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That is very strange. That folks would choose a plus when between a plus and a basic, If two things are indistinguishable except for price, why would they go for the higher price?
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The initial release of the Plus had it with the cooling and power of the Pro, but no pass-thru.
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But it does not appear to have the cooling fins of the pro blocking the exhaust and they dropped the power? Not having one to look at, I am not sure.
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When I originally got my Plus (over the Basic) it was because I thought it had the power of the Pro (45w). I was very disappointed when I found out it was just 40w. I don’t know what the extra cost was for anymore…
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That was the question I was going to ask! Good to keep in mind.
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Well at least deciding on which glowforge is now simplified. Much easier to decided between two options then it is to decide between three. Or maybe that is just me… 
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They’re certainly making ample room for xtool to eat their lunch.
If I were in charge at Glowforge I’d be looking at the P2 with significant concern. Glowforge has almost no moat, certainly not a thousands-of-dollars-per-machine moat, IMO.
For anyone who hasn’t seen it:
https://www.xtool.com/products/xtool-p2-versatile-and-smart-desktop-55w-co2-laser-cutter
Cheaper and more power with greater material height range and rotary options… It’s like they did a laundry list of all the things we’ve been asking for from Glowforge and ran with it.
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Whoa, the P2 looks too good to be true.
It is so sad that we’ve seen no hardware innovation out of Glowforge for a long time. Even the past models were remixes of simple options like tube power and passthrough. All these years and no truly new models, no new accessories, no new capabilities other than those which can be added with software. And even the pace of adding those software features is slow.
I assume they have done the math and decided that their current strategy of only doing software updates for a few unchanging hardware devices is the way to go. That’s just sad to me, I would like to see what this team could do if they were unleashed.
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While it did have the 45W tube I don’t believe it had the extra cooling. (An odd combo and possibly a factor in deciding to drop it back down to 40W later on.)
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Perhaps, I don’t know for sure as it never made any sense from the beginning.
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i thought it had the cooling, too. otherwise, what’s the point of the plus over the basic? no extra cooling, no extra wattage, no pass through, no extra usefulness.
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Nope. See the original announcement:
It had the extra 45W tube (at first) and the nebulous “upgraded components” that have always been advertised for the Plus and Pro (which nobody outside the company has ever been able to identify) but not the extra cooling that’s found in the Pro.
I never understood that either.
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In fact, I think the openglow people showed that the motion components were identical – motor part nums, stepper drivers etc – I think were all verified to be the same across all models.
I may be wrong about that one, but maybe someone can confirm it. Anyway if it’s accurate it’s always just been a software limit, which is… disheartening. I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised these days with car manufacturers all doing “subscribe for a few more horsepower in your EV” and other shenanigans… but still, it feels less than great.
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The steppers and control circuitry were identical between all models.
Marketing hype.
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Was there maybe better heat mitigation on the stepper drivers so you could run them harder? Idk I’m reaching.
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maybe it’s just easiest to keep the plus and ditch the basic instead of announcing another price hike on the basic?
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As an owner of a Basic with over six years on it, I can’t say I’m happy with this news. I expected to eventually need a replacement. A refurb basic would have been doable, but a new Plus is out of the question, much less a Pro. What a shame.
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I wouldn’t fret over it, I am sure they will work out a plan for existing basic owners.
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