Back to all weekly shorts
Weekly Short
22 April, 2022
We’ve all been there – your laptop crashes and no amount of fury nor turning it off and on again fixes it. And without a computer whizz nearby, you’re forced to send the laptop to its final destination.
It’s a common problem that US firm Framework Computer is trying to solve with its Framework Laptop. The idea will be familiar to readers who read our recent article on Fairphone: the laptop has been designed to be fully repairable by your average consumer. With laptops requiring precious materials from across the world and having average embodied emissions of 331 kgCO2e, anything that encourages fewer laptops to be produced is surely a good thing.
There are additional benefits to repairable products as well, which the Framework Laptop is also looking to capitalise on. For example, the laptop is customisable, you can choose both the language of the keyboard used and the expansion ports included for connectivity. Meanwhile, you pay less to buy a laptop kit that you build yourself, and there’s nothing that gives as much pride or encourages you to look after your belongings more than having made them yourself.
And don’t just take our word for it – the Framework Laptop has gathered high praise from people who know their tech, including passing iFixit’s slightly scary sounding ‘teardown’ with a 10/10 score for repairability. At the same time, with positive reviews for its performance and style, your next laptop may well be the last you buy.
By Patrick Bapty