Has anyone see this one yet:
Now granted, this one is VERY new but the modularity is really nice if they can make a go of it as a company.
These look great Dwayne!
Hopefully we’ll see more like this as I’m fairly sure that the EU and other govts are pushing for more repairable eco-friendly products. I think most people take a dim view of products with obsolescence built in now too - we really shouldn’t be manufacturing products that can’t be repaired easily. Some of the worst offenders are items with non-replaceable batteries, it’s insane how manufacturers expect you to throw them out or replace them just because the batteries have died.
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A lot of today’s gadgets (laptop, phones, etc.) are basically super expensive “throw away” items which is just ridiculous. I understand that not everyone wants to or is even able to repair and fix devices but for those of us who are not afraid to open the cover, it is a pain. There are so many laptops that are just completely unrepairable and definitely unupgradable. iFixIt’s score of 0/10 for Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 2 is a prime example. Microsoft is doing much better now with the Surface Laptop 4 at a 5/10 but still…they ALL need to do better… 
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It gets exponentially harder as the laptop gets thinner and thinner which is something that everybody wants (techies like myself included, although I do put reasonable limits). But I agree that many vendors – Apple included – are also kind of doing it on purpose.
It’s IMO fairly obvious to all of us that (a) they want you to buy the next gen, and (b) they don’t care one bit about recycling.
There’s sadly very little economic incentive to recycle and to make durable tech. Not sure what the solution will end up being but so far the customers are still losing the battle. 
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I agree that they’re probably pushing it (and that they could do better) but it’s things like my £170 Sony headphones that has a non-user-replaceable battery that I find most annoying… I’ve seen other products like camera gimbles with the same issue as well.
The EU is leading here:
Companies that sell refrigerators, washers, hairdryers, or TVs in the European Union will need to ensure those appliances can be repaired for up to 10 years, to help reduce the vast mountain of electrical waste that piles up each year on the continent.
The “right to repair,” as it is sometimes called, comes into force across the 27-nation bloc on Monday. It is part of a broader effort to cut the environmental footprint of manufactured goods by making them more durable and energy-efficient.
For those of you in the US and other parts of the world, do you have any similar laws there?
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The EU is only leading a virtue-signalling circus. Change my mind. 
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Well it’s law now - so any company failing to meet these requirements can be prosecuted 
Also why I asked if anyone knows of similar laws in other countries (as I’ve not heard of any other country doing similar)…
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Unfortunately EU fines are:
- Easy to postpone and break apart to pay off for a number of years in the future;
- Rather small.
The tech giants like Facebook and Google just write off EU penalties as a cost of doing business because those fines are very small compared to their bottom line.
Until EU – or any other economical/political body – enforces a fine that’s a strict % of gross income (not profits! those can be hidden pretty well) and until that % is at least 30% then no big business will care.
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This is from 2018:
- Google — fined $5 billion in 2018. …
- Google — fined $2.7 billion in 2017. …
- Intel — fined $1.45 billion in 2009. …
- Qualcomm — fined $1.2 billion in 2018. …
- Microsoft — fined $794 million in 2004. …
- Servier — fined $582 million in 2014. …
- Telefónica — fined $207 million in 2007…
That’s still a sizeable chunk, and I am sure that repeat offences will result in bigger fines.
I also bet it’s part of the reason why many tech giants were complicit in the Brexit shambles/fake-news here - they’re frightened of a strong EU because of things like this 
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Yep, big figures indeed but Google makes hundreds of billions… Plus as I said earlier, I think the fines can be rescheduled for payment in a manner similar to loans – in instalments.
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From the Google Q1 2021 earnings call:
“For the first quarter, our consolidated revenues were $55.3 billion”
“Net income was $17.9 billion.”
$5B is pocket change to them.
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Wonder what their 2018 earnings were? Even $5B of $55B is quite a lot - imagine if all countries did the same… they’d soon start to pay attention 
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Surprising and unfortunate that the only OS offered is Windows 
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I am surprised too… for some reason I just assumed it would be running Linux too. Wonder if it would be worth contacting them to let them know? If enough people do it it they might consider bringing out a Linux version? 
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Excellent idea, certainly can’t hurt – done!
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Awesome, let us know if they get back to you Hassan 
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From Framework Support: “If you were to purchase the DIY Edition you have the option of choosing no OS which allows you to bring your own. We are currently testing Ubuntu.”
So hopefully that gets pushed to the front of the queue 
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Nice! 
Just thought of something else that might help them stand out - the ability to physically remove (or just not install on order) a camera and microphone. People can be sure that their computers can’t be used to spy on them then
I use these on my monitors Webcam covers for iPhone, iPad, MAC & Macbook Pro! and have no need for internal mics so I’d much prefer they simply weren’t there to begin with (there must be others who feel the same?)
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