted

That's it.

I can't even remember the last time I upgraded a PC after the initial built, except for adding hard disks (3.5" spinners). Whenever I really want to upgrade, it's usually "new socket required", "new chipset required" and I end up replacing the whole rig. This used to be very different 15+ years ago when RAM, CPU and GPU were upgraded every year.

Fully agree. I kept my 2010 Mac Pro long, too long some would say before replacing it with my 2019 i9 iMac. I was missing out on PCIe 3 and now 4. NVMe drives. USB3.1 and Thunderbolt. More advanced CPU while benchmarks don't show an advantage, the nm and generational jump is definitely worth it from that old. RAM speeds/timings are better while capacity was the same. Older, limited GPUs due to PCIe 2 and newer GPUs were not able to run at maximum. Its not just RAM upgrades, but we also need to keep in mind general processor improvements or hardware improvements like built in HEVC encoders, cooler processors in general and much more.

 

[Ethosik]

Tech change is going pretty fast these days and you only get their promise that they will make additional motherboards available in the future. If I really wanted to go this route, I'd get a SFF system with a standard form-factor so I know that I can upgrade it in the future. Add a portable LCD, small keyboard and mouse and PSU.

Been down this road with the trash can Mac Pro. Promised of great upgrades down the road, and we got nothing.

 

[GrumpyCoder]

?, I need a reference

Wait, you're not using one already?

It's a google search (here), I'm personally using Corne, Kyria and Anne Pro II. Everyone should have split and/or 60% keyboards. ?

 

[benshive]

Love the idea but I find it hard to believe I'd enjoy the keyboard, trackpad, display, speakers, etc. more than those on the 16" MacBook Pro. You have to keep in mind 99% of the time you're using the device, you couldn't care less that it has cool ways to upgrade it.

But the idea of being able to slide new ports into the side is awesome. I imagine how cool that'd be on the MacBook. You have a few slots and then people can basically pick their ports when configuring the device initially and then buy extra ports later on if they want to. Interesting idea.

 

[Cubytus]

Even if you will, the entire premise of upgradeability is massively overblown.

Let’s say you want to upgrade your Framework laptop after two years to something more modern, like the Intel Meteor Lake. So you spend $700+ on a new mainboard and $100+ on a new DDR5 RAM. Great, right? But you still have an old laptop with most of it out of warranty, your battery life is crap (so add $60-10l for a new one) etc.

Or you could sell your old MacBook Air for $400-500 and get a new one for $1400 or so (total cost essentially the same) and get a complete new machine with warranty, new display tech, three times longer battery life, likely better performance and so on. So… why would you even bother with competent upgradeability if the end eff3ct is objectively worse?

I think this obsession with upgrade comes more from the lack of repairability of more modern computers than strict upgradability. Manufacturers have taken that away for no good reason, especially those who don't make razor-thin margins. Paltry, 1-year warranties are not even convincing.

Battery replacement ability: since it's usually the first part to give, accessible, non-glued battery should be mandatory. I don't buy the "but batteries are dangerous, they shouldn't be touched by clumsy end-users!"; of course, even more so when they're so tightly glued that prying and solvent becomes involved. Bending a Li-Ion battery isn't the safest way to handle them. (Never tried, as 2012 MBP use a screwed, hard shell battery)

CPU upgradability: may be useful when one cannot afford the latest tech right now (usually overpriced when first available), but still wants to extract more life out of a given platform a few years down the road.
Upgraded for $15: LG R510 CPU. Yes, that's a 12 year old platform. Plenty of room inside to work.
Will be upgraded in about 2 years: ThinkPad T440p. One of the last ThinkPads with replaceable CPU.
MacBook Pro: not upgradeable since it's soldered, but dosdude1 has tried and succeeded in soldering a beefier CPU. I was astonished to read that 2019 era MacBook CPUs weren't even more powerful than my 2012 i7. Just that they used less power.

RAM upgradeability: that would be the very least. Apps don't get any lighter, and what comfortably fits today may not fit in 2-3 years, a user's usage pattern may change drastically. Not RAM but similar situation: a 16GB iPhone was comfortable until about 2 years ago. Just updating apps, and now they don't all fit.

Storage upgradeability: same reason. SSDs are expensive. I got my 512GB Samsung 850 back when it was still $400. At the time, that was the most I could afford. If I needed so much, I could get 8 times as much storage now. Same story for the 240GB AMD Radeon, the 120GB OWC. Plus, having to have a computer serviced whenever storage craps on you (recent Mac designs) is a very costly endeavour.

WiFi upgradeability: no, USB doesn't solve every problem. See the popularity of the threads about 802.11ac upgrade on 2012 MBP.
Upgraded for $30: LG R510. Has two mini PCIe slots inside.

I used to think that upgrading computers every 5 years was the norm for normal users, and 3 years for intensive uses, but that was back between the 90s and the 2010s. Some deep-pocketed users prefer to buy mid-range computers every 2 years, selling back the previous one, some others prefer gradual upgrades. Of course, there are still limitations on battery life since older CPUs consume more.

 

[JahBoolean]

Wait, you're not using one already?

It's a google search (here), I'm personally using Corne, Kyria and Anne Pro II. Everyone should have split and/or 60% keyboards. ?

Was feeling extra-lazy that day. Pardon my behaviour =)