First I thougt its just a prank by a bored social media intern, but it looks like the whole company is built on this insane absurd communication. It was a hilarious read

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I was under the impression, from reading one of the developers write of his interaction with the owner, that they're just selling dropped shipped white label laptops.

They're simply add branding and a disk image which the white label manufacturer applies before shipping.

So it doesn't even seem to be an OEM... Just some guy trying to make an easy buck with some slick marketing and white label laptops... he just couldn't get the image setup and failed spectacularly in collaboration with the people who could help him.

Another scam company like framework trying to charge exorbitant fees for computers without dedicated GPUs.

Don't be fooled by the viral marketing/useful idiots, guys. Just go with the product that's the best deal for you.

...FW16 is a great Linux machine. It also had CAD drawings available that have been allowing me to sketch out possible physical modifications. It also has a PCIe 4.0 x4 available for either the GPU they sell or any other device that I decide to make.

What specifically about Framework do you think is a scam? I'd genuinely like to know since that's been the opposite of my experience.

You can buy better hardware for cheaper prices.

Framework exists to take advantage of naive people who are just trying to fit in with strangers on the internet.

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You can indeed but better hardware for many purposes for cheaper.

Want a gaming laptop? Or a runs Linux out of the box laptop? FW is not even close to the best value there.

Want a laptop with well-documented physical specs, including CAD drawings to make readily modifiable and upgradeable, potentially being the last laptop chassis that one needs to buy? Nothing else comes close to touching FW.

I avoid ads, so, maybe they're inappropriately marketing as gaming laptops. I'd not call that a scam but would say that it's ethically questionable, at best. FW is a laptop for people prioritizing long-term repairability and tinkering over everything else.