At £999, Framework founder Nirav Patel wants to place his company at the forefront of a gathering – and overdue – trend. As he noted when the company went public with its first product in February 2021, “It’s time for long-lasting products that respect your right to repair and upgrade. We’re bringing this philosophy to notebooks this year and to additional categories as we go... we can’t wait to build a better consumer electronics industry together.”
That first laptop is an aluminium-clad 13.5-inch ultrabook, weighing just 1.3kg at a thickness of 15.85mm, with a 2256x1504 display and a 1080p webcam. The company has shipped its first five batches of North American orders, with a UK launch date to follow.
Owners can switch in new memory, replace the mainboard and draw from a range of modules that the company is rolling out from itself and third parties via an online marketplace. The ports can be changed at the release of a catch with slots for any four...