Create 2_buyers_anxiety.html
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Olivia Brooks
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src/blog/posts/2_buyers_anxiety.html
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src/blog/posts/2_buyers_anxiety.html
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<!doctype html>
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<html lang="en-ca">
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<head>
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<title>Buyer's Anxiety | Cutieguwu</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<div class="location">
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<header><h4>You are here:</h4></header>
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<h5 class="page">Blog - Buyer's Anxiety</h5>
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<main class="pane blog">
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<div class="body">
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<header>
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<h1 class="title">Buyer's Anxiety</h1>
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<p class="date">Posted: 11 September, 2025</p>
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<p class="date">Last Edited: 11 September, 2025</p>
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</header>
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<div class="body">
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<img
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alt="A Coaster which reads 'focus on the good,' placed in front of a window."
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src="/img/blog/posts/1_unsure_u.webp"
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/>
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<p>
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I can't say that I'm thrilled that my blog posts have only been when I'm
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down or struggling with something. But, here we are: the third one.
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</p>
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<p>
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I'm stuck with an internal conflict. It feels like remorse, but before the
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poor choice has happened, as opposed to fear? But it is fear.
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</p>
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<p>
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It's no secret that I love my Framework 16, the company's values, and Linux.
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</p>
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<p>I also want to support my friends whenever and however I can.</p>
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<p>But what if those two things clash?... Spoiler: they have.</p>
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<p>
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To preface this whole thing, my friend is looking for a new laptop. She
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bought her old one because it was in her price range. Four years later,
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it's... struggling. The enshittification of the tech industry took hold, one
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hinge died a couple years ago, the whole body is weak, the system is
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relatively underpowered for her needs, and it's not going to survive
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university in any good condition, if even that. As a two-time published
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author, she needs to be able to type and open this system a lot. That means
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a good keyboard and good hinges. She also wants to play Minecraft, Roblox,
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and probably Uno on it too. Thus, GPU demands aren't high and she'll want at
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least a 15" display. She treats her devices well and cares for their
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longevity.
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</p>
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<p>
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To me, this sounds like a great place for a Framework laptop. Expensive
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upfront, sure. But the 16" model has an iGPU that runs Minecraft and Roblox
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just fine, has a super easy to replace input module system to replace the
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keyboard, good hinges, a CPU that's total overkill (even for the stuff I do;
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I wanted a six-core), and it wears like a tank. A guy at our high school
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proved that unintentionally. I have the dent in the lid and the pristene
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display to prove it. It also has some added benefits, like the hardware
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switches for the camera and mic, overall modular design, repairability, and
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the upgrade paths, which save her from spending more money to buy a full
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tower or another laptop. Framework recently annouced the new generation
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boards for the FW 16, and knocked down the price of the 7040 series boards
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slightly, but that's a nice-to-have. Even if you're a non-techie, you won't
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need to get into the hardware unless you're building it or repairing
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something, and Framework's guides have only gotten better. Even when trying
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to replace the liquid metal, or solve an issue that I thought was a loose
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display cable (it was a linux software issue of some kind), the guides got
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me through the wholly unknown to me.
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</p>
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<p>This makes it sound perfect.</p>
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<p>
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The downside? Well, I feel like I'm just succumbing to brand loyalty. A
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total shill. The whole above paragraph sounds like a sales pitch without the
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company's values explicitly spouted. The one thing I envy of Apple fans, is
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their ability to convince others that Apple is great and feel no conflict.
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</p>
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<p>
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Is this what a parent feels like when buying for a child? Probably not?
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After all, the child likely isn't knowledgeable upon the context, or doesn't
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care enough to question the rationale leading to the purchase. But here, I'm
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buying for a friend. Someone smart (Before someone starts, I'm not saying
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that a child can't be smart or that the rest of my friends are dumb). Sure,
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she's not a techie the way I am, but she is more than capable of questioning
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things for herself. What's the price? What's the rationale? Are you just
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pushing me into an ecosystem that you love? Are you buying my friendship?
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...and so on down the rabbit hole my train of thought hops.
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</p>
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<p>
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I've already convinced two friends to try Linux, but their hardware and
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personal needs caused too many problems. I also convinced a family member of
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mine, who was an Apple fan, to shift to a Framework 13 running Linux.
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</p>
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<p>
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I feel like a manipulator. I left my proud, cheerful "switch to Linux"
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chanting phase a while ago. But did I really? Am I so moral-driven that I'm
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blind? Is this really a selfless gift to a friend? Is this because I'm
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afraid of losing my friends? Or do I subconciously hold an agenda to migrate
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everyone to Framework and Linux? As stupid as it sounds, I mean this
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literally.
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</p>
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<p>
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Even if you consider the idea that "only a good person would think like
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that, because a bad person would know it," it doesn't help.
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</p>
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<p>
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To make things worse again, I've long spouted buying something with the
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intent to run it long term, instead of buying a bunch of cheap somethings
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that die super fast. My previous laptop, which I got from my father, ran for
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nearly 12 years before the display started dying; now it's a server. So
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imagine a teenager with that kind of a background in keeping a computer
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running for so long, sees a 3-year old laptop already in a far worse
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condition than their 10/11-year old one (with comparable specs). I was that
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teenager, and I started a "joke" once I got my new laptop, about it's easily
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replaceable hinges... and so on. Of course, I was prideful in a sense, and I
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kept that "joke" going too long... So how will it look when the laptop who's
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death I foretold gets replaced by the exact laptop that it was compared to?
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(Assuming that I didn't start the "joke" about the purchase decisions, age,
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and condition of my previous one.)
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</p>
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<p>
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The only consolation I get for now, is that I have a few days to see how
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Katie likes the FW 13, which is loaned off the aforementioned family member
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of mine. The trouble, because of course there's more, is that I need to
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discern between her impressions of the computer, and the OS, since it's
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Manjaro Linux. Because of that, my plan is to dual boot the gifted system.
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That way she can finish her computer science stuff in the same environment,
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and then decide whether or not to scrap the Linux partition.
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</p>
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<p>
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Of course, as always, my troubles start just after having had a counselling
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session. So, I'm left to deal with this myself for a few weeks.
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</p>
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<p>Sometimes I wonder why things can't just be simple for me in life...</p>
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<hr />
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<p>
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Now, as a note, I'm not saying that Framework is perfect. They've had, and
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continue to have, their issues. The difference is that they actually listen
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and work on them. The guides, the incorrect QR codes, the support system,
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FW16 keyboard deflection, late UEFI updates, the FW16 keyboard wake-up issue
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with the screen closed, the first-gen display expansion cards power draw
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issue, and so on. And sure, they can be slow. But they're small, and they
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try to do it right the first time. They release the software and hardware
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patches to affected systems, and listen on to further critique in the
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interest of improving.
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</p>
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