Your posts make it clear you are frustrated, which is understandable. Purism is in a weird spot right now, largely exacerbated by the supply chain nightmares that began with COVID.
They did sell Librem 13s and 15s for several years. They put a lot of effort into refining what they learned from those into creating the Librem 14. They obviously decided to cut back on production costs by replacing both the L13 and L15 with just the L14 (this was not entirely obvious or transparent, so perhaps Purism could have done better there).
My guess is that they scaled back production of the L13 and L15 in anticipation of receiving the initial L14 batches, and then all the supply chain nightmares (which affect far more than Purism) left them without L13 and L15 in stock and without their initial L14 stock either. The L14 should begin shipping soon - first to those who pre-ordered, and then eventually being able to ship from inventory.
The L5 is in production and going out to those who pre-ordered. There is a three year queue of pre-orders to get through before they can have it be readily available. I have my L5, because I ordered the day the campaign went live three years ago.
They simply aren’t a big enough company to be able to negotiate huge orders for good prices with many suppliers. They have to work at smaller scales, and right now, that means focusing on delivering pre-orders instead of having things in inventory ready to go. It’s definitely a shame with the L13 and L15, and they could have potentially been more transparent about that, but a lot of the delays in the L14 and limited quantities are outside their control.
I think they might have promoted it more. After the first month-and-a-half burst of 9 blog posts on the Librem 14 features and enhancements starting July 2020, there have been 5 blog posts on shipping status. Compared to the hundreds of posts on the phone, a long-time Librem laptop owner might be forgiven for thinking the Librem 14 was nothing special in a company focused on producing phones.
But after Kyle stated it was a significant effort and demonstrated future commitment to laptops, I re-read all the blog posts and found myself in agreement. I want a Librem 14 with all the new features to replace my perfectly fine Librem 13. I am still firmly committed. It makes sense to replace the 13 and 15 with the 14.
As for phones I am going to create a Starlink antenna hat so I can use my no-cellular-carrier wi-fi phone while I walk my dog. I will also have a Starlink antenna with a wi-fi extender on my car so I can drive to the park and talk on my no-cellular-carrier phone. The “no-cellular-carrier” part is the good bit that I want.
Let’s not pretend that this is about being in a weird spot. This is about them saying one thing and not actually doing it. Not covid-related, just them not updating their website to show what they actually have for sale.
I’ve spent hours trying to buy 15 and 13" models and I keep thinking there’s no way they’d leave the pages up if they were out, so it must be something that will be in stock again tomorrow. Nope? Just wasting my time, and not replying to Pre-sales questions.
Also not explaining what things are like the Librem key, etc.
Seems like all the fanboys repond to all my questions with how cool Purism was or will be instead of answering what is actually true now. It’s vaporware. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it won’t be someday. But it is.
Purism just lost a customer who would have bought two 15", maybe a 13", and would of been a phone user. But the rudeness is too much.
To be fair, you didn’t ask a single question in this thread. You just stating things.
The Librem 13 and 15 are no longer promoted anywhere on the website.
They are removed from the shop.
Only “refurbished” ones are mentioned, if one manages to navigate to page 2. By their nature, they are only available if some customers send theirs back and… refurbished. I feel sorry for your wasted time.
