Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and BlueSky @andrewfreedman.net . You can send him tips on Signal: andrewfreedman.01 ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-25/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Andrew E. Freedman Social Links Navigation Senior Editor Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and BlueSky @andrewfreedman.net . You can send him tips on Signal: andrewfreedman.01
cyrusfox IS this how they kill framework? These prices of lpcamm are insane: 16GB LPCAMM2 $239 32GB now $800 (previously $439), 64GB $1,600, up from $849. Better to be ddr5, too bad can't get the same speed as lpcamm, not enough vendors yet. Reply
thestryker I think a lot of people are still underestimating how much memory actually costs right now. Even the absurd retail prices we're seeing aren't indicative of the true price of memory being sold today. Reply
ezst036 16GB is still plenty usable and then some with Linux though. These upgrades may not be necessary for the time being for many if not most people. Save $$$. Reply
helper800 thestryker said: I think a lot of people are still underestimating how much memory actually costs right now. Even the absurd retail prices we're seeing aren't indicative of the true price of memory being sold today. I typically look at the spot prices. Are these a better representation in your mind? Reply
TechieTwo I always like the idea of an upgradeable laptop but Framework's prices never made any sense to me even before the DRAM price hike. Reply
ezst036 TechieTwo said: I always like the idea of an upgradeable laptop but Framework's prices never made any sense to me even before the DRAM price hike. If the world didn't have build-your-own computer towers as it does today, And if one single manufacturer came around and said "hey let's make it so you can build your own desktop computer" That single manufacturer's prices would necessarily be higher. There's costs to manufacturing that you're shouldering because the build-it-yourself isn't industry standard. It is very sad that the computer market is resistant to build-it-yourself for laptops the same way we have build-it-yourself for desktops. Reply
thestryker helper800 said: I typically look at the spot prices. Are these a better representation in your mind? That is unfortunately much closer to reality than it has been in the past. It used to be quite a bit higher than retail supply because everyone would get contracts. Currently everything for the smaller players (think most of the retail supply) isn't seeing proper contracts so they're at the whims of memory suppliers. Big OEMs (Dell, HP etc) are a little more insulated, but they were also able to get a lot more stock going into this so they've been able to spread things out (the price premium on anything using LPDDR5X-9600 is a reflection of real world pricing though). This is why high performance memory has gone up in price so much faster than the rest. It's highly binned and relatively low quantity so existing stock dried up quickly. Watching the CUDIMM market has been especially interesting (great regret over not picking up a DDR5-8800 kit) because it was hit first. Nothing above DDR5-8400 is available right now from anyone period. The new ULL kits from G.Skill are another great example because of how much sticker shock the pricing has caused. Reply
S58_is_the_goat These are apple like prices, wonder what their prices will be like 😵 Reply
Jabberwocky79 TechieTwo said: I always like the idea of an upgradeable laptop but Framework's prices never made any sense to me even before the DRAM price hike. I realize they're pricey, but after a freak HVAC unit malfunction dumped a pile of water on my wife's laptop, I decided the next laptop would be a Framework or nothing else. It's just too frustrating to have a single component (In this case the mobo) damaged and now the whole thing is total E-waste. Laptop be damned, I want something that has replacement parts and is repairable. Reply
cyrusfox Jabberwocky79 said: I realize they're pricey, but after a freak HVAC unit malfunction dumped a pile of water on my wife's laptop, I decided the next laptop would be a Framework or nothing else. It's just too frustrating to have a single component (In this case the mobo) damaged and now the whole thing is total E-waste. Laptop be damned, I want something that has replacement parts and is repairable. you can find replacement mobos, not cheap and not a guarantee, I use to source from aliexpress. Mobo is a major component of the laptop though… Reply
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Reference reading
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- https://www.tomshardware.com/laptops/framework-nearly-doubles-memory-pricing-for-32gb-64gb-laptop-13-pro-overnight-ceo-says-absorbing-lpcamm2-supplier-hikes-would-put-our-ability-to-operate-at-real-financial-risk#main
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