I’m quite busy at the moment with the MNT Pocket Reform first batch production (and getting our MNT Reform refresh, upgrades and peripherals available on Crowd Supply), so apologies that I haven’t chimed in here earlier. I’m really happy about the lively discussion and input here though, so thanks for that!
The basics of the Reform Next industrial design and a lot of the specs are already quite solidified, and we’ll do a longer post about this soon.
About Reform vs Reform Next positioning:
- Classic Reform has never been a high volume product and will probably always stay niche. Which is fine. It appeals to a certain group of users that are technically more advanced or want some degree of DIY, customization/personalization, people that might even become co-creators in the open source spirit. It can be seen as an avant-garde device or a flexible lab from which developments for other devices are spun off.
- Reform Next is one such spinoff. It is for people who are less DIY focused, and who are looking for a sweet spot between right-to-repair/customization/open source/autonomy and practicability/portability/“it should pass as a pro/business device in meetings”. We will try to make it easier to use for people who are not mega Linux experts by default.
Reform Next is also more of a competitor to Framework, but has some USPs that stem from Reform:
- Mechanical keyboard
- 18650 LiFePO4 batteries (yep)
- Open Hardware with all the effects this has (no venture capital backed company will be able to match this, I think)
- Fanless
- No planned platform decay like app/part store business models, bundled MS Windows etc
Both Reform and Reform Next will steadily improve in terms of price/performance, as they will both receive next-gen processors etc (Pocket Reform too, of course).