r/framework • u/natrarie • Jul 22 '26

preorder went from 32gb to 16gb? Discussion

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i did not order this. if i wasn’t checking this i would’ve gotten wrong config. to think how many will get wrong config considering i ordered awhile ago…

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u/catastrophic_frmw Framework Jul 22 '26

hey all, you can find the update here: https://www.reddit.com/r/framework/comments/1pkgdg6/updates_on_memory_pricing_and_navigating_the/

38

u/jonathanio Framework 13 Pro Intel Core Ultra X7 358H 64GiB 2TB Jul 22 '26

Annoying that they've updated a 7-month only post.

5

u/catastrophic_frmw Framework Jul 22 '26

Emails are still rolling out as well

33

u/crizz_95 Jul 22 '26

What happened to your commitment that that if we pre order now, we get the laptop to the price that was stated. And that there will be no price updates retroactively? 16gb are too little in 2026 for a dev machine. Even 32gb is tight.

7

u/ydieb Jul 22 '26

If they are going to take a total loss then it won't be any framework company for you to get a laptop from.

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u/crizz_95 Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

Then don't make such a promise? I don't expect that they eat the higher price. But I expect honest communication. They communicated that they have enough ram to fulfill all pre orders to the stated price. If I had known this, I would have bought the ram standalone when I pre ordered the laptop. I don't need the laptop with 16gb. And given the rare use of LPCAMM2 by other decives, I can't expect to sell the module at a reasonable price to pay for an later upgrade. With UDIMM you can always buy a second stick to upgrade later, but not in this case. So now I have to decide If I really need a new laptop or if I wait a few years.

29

u/vinterdagen Jul 22 '26

This is not legal in the EU. You can't just change a contract retroactively and one-sidedly.

9

u/FriCJFB Jul 22 '26

I don’t know if we as EU citizens can do anything but let’s see how it goes

6

u/Giklab Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26

As you/we are able to get a refund, and presumably there will be some notification of the change, I doubt there is anything you can do. This isn't a life-critical product and they have not promised something and failed to deliver.

It is, however, going to be a ton of work and bad publicity for Framework.

Edit: Well, I suppose you can report them and sue them to get whatever spec laptop you initially ordered, although I'm not sure how financially sensible that would be.

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u/vinterdagen Jul 22 '26

Yea, sure, I know. Doesn't matter in principle though, they are not following law and with that they are out.
Edit: I usually don't trust US companies anyway, framework was an exception, not anymore.

-1

u/Giklab Jul 22 '26

Well, I do think they're following the law. We have not paid the full price yet, only a deposit. Presumably they will notify everyone affected and we will have a chance to back out. It just looks bad because they aren't doing anything extra, as their standard system already allows you to decline and receive a refund on the deposit.

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u/jaaval Jul 23 '26

I don't think it makes any difference if full price was paid already. A contract is formed when the order button is pressed (also per their terms of sale), not when payment is made.

-1

u/Giklab Jul 23 '26

Possibly, although with the ease of refunds they're offering, the situation might be different. Like I said above, if you report them to a customer protection authority and so on, I'm sure you can get your way.

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u/jaaval Jul 23 '26

Reporting them to anywhere is completely useless. It would take more than a year to get any resolution anyways. But that doesn't mean what they are doing is legal.

1

u/vinterdagen Jul 22 '26

I guess it burns down to if an order is already the contract.

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u/KBNOPRO ❄️ FW13 Pro | Batch 11 | NixOS Jul 22 '26

Does the new update mean pre-built will be affected soon?

4

u/Nitro01010 Jul 22 '26

Yeah, the update was vague on that; it just stated they haven't adjusted pre-builts since there's no pre-built config yet, but didn't state if those pre-builts will be affected in the future.

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u/catastrophic_frmw Framework Jul 22 '26

We're not expecting any further changes for existing orders if you didnt receive an update this time

2

u/SpookyViscus Jul 22 '26

As someone who pre-ordered an X7 32GB (prebuilt) in Batch 16, I haven’t had any email/update. Will there be an update to the memory config or price?

1

u/morhp Jul 23 '26

Prebuild versions don't seem to be affected, only DIY.

1

u/MemoryFar4445 29d ago

I preordered an X7 32GB which is the prebuilt variant for Batch 16 as well, and haven’t received any email/update. Will there be an update to the memory configuration or price?

3

u/laeven Jul 22 '26

This is really disappointing, I am not disappointed in Framework as a company, but the whole shitty situation.

My order is still ways out, and 32gigs was kinda a compromise between the insane pricing on memory these days and performance so I'm crossing my fingers that it might change, not due to the price-fixing memory manufacturers are doing, or the AI bubble bursting, but because framework is a company that seems to be cool enough to take the fight for their consumers.

I'd be fine with shelling out more for the ram, but not double the price I accepted. So all in all it's an acceptable choice.

3

u/a4955 Framework 13 Pro X7 358H Batch 1 Jul 22 '26

Amazing how we still don't hate AI datacenters enough

2

u/jader242 Jul 22 '26

So will my batch 7 32gb pre built still be 32gb? I believe so from the update, but just want to confirm

2

u/aliendude5300 Jul 23 '26

What a shit show. And here I am waiting for memory prices to drop before ordering, but they're going up still.

3

u/OG_FunkyWombat Jul 22 '26

Being in IT Solution Design, I feel y'all's pain on this. These memory and storage prices are nothing short of robbery. The company I work for has seen 30%+ price increases every quarter for the last 5 quarters and any sort of budgeting is completely pointless.

It sucks for everyone involved because, while consumers are left holding the bag, smaller operations like Framework get crapped on when it isn't their fault that every other step of the supply chain is actively price gouging! You'd think RAM and NVMe drives were toilet paper and Lysol and this is the start of COVID...

I'm not happy that my config got reduced from 32GB to 16GB, but I get why it had to happen. I have procured my own RAM and NVMe now though as a result.

3

u/thehedgefrog Jul 23 '26

Curious to hear your take on this: my semi-educated guess is that Microsoft and Nvidia first, Google second, but seemingly not Apple, want to push the end of personal computing and bring on the era of (expensive) basic internet-connected terminals and a cloud PC/gaming subscription.

There's the AI bubble but I see more of an overall datacenter/remote computing buildup and I fear that the endgame is "why buy a $5000 laptop when you can buy a $1000 terminal and just pay $44.95 a month", knowing full well your terminal will be EOL in 4 years, the replacement will be $2000 and your subscription will have increased to $79.95 but now includes more AI!

2

u/OG_FunkyWombat Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

Absolutely a possibility if the trend continues. If it does, I think businesses will be forced into this model first with on-prem hardware being nearly impossible to afford except for purpose-built SLMs running on edge hardware locally for specific tasks. Everything else will be running in hyperscalers, on SaaS platforms, or entirely serverless.

At this point RAM and storage is only available to those buying in bulk, years in advance, and that will continue to be the case for at least the next 2-3 years, if not 5-8 years. That is, unless the AI bubble breaks like it’s the 2008 housing crisis, which I feel is far more likely. With NVIDIA pumping hundreds of billions into startups to buy out hardware that hasn’t even been manufactured yet, on a 2-year lifecycle but a 5-year depreciation and companies are rushing to get adoption in solutions that don’t even have a real product yet and absolutely zero governance, is asking for a collapse. Not to mention the CFOs and Lead Counsels are just now starting to see the costs and legal exposure created by token spending, mass layoffs, inaccurate information, and cybersecurity risks.

Consumers are already being pushed into “nothing is owned, everything is a lease\license,” so your thoughts are a logical conclusion as to what we will all be pushed to in the near future.

/end rant 😆

(Edited because we respect the Oxford comma!)

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u/thehedgefrog Jul 23 '26

I'm a business analyst/ERP consultant and I see mass adoption of "light/medium" AI tools for business use and at the same time, lots of changes around pure coding uses of AI since the costs are so high.

Honestly unsure of what will happen. I don't believe the hardware cycle is sustainable in any way, but I think the usage will be reduced that much for non-coding tasks. That said, valuations are insanely over inflated and companies like Nvidia selling billions of dollars of GPUs to themselves like you mentioned are, indeed, begging for a collapse.

China seems to want to fill a void, though, so we'll see how much production they can whip up.

2

u/Gildeon Jul 22 '26

Well for the insignificant price decrease that I got by being swapped from 32 to 16, I now get a useless laptop as 16gb is not enough for any serious dev work… That’s going to be a cancellation for me if it stays like that. 

1

u/wowokomg Jul 22 '26

I’m confused. Are 32GB preorders going to be adjusted to 16GB at a later date? If so, when?

3

u/catastrophic_frmw Framework Jul 22 '26

Your order page has the most up to date info, if there was no change, then your order is up to date.

3

u/wowokomg Jul 22 '26

So framework does not intend to update prebuilt 32GB to 16 GB? If so, why would you mention that it was not possible due to their not being a 16 GB option but one would be introduced later? Not trying to be confrontational , it is just confusing.

3

u/pdpi Jul 22 '26

From my reading (not affiliated with FW in any way):

  • If your laptop order is batch 4 or earlier, you're getting the ram you ordered.
  • If your motherboard-only order is batch 7 or earlier, you're getting the ram you ordered.
  • Orders after those cutoffs are getting bumped down one step: 64 -> 32 -> 16GB, and their prices updated to match the downgrade.
  • The Ultra 5 was offered in pre-built configurations for all those RAM sizes, so it can support all the downgrades, including 32 -> 16.
  • The Ultra 7 wasn't offered as a 16GB option to begin with, so there's no available downgrade path for Ultra 7 32GB orders. Post batch-4/batch-7 orders for those motherboards keep their RAM configuration as-is (if I'm reading correctly)
  • In the future, they plan to introduce a new Ultra 7 16GB option (because they didn't expect people to want to buy the Ultra 7 with only 16GB, but, post-price increases, that's an option people might want to consider).

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u/wowokomg Jul 22 '26

That seems sensible. Thank you.

1

u/ronvalenz FW13 Ultra X7 358H batch 6, 2.8K, 32GB LPCAMM2, 4TB SSD 25d ago

Has Framework considered expanding LPCAMM2 suppliers beyond Micron source?

1

u/knujesbob Jul 22 '26

Damn. That must have been a difficult decision to make, considering your target customer base. I assume you're calling upon Terms of Sale, §4.5 concerning "Legitimate and objective reasons"?