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LTS Laptops

https://community.frame.work/t/introducing-the-new-and-upgraded-framework-laptop/18646A

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31433556

I've seen many positive reviews of the Framework Laptop, and now there's a new one with a 12th gen CPU. It sounds like a worthwhile upgrade, and many commenters are looking forward to upgrade their existing, upgradable laptop.

I wish there was something like the Framework Laptop, but with a long-term-support promise: a company that produces one laptop model, which is good enough for most people, and available for 5 years. Some single-board computers have this kind of availability guarantee, some even have an optimized OS (which becomes faster over time, by taking advantage of hardware capabilities like AArch64 and Vulkan) and some of them are good enough as desktop computers.

My main computer has a 2nd gen i5, had one upgrade 7 years ago (another 4 GB stick, a cheap 64 GB mSATA SSD and a "new" battery from old stock), and it's fast enough even today, especially if I use a lightweight distro like Puppy Linux, and take advantage of hardware acceleration (for example, by using Wayland and h264ify). Moore's law is not what it used to be, and most people can do just fine with a slow computer by today's standards, unless it stops working or becomes too slow (aka Wirth's law). Framework Laptop definitely solves a problem or scratches an itch for some people, but I think it's a product for hardware enthusiasts and professionals that feel guilty about their consumption habits, mostly. I don't think it's a step towards more sustainable computing, because it encourages upgrades, instead of truly reducing consumption.

I always prefer repairability and durability, to upgradability. An 11th gen CPU is already fast enough for most users, and the old motherboard turns into electrical waste, unless it becomes a new computer (with a 3D printed case or something). I bet most upgraders won't repurpose or recycle the old motherboard. The Framework Laptop (especially, with a 13th gen upgrade path) is great for those who want to have the latest and greatest laptop, but prefer not to buy a laptop every year or two. Replacing just the motherboard reduces waste, but not as much as *not* replacing anything. In my opinion, inability to upgrade is not a problem: the focus should be extending the useful life of computers, by slowing down the product lifecycle, prioritizing repairability over thinness, providing replacement parts and providing optimized software (with years of updates).