this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2024
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Has anyone bought some of the components (e.g. a hard drive or RAM) somewhere else instead of buying the full laptop from the frame.work website?

Was is worth it?

Looks like an easy possibility to save a few hundred dollars/euros...

Just curious...

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yeah got the framework 13 AMD end of last year. Bought the ram separately (crucial) and used an NVME I had lying around. The RAM was cheaper this way.

[–] Zectivi 2 points 8 months ago

I did the same for the AMD 13 I bought 2 weeks ago. Saved about 140 USD on both the 32GB ram (Crucial DDR5-5600) and the 1TB ssd (SN850X)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Yes, this worked out well for me. Was able to get 32GB of RAM instead of 16GB and more storage for about the same amount. Just follow the parameters they provide.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

For answering your question on if it's worth buying components seperately:

I'd say it probably depends on your use case situation and the regions you can buy components from.

Pricing out a FL16 for my use case of a workstation/gaming hybrid in Canada I would save approx a range of $400 - $200 CAD if I were to buy the storage (1` and 2nd) and RAM(DDR5 64Gb) seperately.

Again the pricing of components varies based on each person's wants and regional pricing (&sale prices)

for figuring the price differences/potential savings I'd recommend using a site like pcpartpicker.com and changing the region. From there you can figure out if it's worth buying the full bundle from Framework or buying individually

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Buying components doesn't really save you much money over just buying it from Framework - I've tried to come up with different configurations on their product select page and it seems to always come out to approximately the same cost as buying components separately. I think the main appeal of opting out of a component on the product select page is primarily so that you can reuse a component if you already have it

If you mean that you want to buy a DIY system vs. a pre-built Framework, then yes, it'll save you a couple hundred dollars

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

You could save some.

With that said, if you're short on cash and you're contemplating whether you can afford a Framework by saving on these parts, you might be able to save a lot more by getting an off-lease ThinkPad, Latitude or even B-stock Framework. For example I just got a Latitude 7400 yesterday for $250. It's got 16GB of RAM and a 500GB SSD.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

eh. it's also a matter of getting better parts.

Just ordered my DIY AMD 13 and picked up an Sk hynix P41 1TB for $85 from microcenter--Framework wants $100 for a slower SN770. Same deal with RAM: picked up 32GB of Crucial DDR5-5600 for $96, whereas Framework wants $160.

I'm not knocking Framework here at all, because I know they have their own overhead here and it's convenient to get RAM in the package. But this is one advantage of their DIY model I really appreciate--$75 price difference for better parts is well worth it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

@lemmytellyousomething I got the FW 13 DIY with a small SSD, then upgraded to 4TB from somewhere else.