Framework Has Good News and Bad News for Laptop Shoppers in 2024
If you have been watching the consumer electronics market lately, you already know that buying a new computer right now is not exactly a pleasant experience. The ongoing component crisis has created a frustrating environment for anyone looking to purchase new hardware, with supply chain disruptions driving up costs and limiting availability across the board. Framework, the company known for its modular, repairable laptops, is not entirely immune to these pressures — but it does have something genuinely exciting to share with customers who have been waiting patiently.
For those who have a preorder in for the Framework Laptop 13 Pro, the company's CEO has described this machine as the "MacBook Pro for Linux users," a bold claim that has generated real excitement in the open-source and developer communities. And this week, Framework delivered some surprisingly welcome news that could directly affect what you pay and what you receive when your order finally ships.
The Good News: A Free SSD Upgrade at a Lower Price
Framework announced that it has successfully secured a new batch of PCIe Gen 5 SSDs from its supplier, Adata, at a significantly reduced cost. The result is a straightforward win for customers: if you had already placed an order for a Framework Laptop 13 Pro configuration that included a 500GB SSD, you will now receive a 1TB SSD instead — and at a price lower than what you originally expected to pay.
That is not a small deal. Doubling your storage capacity while simultaneously reducing your out-of-pocket cost is the kind of upgrade announcement that rarely happens in the current hardware climate. Most consumers have grown accustomed to prices going in only one direction, so Framework's ability to pass supplier savings directly on to preorder customers is worth noting.
What Changed on the Supply Chain Side?
The key driver here is Framework's relationship with Adata, one of the more reputable names in NAND flash and SSD manufacturing. By securing a new supply agreement at better pricing, Framework was able to absorb lower component costs and reflect those savings in customer orders rather than simply pocketing the difference as margin. This kind of supplier flexibility is part of what makes Framework's business model interesting — the company's modular approach means it can swap and upgrade individual components more easily than traditional laptop manufacturers who lock everything into proprietary designs.
PCIe Gen 5 SSDs represent the current leading edge of consumer storage technology. They offer dramatically faster sequential read and write speeds compared to their Gen 4 predecessors, which translates into faster boot times, quicker file transfers, and snappier application launches — benefits that power users and developers will notice in everyday workflows.
New 1TB and 2TB SSD Configurations Are Now Available to Order
Beyond the upgrade for existing preorder customers, Framework also announced that buyers can now configure new orders with either a 1TB or 2TB SSD from the start. This expands the storage options available to those who have not yet placed an order and gives prospective buyers more flexibility when speccing out their machine.
For developers, content creators, or Linux enthusiasts who work with large codebases, virtual machines, or media files, the 2TB option in particular opens up the Framework Laptop 13 Pro as a much more capable daily driver without immediately needing to carry external drives or plan around storage constraints.
The Bad News: Component Shortages Still Loom Large
Framework's good news exists within a broader context that is less cheerful. The component crisis affecting the PC industry has not gone away, and it continues to create headaches for anyone hoping to buy new computing hardware on a tight timeline. Lead times remain unpredictable, and the overall cost of building a new machine — whether you are buying prebuilt or sourcing parts yourself — has stayed elevated compared to pre-shortage norms.
Framework has not been entirely shielded from these pressures. While the company has managed to secure better pricing on SSDs in this instance, that kind of win is not guaranteed to extend across every component category, and potential buyers should still approach timelines with realistic expectations. Preorders in this environment can mean waiting longer than the initial estimates suggest.
Is the Framework Laptop 13 Pro Still Worth Ordering?
For the right kind of user, absolutely. The Framework Laptop 13 Pro targets a specific audience: people who want a high-performance, repairable, Linux-compatible laptop that does not force them into a proprietary ecosystem. The "MacBook Pro for Linux" framing from Framework's CEO is ambitious, but the underlying value proposition is real — a machine built to be upgraded, repaired, and customized by its owner rather than retired the moment one component fails.
The new SSD upgrade further strengthens the case. Getting 1TB of PCIe Gen 5 storage at a lower price than the 500GB option previously cost is a tangible improvement to the value equation, and Framework's willingness to pass those savings along to existing preorder customers rather than quietly applying them only to new orders says something positive about how the company treats its customer base.
Final Thoughts
Framework continues to carve out a distinctive position in the laptop market by prioritizing repairability, modularity, and transparency with customers. The latest SSD upgrade announcement is a small but meaningful example of that approach in action. If you are already in the preorder queue, expect more storage for less money. If you have been on the fence, now might be a reasonable time to take another look at what the Framework Laptop 13 Pro offers — particularly with expanded 1TB and 2TB SSD configurations now available. Just go in with realistic expectations about timing in a market that is still working through significant supply chain turbulence.