It’s one thing to say that you’re making a completely serviceable and upgradable laptop. Another thing is to finish the job.
The original Framework laptop we reviewed last year did a lot of things right. It’s easy to open and use, ports can be swapped to suit your needs, and it’s sturdy and well-built enough to take on traditional, less maintainable ultrabooks like the Dell XPS 13 or Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon.
But building “one surprisingly good laptop” is not the same as building an ecosystem of laptops with upgradeable, interchangeable, user-serviceable parts. To do this, you need to keep an eye on new component releases. You need to fix the flaws in your original project (or even release new versions) without ceasing support or breaking compatibility with previous versions of your project. And your small independent company needs to continue to exist so that it can do all this work year after year for several years.
I can’t say what the next year or two will bring, but I can tell you that the second generation Framework Laptop is still doing pretty much everything right. This is a slightly redesigned version of the original chassis, designed around the 12th Gen Intel Core processor rather than the 11th Gen version, and the motherboard exists as an upgrade for anyone who has already bought a Framework laptop.
Notebook Framework does have issues, especially when it comes to battery life. But overall, this is a well-thought-out computer that treats DIYers and PC builders like adults who can make their own decisions. There is no other laptop like it.