Asklemmy

It can be a long term investment in the same way a car is a long term investment - you can tune it up over the long term to extend it's life but at a certain point you'll likely have to replace some key components. The theory is that the cost of those repairs will be less than buying a whole new laptop though.

I've been happy with mine for a while. I've had some minor hiccups, but I blame myself for those because I choose to run arch on the thing. The swappable ports are a game changer for me, but that depends on the user.

When I bought it I didn't need a powerful laptop, but I may in a few years, so it made more sense to buy something for a bit more upfront. The upgradable mainboard is a crazy value add.

I've also been the unfortunate owner of multiple laptops that became unusable because of a broken part that was impossible to source for replacement.

For me it’s the only laptop that might entice me from leaving “the dark side” (Apple).

Would then install some Linux distro on it though.

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Hi. If you want to look for a new laptop, you can also try out Tuxedo laptops: https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en/Linux-Hardware/Linux-Notebooks/Alle.tuxedo

Their laptops are a bit cheaper and also repairable, starting from 850 EUR (8GB RAM, no Win license, etc.) They assemble laptops, you specify components to your needs.

I'm a happy owner of Tuxedo InfinityBook 15. The most important is that they use normal generic power supply (not some proprietary one that is hard to replace) with an ability to charge from 65+W USB-C connector. Battery preservation bypass mode is also possible in BIOS settings. Their keyboards are also high-quality, replaceable and can have a custom layout. The screen is also high-quality. Initial setup is easy af. They maintain their own distro, which is quite good on its own, but the hardware is also Win-compatible. They also provide 5% discount for students.

(note: not sponsored)

I seriously looked at them, but in the end, it was too expensive, especially over last years' models on sale- which were also very repairable. Not quite as much, but damn close, and with a dedicated GPU and better IO.

I like what they are doing, but they aren't quite there yet. The best long term investment IMO is a PC, since it can be easily upgraded independent of any one company. And the parts are much easier to trade, resell, etc.

No.

For it to be a good investment it’s value would have to go up over time or drop at a slower rate than other comparable things.

A mac is a better investment (but still not “good”) not only because they tend to hold more value over time but the used market has higher volume so there’s less chance you need to price it low or wait a long time when you’re ready to sell.

If you’re worried about the value of being able to fix it, spend less than your $500 budget on a used t480 with the processor you want, upgrade the ram to 16, 32 or 64gb, install at least one ssd and be glad that there are literally millions of inexpensive spare parts on the market and will be for at least a decade.

What framework does uniquely offer is the ability to change your complement of ports. That’s either a useless novelty or a powerful tool depending entirely upon weather you consistently swap them out and can find all the ports you need as expansions or not.

Is it worth it to not be carrying around some dongle? I don’t know.

E: the processor to get on that t480 is one of the intels.

Since no one asked... What are your use cases? Do you need a discrete GPU? Something lite? Something with lots of ports?

If you can afford it easily and used 500 bucks as a random number sure no problem, but othewise I don't think it a Framework is a good idea.

When my current laptop from work runs it's course then I'll ask for one of these with a GPU. My current one I can change RAM and SSD. But later on I can't just get myself a GPU, DP connector, another USB-C instead of USB-A, LAN connector, memory card reader etc etc. I also think that if I already upgrade the RAM and SSD and then want to do the processor I shouldn't have to buy a whole new laptop. Options that allow you to bring your own RAM and M2 SSD are pretty few.