This is a bit of a selfish post, but I don’t think I’m the only one out there interested in this. I’m in the market for a more recent laptop, my most recent laptop is from 2017, and boy have I been burned in the past by laptops that look good on paper, but end up being pretty disappointing in their design and upgradability. I don’t need a high powered machine, but what I do want is the ability to increase or replace ram, storage, etc. These aren’t usually hard to find, but I do feel like finding a laptop with those upgradable components while also being well designed is a bit more difficult to come by.
I am currently having a blast upgrading my extremely old IBM X31 (2003, mine since 2006) and in opening it up it’s just a joy to see things laid out in an easy to maintain, accessible, and efficient (functionally and with respect to maintenance) manner. There are minimal shortcuts made to handle thermal characteristics, vents are placed where cool air should be brought in instead of just someplace convenient, and ram and other components are easy to replace.
Surely there have been some laptops made in the last 5 years that also have these characteristics, but in my research it’s real hard to find out which ones they are. So my question to you Lemmings who often take apart and maintain laptops, what would you consider to be the best designed laptops for longevity and maintenance that have come out recently?
I think folks will mention framework but I am not 100% on board there. never owned one.
I’d claim without much proof other than anecdotal that dell/Alienware typically have 5+ years of life and partial upgradeability for most components. storage, ram, some other but not graphics/mobo.
I’m looking at tuxedo and system 76 at the moment, and leaning towards tuxedo, but I have different use case.
Framework was and is certainly high on my list, but I’d rather go in a used direction and I do have concerns about them sponsoring hyprland and omarchy, and I haven’t seen anything about them backing down on their statements.
If I were to categorize what I consider most important as far as upgradability goes, it would be the following:
Storage - Drives fail, full stop. It needs to be replaceable. Storage can also be a backup to ram, so if that isn’t replaceable something needs to be. My experience with a 32gb nonreplaceable storage laptop has soured my entirely on non-replaceable storage.
Ram - Ram can fail and as technology proceeds, ram tends to be the most expendable resource as technology progresses. So as time goes on, what you started with just won’t cut it in the future. I don’t see this changing anytime soon, so it either needs to be upgradable or way overboard in capacity and to a lesser degree speed.
Secondary components (wifi, bluetooth, etc.) - I honestly don’t mind replacing these components with a usb dongle, but it sure would be nice to replace the internal components and leave USB ports free.
Graphics - I’m not a laptop gamer, I don’t see it as the place for it. While there are some processes that would benefit from a better GPU, I feel like mobile CPUs cover that aspect very well.
CPU/motherboard - A replaceable cpu is a rarity to find in a laptop, and processing power/watt doesn’t seem to have a huge difference within generations which is probably my most important factor in a laptop. Sockets change so often and chipsets aren’t often compatible with newer chips that I don’t much see the point if the motherboard isn’t replaceable. It would be cool to have a replaceable motherboard, but considering how fine I am with older technology, I think even those would still be outdated by the time I start considering that anyway.
Framework has a refurb store with deep discounts. No need to buy new.
MSI is going to be second on the list because they’ll regularly replace things out of warranty if they have spare parts lying around, or sell you entire main boards at a steep discount if a laptop board goes bad out of warranty. Same with all other parts.