Asklemmy

No.

For it to be a good investment it’s value would have to go up over time or drop at a slower rate than other comparable things.

A mac is a better investment (but still not “good”) not only because they tend to hold more value over time but the used market has higher volume so there’s less chance you need to price it low or wait a long time when you’re ready to sell.

If you’re worried about the value of being able to fix it, spend less than your $500 budget on a used t480 with the processor you want, upgrade the ram to 16, 32 or 64gb, install at least one ssd and be glad that there are literally millions of inexpensive spare parts on the market and will be for at least a decade.

What framework does uniquely offer is the ability to change your complement of ports. That’s either a useless novelty or a powerful tool depending entirely upon weather you consistently swap them out and can find all the ports you need as expansions or not.

Is it worth it to not be carrying around some dongle? I don’t know.

E: the processor to get on that t480 is one of the intels.

Is it really more modular than a ThinkPad or even professional Dell? I have an old Dell and finding replacement keyboard for it on ebay was cheap and easy. Same with battery. Changing keybaord/cpu/RAM is super easy, you can do it yourself. Bonus is that parts will be available for a very long time, there are many providers and surplus stock. Framework is nice but can you really be sure that in 5 years you will still be able to find parts easily?

I'm interested in a framework laptop for the environmental perspective, but I also think a pre-owned high end device would be faster and with smaller impact.

Hi. If you want to look for a new laptop, you can also try out Tuxedo laptops: https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en/Linux-Hardware/Linux-Notebooks/Alle.tuxedo

Their laptops are a bit cheaper and also repairable, starting from 850 EUR (8GB RAM, no Win license, etc.) They assemble laptops, you specify components to your needs.

I'm a happy owner of Tuxedo InfinityBook 15. The most important is that they use normal generic power supply (not some proprietary one that is hard to replace) with an ability to charge from 65+W USB-C connector. Battery preservation bypass mode is also possible in BIOS settings. Their keyboards are also high-quality, replaceable and can have a custom layout. The screen is also high-quality. Initial setup is easy af. They maintain their own distro, which is quite good on its own, but the hardware is also Win-compatible. They also provide 5% discount for students.

(note: not sponsored)

For me it’s the only laptop that might entice me from leaving “the dark side” (Apple).

Would then install some Linux distro on it though.

Laptops are not long-term investments. Hardware innovation makes them obsolete almost as fast as phones. Whenever some new OS security feature comes out that depends on BIOS or chip capabilities then you need to swap motherboards (and often memory) which is the bulk of cost. Or when a new USB format comes out. Or whatever is the "flavor of the month" improvement in GPUs, Bluetooth connectivity etc. The only scenarios in which extensibility really makes sense would be SSD size, maybe battery or RAM. But if it costs double then you would be better off buying a new laptop now and then another in a few years, instead of paying up front for in order to "maybe" be able to swap some of the components later...

I've had mine (first generation 13" model) for over a year now. I'm very happy with it, and I intend to make it last me through university (3 years) and then some. I would consider it a good investment for me.