We often discourage our listeners from waiting around for companies to act altruistically, especially when it comes to repair. There are however exceptions to every rule. Framework is a startup that is shifting the paradigm and making electronic devices that are repairable. The company, founded by our guest Nirav Patel, has created one of the most repairable laptops ever.
But don’t just take our word for it. Framework’s laptops have racked up design awards and rave reviews from –check out any tear down video of a framework laptop on YouTube and you’ll find looks of amazement with the level of repairability and modularity on a laptop. iFixit, the world’s largest repair website, gave Framework’s laptop a perfect “10 out of 10” repairability score.
Repairability is a choice
The company states on its website that their philosophy is “by making well-considered design tradeoffs and trusting customers and repair shops with the access and information they need, we can make fantastic devices that are still easy to repair.”
In this interview with What the Fix host Paul Roberts, recorded back in September, Nirav says that making an extremely repair-friendly laptop was not a herculean task. In fact, he said that the laptop “device” is quite well defined. Simply making one that could be easily repaired, modified and upgraded was “surprisingly straightforward.” That’s all the more reason to cast doubt on the claims of Apple and others that their anti-repair design choices are necessary sacrifices to satisfy customer demands for thinner, lighter, sleeker devices. Instead, Nirav makes it clear in our conversation that companies are making a choice when they make their products repairable or not. Put simply, repairability is a choice that companies can choose (or not) to make.
As we see companies warming slowly to repair, it’s refreshing to see a company go all out on the idea of making a laptop you can repair and upgrade however you like. The hope is that more companies will go the way of framework, but we are well aware that there will take a lot of pushing from consumers and governments before that is the case. While we are seeing self-repair programs popping up from major players in the consumer electronics space, the reality is that a rare few products are built from the ground up with repair (and thus longevity) in mind. And, as this conversation with Nirav about the Framework laptop illustrates: when you see a product that is truly built to be repaired, you realize how short of the mark most modern electronics are falling. This is why we are vocal proponents of right to repair laws to keep repair from being optional.
We spoke with Nirav this fall, when the original Framework Laptop launched. This month, Framework revealed its next generation of laptops – so we are sharing the interview with our premium subscribers!
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