For 3 months I’ve now been the proud owner of a Framework Laptop, and I’m quite satisfied. Here’s a quick writeup of my experience so far.
Overall Verdict
Shiny
(Captain Malcom Raynolds)
Specs
12th gen i5, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD DIY edition, running Ubuntu 22.04
Cost
Total €1536
- €1398 Laptop (laptop, expansion cards, power adapter)
- €75 Docking station (NOVOO, from Amazon)
- €38 90W additional power adapter
- €25 Laptop case (for MacBook Pro 14”)
Start with Why
Initially, I was hooked for the upgradability, and the big community which would allow me to solve any issues encountering when switching back to Linux as the main OS. But we’re (still) all humans, and I’ve also come to value the haptics and the not-thinking-about-the-battery-ness of a modern laptop.
Cons
- loud fan. When gearing up the CPU, it gets pretty noisy. I mean, really.
- no proper invoice in the EU. I hope the taxman won’t give me headaches about this.
Pros
(roughly in the order in which I now value them)
- light, but still robust
- really like the keyboard
- battery – 8hs for my usual workload – typing (with the occasional hot reload), reading, surfing
- runs Ubuntu 22.04 very nicely
- upgradability. Lets see how well this actually ages, but I expect to at least add memory and change the SSD and battery over its lifetime (I’ve kept my Lenovo Ideapad alive and usable for development for nearly 10 years and still counting)
- bright display makes up for the glossy screen (and wide adjustable range – I can work in a very dark room or in bright daylight),
- first USB-C dock from Amazon worked out of the box. Having read some horror stories, I really dreaded this item on the list, but it just works (LAN/RS232, monitor, branching out to another no-name USB-A hub with mouse, keyboard, headphones, printer, 90W USB-C power supply (extra one)
- love the expansion cards – just the ability to choose the side USB-C dock is already great. No idea why not all manufacturers do this
- display can be turned to 180 degrees (i.e. lying flat horizontally), great for showing stuff on a tabletop to multiple people
- physical privacy camera/microphone lock (was a bit suprised at first that when first doing a video conference that the camera could not be found – until I aha’d that the privacy switch obviously disconnects the camera)
- slow charge with USB-C phone charger – was really suprised/delighted that this works – a very thoughful feature you’ll use very seldom, but these would otherwise be times of great distress
- “DIY” is really on overstatement – the only extra manual task was putting in the SSD – that’s it
- +1 for eco-friendly mostly-cardboard packaging
- Surprise – the edges are magnetic in some place
Neutral
- speakers are ok
- I don’t use deep sleep/hibernate (which other users have had issues with Ubuntu)
Overall Summary
Overall – it’s a great piece of hardware, also for development. I really do not regret buying it. Things are just so … thoughtful, you really see a human being having put thought into it. Linux as a daily driver is also great (Docker Desktop has improved, but …)
However, for anyone with frequent/continuous high system load, the noisy fan is probably a showstopper.