It's hard to justify buying a Framework 12

It's hard to justify buying a Framework 12

My nephew just graduated high school, and wants a laptop. When he decides what computer to buy, price (or more precisely, value) is the most important attribute.

Apple's MacBook Neo upended the 'value laptop' equation—Apple's not supposed to be both the cheapest option and the best value... but it seems like that's squarely where the Neo landed for the good-but-cheap laptop category.

My nephew is also my godson, and to kick off his computing journey, I thought I'd let him choose from a Framework 12 I bought to test, or the MacBook Neo I bought a couple months ago to use around the studio.

I had already put both laptops through my benchmark gauntlet, which revealed one theme: the Mac is faster (in most cases), more efficient, quieter, built better, has a much nicer display, and costs much less.

The Framework is more expensive, slower (in most cases), louder (its fan ramps up quite often), has a pretty poor display, but it is a touchscreen, has a 360° hinge, and is more repairable and upgradeable.

The problem is, for an overall worse experience, are you willing to pay 20-40% more? Because that's the difference for the low-end Framework, which starts at $749 for a DIY edition (accounting for a used 8GB stick of RAM and a 256GB SSD), or $799 for a pre-built.

For students like my nephew, Apple offers up the base model Neo for $499.

I posted a video covering my experience with the laptop, and my nephew's decision to pick the Neo, over on YouTube:

Performance

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