Hi, With my batch 7 prep mail out, it’s getting in my mind again. And I’m still debating between the 14” m3 pro 18 512 model and the Framework 13 R7 with a 1TB SSD and 32GB of ram. Can’t decide because they both have pros and cons. The framework will cost 1429+~170=€1600 for ssd and ram and the Mac with student discount will cost me €2000. And with the better battery life and screen etc. I’m still debating with myself and can’t choose :( So my question is how do decide because I can’t find a definitive choice for myself. Thanks already for the answers
As someone who’s had a MacBook Pro 2020 PRE M series… I’m getting a framework because I broke my screen a month out of warranty only to be quoted 500 dollars, with a trade in price of zero. With this said, MacBooks last quite a long time and are quite powerful and efficient. Think of it like this instead:
do you want an s-tier machine now that will slowly become worse and worse over time (with a shelf life of about 7 years? I think that’s a fair assumption with all the ai innovations afoot) And when do you want to upgrade? How much do you want to spend on the upgrade? And what will you do with the computer when you are done with it?
you could otherwise go for the machine that will be closer to B-tier (all the problems you listed are valid concerns and knock it down even though it has solid specs), but that also could become a better or stay a more consistent machine over time. Upgradability makes the framework a better “investment” for the long haul, since you can potentially improve parts or even downgrade(say for friend who really just needs a Chromebook).
This however all is based on the premise that framework exists for more than 7 years. Apple should still exist, they should still support it, and they will definitely improve their stuff. Framework is still in a position where they could fail with bad guidance and an overall smaller user base. Making parts is still somewhat open source, so that’s encouraging, but who’s to say if amd, intel or whatever new arm processors that come out don’t break their system.
soooo. The choice is yours! Both are solid enough options in their own right.
and last bit of thought: MacOS is an excellent system and I’m actually gonna miss it a bit when switching to framework. So much so that I might still end up getting a Mac mini to do some of the Mac stuff I’ve been doing (Logic, photomator, and Final Cut are just that good for me). Linux is tinkery and does take time to make it work the way you want to I’ve begun to be wary of windows and all of its telemetry and slapdashed ai stuff. Framework can’t do macOS (and hackintosh is doing the most).
happy choosing, and feel free to try and then return the framework if it isn’t for you.
Ain’t no way a Mac is gonna be supported for 7 years lmao. They don’t support any Macs from 2016 and only support a single model from 2017
I have a feeling that might shift, only because the updates have tended to be more incremental in terms of processor improvements. That said, you may be right as they really only tend to support phones meaningfully for 5 years, so they might bring that over to the M series as well.
I also just perused this Macworld article https://www.macworld.com/article/673697/what-version-of-macos-can-my-mac-run.html. It looks like they shifted up two years to 5 years of support instead of 6 or 7.