Tag Archives: repairable

Pixel Watch iFixit teardown reveals its beauty is only skin deep for now

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Google finally launched the first smartwatch under its own Pixel brand, and the reception of the wearable device has been a bit mixed. Its unique dome-like display definitely gives it a unique visual personality, but the jury is still out when whether that’s actually a strength or a liability. Even with years of references and lessons from other manufacturers, the Pixel Watch seems to have all the makings of a first-gen device, especially once you start to open it up. As iFixit discovered, the smartwatch’s simple yet attractive design doesn’t extend inside, and the device could be a nightmare for both owners and technicians that need to simply repair a cracked screen or a loose crown.

Designer: Google

Unlike almost all Wear OS smartwatches today, the Pixel Watch does away with the visible external bezels with a very curved glass that covers the screen. It’s almost like the Apple Watch, except that it comes in a circular shape. Like the Apple Watch again, the Pixel Watch utilizes a digital crown, but the similarities end there. The crown has been noted to look a bit cheap, and at least one reviewer has experienced the domed screen cracking for no apparent reason.

These flaws on their own wouldn’t be too disastrous if it were easy to fix the Pixel Watch, which isn’t the case yet for this first attempt. To its credit, the back is easily removable with some heat and prying, and iFixit a mysterious adhesive that could be good news for repairs in the future. The screen can also be pried off with the same techniques, but it cannot be disconnected unless you really dig inside.

The small, squishy battery needs to be removed first, which needs a bit of heat that could be a disaster waiting to happen. There is a maze of screws and components that you need to get out of the way first before you can even disconnect the display cable. Even after all that, it is nearly impossible to remove the crown and buttons without risking irreparable internal damage. Considering these mechanical parts are likely to fail at some point, that’s not a reassuring scenario.

To be fair, this is Google’s first smartwatch, so there’s still ample room for improvement on all fronts. It’s not a great first step, though, especially considering how late it is already in the game. Perhaps more worrying is that this is a company that is notorious for suddenly canceling products and services, even those that many people have heavily invested in already. It’s going to be a tense waiting game to see if future Pixel Watches will be able to rise to the challenge or be unceremoniously put to pasture after one or two tries only.

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Modular Framework Chromebook laptop puts a price tag on sustainability

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The advent of laptops solved one of the biggest problems in personal computing by allowing people to bring their computers around with them. At the same time, however, that portability came at a cost beyond just the literal monetary price. Compared to their larger and more stationary desktop cousins, laptops were practically walled gardens, beautiful and powerful yet also restricted and inflexible. Things have improved by now, of course, with many laptops offering upgradeable memory and storage, but that’s pretty much it. Everything else is soldered down or at least artificially locked down, making repairs difficult for anyone other than experts and authorized technicians. There are attempts to change this industry culture little by little through making modular and repairable laptops more mainstream, like this latest addition that brings those desirable qualities to Google’s Chrome OS for a price.

Designer: Framework

Framework is one of the extremely few companies selling laptops that were designed from the ground up to be sustainable and long-lasting in multiple aspects. In fact, it might be the only one of its that is trying to turn this vision into a profitable business. Many manufacturers have started incorporating some recycled materials into their products or are paying closer attention to how easy it will be to repair their newer laptops. For Framework, however, these are the heart and soul of its business.

The Framework Laptop attacks the problem of sustainability from multiple fronts. At its most basic, it uses plenty of sustainable materials for its products, about 50% post-consumer recycled (PCR) aluminum and 30% PCR plastics. Going beyond the laptop itself, even the packaging and shipping are designed with sustainability in mind, using recycled paper and carbon-offset shipping methods to get the laptop from the factory to your desk.

Framework is probably the only laptop manufacturer that is heavily betting on modularity to keep its laptops going. Calling to mind the PCIe laptop cards of old, each Framework Laptop offers the flexibility to swap out parts for more ports, more data storage, or more connectivity options. You can even choose different bezel colors to personalize your laptop, thanks to a simple yet powerful magnetic attachment system.

What’s new here is the option to buy a Framework Laptop running Google’s Chrome OS rather than Microsoft Windows, a.k.a. a Chromebook. Although some stigma still remains, Chromebooks have long outgrown their modest roots and can give Windows a run for its money in many cases. In fact, the Framework Chromebook will be capable of running SteamOS games via the Chrome OS Alpha channel, in addition to supporting Android and Linux apps.

One potential showstopper is that the Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition starts at $999 for its most basic memory configuration. While it’s $50 cheaper than Framework’s equivalent Windows laptop, it’s still steeper than most of the high-end Chromebooks on the market. Granted, it does have powerful hardware inside, but savings from the Chrome OS operating system should be more than just the price difference. You are getting a highly modular and repairable laptop in the end, but the price tag could give people a wrong impression about the cost of sustainability.

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Acer Chromebook Vero 514 makes a huge leap in sustainability

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Consumer electronics are hardly the most sustainable products on the planet. In addition to the tremendous use of plastics and the electricity they consume, the industry is hell-bent on encouraging people to just buy newer stuff even if their current devices are still serviceable. Worse, there are systems in place that make it almost too inconvenient to continue using aging products through repairs and upgrades. Fortunately, the past few years have seen a rise in awareness of how the destruction of the planet would be bad for business in the long run, pushing manufacturers to lay out their plans to help reduce their negative impact on the environment. Building on the Earthion initiative it announced last year, Acer has come out with a new Chromebook brandishing its eco-friendly Vero brand as its most sustainable laptop yet.

Designer: Acer

Acer made big waves last year when it debuted two sustainability efforts. Earthion is the company’s overarching program to integrate eco-friendly strategies across its many product lines, covering the entire production pipeline from sourcing materials to packaging design to logistics. From Earthion came Acer’s Vero line of eco-conscious devices that now include not just laptops but also monitors, accessories, and even projectors. The new Acer Chromebook Vero 514 is the latest to be added to that family, showcasing advances that the company has made toward its green goals.

It is nearly impossible for computers and smartphones to completely remove the use of plastics, so manufacturers can only mitigate the situation by using post-consumer recycled or PCR plastics. In that light, the Chromebook Vero 514 boasts that the plastic in its chassis and bezels around the screen are made from 30% PCR plastic, while keycaps have it at 50%. In addition, the material used for its internal fan housing and “OceanGlass” touchpad use recycled ocean-bound plastics to help reduce pollution in our waters.

More than just its composition, Acer made this new laptop also more recyclable and repair-friendly to prolong its life. The use of standard screws will make repairs and upgrades easier, and the paint-free chassis is 99% recyclable. Even the packaging, which people tend to take for granted, takes part in the sustainability game. The box is made from 90% recycled paper, and the notebook bag and keyboard sheet are made from 100% recycled plastic. The inner packaging can also be transformed into a triangular laptop stand so that nothing needs to be thrown away.

All of these eco-friendly measures would probably be pointless if the Chromebook Vero 514 wasn’t attractive enough to be bought. In addition to its durable and no-nonsense design, the Chrome OS laptop packs quite a wallop in terms of hardware, utilizing 12th-gen Intel Core processors or an option of a more power-efficient (read: slower) Intel Pentium processor. And since it uses Chrome OS, it will actually be less resource-intensive, helping prolong the laptop’s overall life.

Acer has been making big strides towards its sustainability goals, including running on 100% renewable energy by 2035. That’s still a long way to go, but every step in that direction matters. We’re still from having the perfect sustainable laptop, but the Acer Chromebook Vero 514 definitely offers one of the best combinations of performance and eco-friendly solutions that won’t make you feel short-changed for investing in a green laptop that will serve you well for years to come.

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What are sustainable phones and how are they saving the planet

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Smartphones have become one of the biggest dangers to our environment, but they also offer the chance to make the biggest positive impact as well.

When Nokia started flooding the world with its polycarbonate phones more than two decades ago, few probably imagined that there would come a time when those would be eclipsed by something more numerous. Today, Nokia is almost a footnote in mobile history, and smartphone shipments number hundreds of millions, not every year but every quarter. People also switch phones at a faster rate than ever before, especially when companies have programs and strategies in place to encourage such a rapid turnover. Unfortunately, the fast-paced development and sales of these consumer electronics have a rather massive cost, not just for people but also for the planet. Billions of smartphones are shipped each year, and thousands if not millions end up unused or, worse, improperly discarded. Given their large numbers and ubiquity, smartphones have an equally large yet negative impact on our environment. Fortunately, the trends are shifting for the better, even if slowly and in small, incremental steps.

Thinking Outside the Box

There have been many attempts to raise awareness about the negative impacts of the smartphone industry on our environment, but, as always, it was Apple that really got people talking. Some saw it as just a cunning strategy to actually get people to buy its own chargers, but Apple’s official statement for removing the charger in iPhone boxes is for a greener economy. Not everyone bought that reason, of course, and it remains to be seen whether it actually makes a positive difference in the long run. The fact remains that Apple’s actions started discussions and, more importantly, changes in the industry.

Designer: Apple

After ridiculing Apple, Samsung unsurprisingly followed suit and made charging bricks absent from some of its phones. While other manufacturers didn’t make such drastic steps, they did acknowledge the impact smartphones and packaging have on the environment. Following Apple’s lead again, many started shrinking their packaging to reduce the number of resources they use. They also started advertising the use of more sustainable materials, reducing their reliance on plastic.

Designer: realme

It might be easy to downplay such small changes, but when you consider how many smartphone boxes are made each year, the number all add up. Fewer new paper that gets produced for these boxes means fewer trees cut down in the long run. Fewer plastics used mean fewer plastics produced every time. Just as how pollution changed our environment little by little, more responsible use of resources, no matter how small, will also help slow down our planet’s death. The question now is whether removing chargers from boxes actually does what they’re supposed to and not simply forces people to buy chargers separately instead. Unfortunately, we won’t really get a complete picture until after a few years.

Recycling, Upcycling

Sooner or later, all smartphones reach the end of their usefulness. Either they no longer work completely, or they can no longer meet the needs and demands of owners. The phone might have a few broken parts that can no longer be repaired, or its aging processor can no longer keep up with modern apps and services. Sometimes, people just want to upgrade to a newer phone with better hardware or features. Whatever the reason may be, it’s curtains for the old phone.

More enterprising people might find a way to still profit from an old phone by selling it if it’s still possible. Sadly, most people that don’t have access to trade-in or similar programs either just stash their phones somewhere and lose them forever or throw them away indiscriminately. The latter results in non-biodegradable materials and harmful chemicals ending up in landfills, further perpetuating the death of our planet.

Recycling is often the very first solution that comes to our minds, but it’s no panacea. Not all materials that make up a smartphone can actually be recycled. Additionally, recycling actually takes up a lot of energy and resources as well, potentially making the benefits moot. For phones that actually still work to some extent, there is another solution that isn’t just more economical but also more beneficial to other people.

Upcycling is becoming a new trend in the design world, and some manufacturers have started adopting it as well. Samsung, in particular, has started promoting its upcycling efforts as part of its overall sustainability mission. In a nutshell, upcycling means reusing a product, either in whole or in parts, for a different purpose. It doesn’t require breaking down materials first, and components are used as-is. This can be as simple as repurposing a phone or tablet as a baby monitor or security camera, or it can be as complicated as using the working parts of a phone as ingredients for something else. Even a five-year-old smartphone has enough processing power for other tasks, and being able to reprogram that phone to do other things goes a long way in delaying its eventual fate in landfills.

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Designer: Samsung

Fair Play

The negative environmental and even socio-political impact of smartphones don’t just happen at the end of its life. Even before it’s assembled, the raw materials that go into a smartphone’s production already cause concern and, in some cases, even conflict. Rare-earth metals, in particular, are notorious for how and where they are sourced. Some materials aren’t just harmful to the environment but also to the people involved in producing them.

Companies are more cautious about this, but mostly because of the political implications of these “conflict materials.” Not all manufacturers and suppliers, however, have the resources or the drive to put their supply chains under a microscope, and some do slip through the cracks. Unless corporations and governments really work hard together, the supply of these materials will eventually be so constrained that it could cripple the economy as a whole.

A few bold manufacturers like Fairphone have made responsible sourcing a major part of its DNA alongside repairability. By advocating closed-pipe supply chains, it is able to help reduce both the environmental as well as the human costs of making smartphones. It’s almost too easy to take for granted the amount of copper, tin, and even gold that goes into a smartphone, but as with anything that has a long-term impact, those little problems eventually become a massive, unmovable whole.

Designer: Fairphone

Conscientious Design

Of course, a major reason for the massive negative impact that smartphones have on the environment is because of the materials used in their creation. Even phones with glass rears and metal frames still have plenty of plastic to go around. Even the glass itself can have harmful materials that prevent it from being recycled effectively. There’s also the matter of toxic chemicals used in producing some parts of phones, as well as the carbon emissions from factories making them. It’s too late for the world to go cold turkey on smartphones, of course, so our only recourse now is to minimize the damage that they do.

Fortunately, smartphone companies have started becoming more aware of the responsibility and blame that they no bear on their shoulders. Big companies like Samsung can only move little by little towards more sustainable materials without completely destroying the supply chain economy. This year’s flagship phones, for example, boast plastics that were made from recycled fish nets that would have otherwise polluted the seas and killed marine life.

Designer: Samsung

Other brands like realme have embarked on a journey that puts innovative new materials into daring designs. This year’s Realme GT2 Paper Edition, for example, uses a biopolymer material for its body, creating a design that not only looks and feels like paper but is also similarly sustainable. Admittedly, it is just one in a sea of unsustainable phones, but it is also a big part of realme’s grand strategy to become a more responsible company and a good role model for its young customers.

Designer: Naoto Fukasawa for realme

As a smaller company, Fairphone is able to take big risks and make sweeping changes that put sustainability as its core purpose and business. From responsible sourcing to sustainable materials to repairable devices, it is able to build a relatively profitable business that doesn’t contribute to the demise of our little blue planet. Unfortunately, its size almost makes it a “small fish” swimming with whales and sharks, but its continued existence offers proof that it can be done as long as one is truly committed to the cause.

Designer: Fairphone

Right to Repair

Once upon a time, it seemed that phones could last forever. They may have plastic bodies, but they don’t break or crack on their first fall. Batteries bloat or die, but replacing them is a snap. Those days are long gone, of course, and smartphone makers have gone over and beyond to protect their intellectual properties and reputations, even if it meant making it harder for owners to replace a dead battery in the middle of the day. Repairing phones have become its own industry, with the big companies holding the reins. Things are changing for the better, though, and those big companies are leading the charge.

Not everyone has the knowledge or skill to repair their own phones, of course, and it’s hardly advisable to do so. But by opening up repairs to third parties, phone manufacturers are effectively giving smaller repair shops room to thrive. Of course, the companies still hold the keys, providing official components to replace broken ones. Considering how restrictive the previous conditions were, it’s still a major win for the smartphone industry as a whole.

It also means that it will be easier and cheaper to get phones repaired, which means people will be able to hold on to their phones longer. Just like with upcycling, it helps delay the inevitable end of these devices and the impact of their components on the environment. People have now grown past the trend of changing phones just to get the latest and greatest. The global economic situation has changed drastically in the past years, forcing consumers to rethink their phone-buying habits. Given how phone upgrades have also slowed down lately, more people have finally found it wiser to keep their phones as long as they’re still serviceable.

This shouldn’t be the end of the story, though. While the doors to self-repair have been opened slightly, it’s still not enough because of the technical hurdles. In the future, we will hopefully have modular phones where we can swap out parts on the fly and preserve their functions for years to come. That, however, also requires changing current business models, which is why it’s unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Designer: Apple, Samsung, Google

Software is Hard

Keeping a phone running smoothly helps not only preserve its life but also prevent it from doing harm to the environment at the end of that life. Sadly, many phones, especially on the Android side, don’t last that long as far as software is concerned. For arbitrary reasons, manufacturers once decided that two years is enough to keep a smartphone supported with software updates. At long last, they’re finally realizing how unreasonable and unfair that arrangement is.

Apple has always been the shining example of supporting its products with software updates, but it admittedly has an unfair advantage. It has almost full control of both hardware and software, so it’s easier for it to do its own thing and even demand that carriers fall in line. The open ecosystem of Android has made that more difficult to accomplish, but it isn’t impossible. Fortunately, Google and its partners are getting their acts together and providing longer support for their devices.

Admittedly, a phone will continue working long after it receives the last software update. In some cases, apps might even continue working for years on older versions of Android or iOS. When a manufacturer officially ends its support for a particular model, however, it creates a sense of abandonment that makes it feel like the phone has now become obsolete and potentially unusable. That, in turn, generates a desire to buy a new phone, even if the current one is objectively still fine. Repeat that process over and over again, and you’ll get discarded phones piling up, slowly but surely poisoning our planet.

Small Steps, Big Ripples

The smartphone industry as a whole seems to be built to be unsustainable. Smartphones are designed like heavily-locked castles, making sure no one other than royalty can gain access inside. Like many consumer products, the marketing pushes people to buy newer ones, even when they don’t really need to yet. Business models don’t encourage or reward people for keeping their old phones longer and instead motivate them to upgrade immediately by throwing in discounts and trade-ins. This kind of culture and mentality only serves to create more wasted resources and more electronic waste, pushing our planet to the brink of death.

Fortunately, the very same large corporations that drive this industry are seeing their responsibility in helping keep the planet alive. After all, their businesses will also fall if there won’t be enough people to buy their products anymore. They’ve started to take small but important steps towards reforming the smartphone industry to be a little bit more environmentally conscious. Whether they’re just riding the trend or really believe in the cause is a different question, and it will be up to consumers to make sure they keep in line and deliver on their sustainability promises.

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Fairphone has a subscription program that rewards you for keeping your phone longer

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Subscription models are back in business, from the video streaming services that keep us entertained to even the software we use for our work. Phone manufacturers have started to wise up and start biting into that pie, creating subscription programs designed to make you think you’re saving more in the long run. Some of these subscriptions include the promise of upgrading to a new phone when a new model is announced, which is designed to keep you hooked on a specific phone brand. That system, however, is also designed to keep you switching phones and ditching them regularly, which also means regularly increasing the industry’s e-waste. Fairphone, so far the only manufacturer still selling completely repairable phones, is trying to propose a different way of thinking about subscription programs, one that’s designed to actually make you hold on to a phone longer and make sure you actually take care of your Fairphone as well.

Designer: Fairphone

The Fairphone itself is already an outlier among smartphones because of the way it’s designed and manufactured. In addition to using responsibly-sourced materials, the phone is designed to make repairs easier and can be done by anyone with enough knowledge and courage. And, of course, it also sells those replacement parts, so you won’t have to go out of your way to find spares.

The company behind the world’s most repairable phone now wants to take its sustainability commitment to the next level with its Fairphone Easy subscription program. Interested subscribers can sign up for a €21 a month subscription for 60 months (5 years) or a €34 per month for three months. That subscription fee includes a rather bold lifetime warranty and free repair or replacement of parts, though that only applies to anything except the display and the battery. These two are only free once a year, and any repair or replacement needed beyond that will cost extra.

That sounds almost normal or at least generous for a phone subscription service, but that’s not what sets Fairphone Easy apart. Instead of having to send in your broken phone and wait for a repair or a replacement, Fairphone will immediately send you a replacement within 48 hours while you send the problematic phone back to them. The new phone will be the one you will use from that day forward, and your old phone will either be repaired, refurbished, or recycled, depending on its state. The repaired phone will then be used to replace other broken phones from other subscribers, creating a circular economy between Fairphone Easy subscribers.

At the same time, however, Fairphone is providing incentives for subscribers to actually take care of their phones. For every year that your phone remains undamaged, Fairphone will cut off €2 from the monthly fee. After three years of no repairs or replacement, the monthly subscription fee will be reduced by €8. While these all sound like the perfect way to create a sustainable smartphone economy, there is one big catch to Fairphone’s proposal.

After that five-year period, you would have practically amassed a €1,260 amount, not including the discounts from an undamaged phone. That’s almost twice the price of the €649 Fairphone 4 that comes with the subscription, even if you consider the warranty and repairs. In fact, you could even say that you are paying for those repairs, so they aren’t exactly free. And if you decide to finally cancel the subscription after your contract, you will have to return your Fairphone 4. The company says this allows them to reuse the phone and its parts for as long as possible rather than have owners just throw it away later on.

In effect, Fairphone Easy is basically a rental program rather than a subscription, where you don’t exactly have ownership of the phone you’re using. On the one hand, it does come with good feelings of doing your part in protecting the environment in the long run. On the other hand, it’s a rather expensive way of doing so, even for customers in the Netherlands, where the program is available. Perhaps calling it a rental program would have been an easier way to help people understand Fairphone’s business model and make them more amenable to the overall costs of supporting Fairphone’s vision for a greener smartphone economy.

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Framework takes the modular laptop dream a step closer to reality

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Laptops allowed us to take our computers anywhere with us, but there was a price to pay for their portability and compactness. Unlike their desktop counterparts, these thin and lightweight notebooks have most of their parts fixed and soldered down, preventing piecemeal upgrades or even replacements. For years, laptop users have been dreaming of portable computers that were easy to repair and easy to upgrade, and for years, manufacturers have been promising that. None of the big names have been able to pull it off, though, but an upstart startup seems to be on the cusp of success. Framework just announced its second-gen modular Laptop, but it’s the announcement more than the laptop itself that’s getting people excited.

Designer: Framework

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From a technical and design perspective, the new Framework Laptop is definitely worthy of being called an “upgrade.” It makes a full jump to Intel’s current 12th-gen Alder Lake processor from last year’s inaugural release. The new laptop also sports a more refined and strengthened top cover, switching to a full CNC process that provides more rigidity compared to the old aluminum forming manufacturing. That, however, was just the tip of the iceberg because Framework is making good on what it promised when it launched its first laptop.

Those who own the existing 11th-gen Intel Core models can upgrade to the latest Intel processor just by buying a new mainboard. If, however, they aren’t satisfied with the somewhat flimsy top cover of last year’s Framework Laptop, they can upgrade only that or upgrade both at the same time by buying an Upgrade Kit combo. Those who never owned a Framework Laptop have the option to buy a pre-built machine or a DIY kit that lets the buyer choose the exact modules they want and install their own operating system of choice.

Just as important is the fact that the company sells these pieces by themselves as well as Expansion Cards like the PCI-E cards of old. In fact, the announcement also reveals a new 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet Expansion Card that will be joining the roster soon. Whether you occasionally need a DisplayPort or a card reader, the Framework Laptop has you covered. And, of course, you can also upgrade or replace the RAM, the screen, or even some cables, which are all sold by Framework directly.

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Although everyday laptop users won’t be too excited about this news, it’s a very bold move toward making the laptop ecosystem better for everyone. This is the first modular laptop that has managed to reach a second generation to fulfill its promises, which means it’s really the first that will allow owners to upgrade to newer hardware just by buying the parts they need rather than the whole. You will, of course, require some knowledge on how to take things apart and put them back together again, but Framework also provides guides for those.

Having a modular laptop also means having an easily repairable laptop, which goes a long way in extending the life of the device and delaying the time it will become landfill material. The big question now is whether this business model will be as sustainable as the laptop itself. The Framework Laptop is still in its infancy, and it might take a few more generations before it can be considered stable or even profitable. Hopefully, the company will stick around long enough to change the laptop landscape and push bigger manufacturers in a similar direction.

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Dell envisions a sustainable laptop, allowing you to replace parts, creating a design you could grow old with

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Dell is checking all the right boxes for a laptop that is not only environment-friendly but also potentially immortal.

Laptops revolutionized the computing industry by making personal computing more portable, but it also came at the expense of some flexibility and sustainability. Unlike towering desktops, not everything inside a laptop can be easily upgraded, much less replaced when broken. Many laptops makers probably prefer that status quo, but Dell is boldly pushing an idea that could mean it will eventually sell fewer laptops.

Designer: Dell

Today, you can upgrade or replace a laptop’s memory and storage, but that’s pretty much it. You can’t upgrade the processor, add a graphics unit, or even easily replace the keyboard after years of wear and tear. That’s not even considering the materials and processes used in manufacturing these devices, which involve a lot of plastics and a lot of components that eventually end up being a lot of waste.

Dell’s Concept Luna laptop throws all of that out the window, envisioning a portable computer that would appeal to almost everyone, from the expert PC modder to the environment-conscious consumer. The company is trying to apply multiple strategies across the pipeline to not only reduce the laptop’s carbon footprint but, ultimately, also make it as long-lasting as any desktop that can get repaired or upgraded bit by bit.

The ideas that Dell has are quite interesting. In addition to using more recyclable materials, like flax fiber instead of plastic laminate, the company is also looking into shrinking the size or number of components like the motherboard to reduce the amount of energy used to manufacture them. Smarter placement of those components can also lead to better passive heat dissipation, removing the need for plastic fans inside.

Then there’s also the element of repairability, which is made easier by having only four screws to access internal components and using no adhesives. Components can be removed easily and replaced, or perhaps even upgraded with a newer part. All in all, the Concept Luna represents the holy grail of sustainable computers and is probably years away from becoming a reality.

Dell admits that the concept only touches on what is possible, not what is feasible or, more importantly, profitable. A sustainable laptop would ultimately mean people will buy fewer new laptops if they could just upgrade or replace parts of the laptop they already own. Of course, Dell could build a business around selling parts or services, but that might still be less profitable than the status quo that isn’t doing our environment any favors.

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Remember Phonebloks? This company is trying to bring the same modularity to laptops

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There’s no such thing as a perfect laptop. As someone who’s gone through three of them (and is looking to now buy his fourth laptop), there’s always a trade-off somewhere. Either the keyboard’s pathetic, or there aren’t enough ports (or even the right ports), or you aren’t happy with the screen. Up until now, there have been only two solutions – either accept the problem and live with it, or buy a new laptop to find that it has some other problem. Laptops, just like phones, have become devices that are difficult to upgrade, modify, or repair… and Framework is changing that.

The way the Framework laptop is built reminds me of Phonebloks – a video that went viral in 2013, outlining a modular phone with swappable components. Phonebloks would present the holy grail of consumer electronics by putting the power right in the hands of the consumer. The block-based smartphone would allow you to change batteries, upgrade storage, or replace an old camera or broken screen by simply sliding the old part out and putting the new one in. The idea seemed simple, and Google even tried their hand at building it, but complications arose midway (I suspect it also had something to do with the marketing team saying it was bad for business)… however, Framework is bringing that idea to laptops, which could really use modularity given how expensive laptops can be, and how people tend to hold onto one laptop for at least 3-5 years, if not longer.

The idea, just like with Phonebloks, is simple. Framework just announced a 13.5-inch notebook with a number of modular parts that are easy to repair and replace… even for novices. The screen sits on a magnetic bezel, allowing you to easily snap it off if you ever want to upgrade your display (or replace a broken one). Underneath it is a keyboard with 1.5mm of travel, also replaceable, along with the battery, RAM, SSD, and even the WiFi module, all fitted using industry-standard sockets. On the top, right above the display, lie the webcam and microphone modules, that come equipped with hardware switches that let you disconnect them for privacy reasons… and if you’re looking for a laptop with ports, look no further. The Framework laptop’s infinitely swappable port modules mean you can choose ports you NEED, rather than settle for ports the manufacturer selected for you.

While the idea of Framework’s laptop is about empowering users to rebuild/fix/upgrade their laptops, there’s a case to be made about how the laptop is good for the environment too. It drastically cuts down on e-waste generated, while also meaning less laptops need to be manufactured/sold in the long run. In fact, founder of Framework Nirav Patel (an ex-Oculus engineer) even addresses the fact that the laptops are made from up to 50% post-consumer recycled aluminum and up to 30% post-consumer recycled plastic. The packaging’s designed to be recyclable too, with no single-use plastic pieces, and carbon emitted during shipping will eventually be offset too, making the Framework a laptop that isn’t just great for consumers, but is also great for the planet! The Framework laptop’s due to ship this summer with a variety of configurations to choose from, and if you’re interested, you can just head down to their website and hit the Notify Me button to sign up for updates.

Designer: Framework