“If you’re looking to order a Framework Laptop or Desktop with a lot of storage, now is the time to do that.” So says Framework CEO Nirav Patel in the latest update to the company’s ongoing blog post about the memory crisis.We’ve reported previously on numerous occasions on how Framework is handling spiralling RAM and SSD prices. The latest update does indeed announce further broad price increases, more on which in a moment. But it also calls time on Framework rigs configured with larger SSDs and benefitting from what you might call legacy pricing.”We’ve started to deplete our earlier, lower-cost inventory of SSDs, and have needed to re-price some capacities to reflect the costs we are now paying for new orders. Like with memory, we’re passing through as close as we can to our actual costs from suppliers and using a Weighted Average Cost model. There are still some models and capacities like 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB SN850X for which our pricing is substantially below market while we sell through inventory. If you’re looking to order a Framework Laptop or Desktop with a lot of storage, now is the time to do that,” Patel said.Patel doesn’t say exactly how much prices will rise once current stocks of 2, 4, and 8 TB drives are depleted. Framework is charging $265, $469 and $899, respectively, for those drives right now when you configure a Framework 16 system.On Newegg, you’d be looking at $422, $669 and $1,345 respectively. So, Framework’s current pricing comes at a significant discount to market rates. A fairly hefty step up once drives sell out seems pretty likely.
Laptop or desktop, memory is gonna cost you more. (Image credit: Framework)
As for the rest of Framework’s announcement, the general gist is that prices are going up again for system memory, but not by as much as previous months. That said, the company also couldn’t rule out further increases.”The cost increase is smaller this month than in previous months, but we don’t yet have the visibility to determine if this is a new stable cost level,” Patel said.Framework is also slightly increasing the pricing of some configurations of pre-built Framework Desktop and Framework Laptop 16 and says that, “in upcoming months, we will need to do this on the remaining pre-built configurations of Framework Laptop 13, Framework Laptop 16, and Framework Laptop 12.”Anywho, if you were thinking about a Framework in any case, its current pricing on larger WD SN850X drives certainly makes them that much more appealing. For now.
