Does the Framework laptop stand the test of time?

I used a Framework 13" as my daily driver for 3 years. I still have it, and now I also have a Framework 16", which has been my daily driver for the last six months.

The user serviceability and upgrade stories are real. The hardware isn't as svelte as Apple's, but mine has traveled all over the world and has yet to have any major issues. The one hardware failure I had was that the USB-C half of the charging cable on my 13" eventually broke after a few years of abuse, but that used to happen to me with Apple charging cables, too.

Framework has an active initiative to do outreach to different Linux distro communities and give them free hardware to help shore up compatibility. And, on that note, I haven't run into any Linux hardware compatibility issues (not with Pop!_OS, or more recently NixOS).

Speaking for myself, they have a loyal customer for as long as they continue to make this kind of hardware.

Bought a Framework 13" in 2022 (Intel 13th gen). It's equipped with 32GB ram and a 1TB drive.

It has good intentions but falls short. I would say overall it is a mediocre laptop in terms of quality.

Will it last longer than any other laptop? I would think so, it has a strong story of available parts and upgrades. Similarly I believe it would last longer than any other laptop, since you can essentially do a Ship of Theseus with it.

Pain points:

  - display hinge problem, picking up the laptop would make the screen lie flat 180 degrees, which is really annoying - this has been fixed in newer versions of framework, but to get a new hinge kit costs $39 AUD plus $30 AUD in shipping, so I'm not willing to make that purchase due to the ridiculous shipping price.

  - the modular ports are nice, but I'd rather just have fixed ports and more of them, of course that'd obstruct the repair/modularity story.

  - sometimes the modular ports do not work after resuming from a hibernate, I have to eject and reseat it.

  - the display is okay, I notice mine has a small granular line of off coloured pixels - i don't think this is due to any physical damage but rather a defect in the screen as I've never had this kind of issue with any other laptop and I've handled the framework fairly carefully; but this line of off coloured pixels is very faint and virtually unnoticeable at bright colours, so it's not a huge deal as I make it out to be.

  - the keyboard works great, but I was hoping for an upgrade to something along the lines of an apple style layout with half height inverted-t arrow keys and fn/ctrl swapped; the idea of a marketplace for custom parts doesn't seem to really exist.

  - Battery life of about 3-4 hours of very average usage.

  - Speakers are trash.

The webcam / mic are good enough.

I run Linux on it, and seems to run pretty stable.

I needed this laptop because I needed 32GB of ram for compile jobs. I have since got a macbook pro 16" with >32GB of ram and it can compile what I need using Rosetta 2 for Linux (so amd64 compiles). Since my mac can now do everything I need, I very rarely touch my Framework. I loathe the idea of having to use it over a mac laptop.

Instead of contributing to more electronic waste and as an economic purchase, I...

use used ThinkPads.

Advantages:

Zero new electronic waste created.

Several 'new' machines are cheaper than a Framework.

Small upgrades plentiful and cheap. A major upgrade of a'new' machine still cheaper and more environmentally friendly than a Framework.

Better battery life, keyboard, ergonomic design, ports, hinges LOL, etc.

Try one today: ebay.com

I ordered my AMD one late in 2023 and love it.

It's not perfect as battery life compared to the Apple Silicon MacBooks is simply not a competition, but everywhere else it's close enough for me.

Being able to upgrade the screen already was a huge "yes, thank you" as instead of needing to buy an entirely new machines for a particular upgrade I was able to quite simply swap in the new part, which is what I'm used to on the desktop hardware side of things. It's awesome! The community and Linux support is also very cool and I'm excited about a possible RISC-V board to pop in and the overall tinkering possibilities.

That said, if you just need a personal computer, it's hard to recommend in the most general sense I think. But for businesses I can see it being a no-brainer.

I've had one for about two years now. It has lived up to my personal hype, and I think it'll last longer than alternatives (though that remains to be seen). I have had a few minor pain points, but I'd definitely buy one again.

I posted a review here: https://vale.rocks/posts/a-year-with-the-framework-laptop-13

Also, I haven't updated my review to reflect it, but my acid sweat has been damaging the chassis a bit. Not too dire, but certainly annoying.

https://community.frame.work/t/pitting-on-palmrest/51681

I bought mine in 2022 and I still use it as my main system. There is not much to complain about. As someone else said, the laptop tends to get warm and my impression is that this has happened more frequently in recent years. Linux support is great. I don't rely much on the battery, so that's not an issue for me personally.

I don't know how long this one will last me, but I will try to keep it alive with spare parts for as long as possible. Repairing things, especially if they are treasured things, feels good. There was no need for any repairs yet, but I expect it to happen eventually. Or maybe I just want to upgrade things at some point.

Some of my friends own Framework Notebooks and are pretty happy with it. I also did some testing and was convinced.

If my lenovo T480s had any unfixable problems, I would have bought one myself, but this thing just refuses to die ;)

If I could change anything, there are a few things, I would improve...

  - The speakers: i mainly use headphones, but these are pretty Bad. I'd love to See a partnership with ELAC[1] a german speaker specialist, with a more expensive paid opt in upgrade
  
  - Battery life: improved a lot in the latest models but repairable components eat battery, maybe lpcamm2 RAM would improve this

  - open source bootloader: like libreboot or oreboot
  
  - ECC RAM support: this is probably hard to do but would be really appreciated

  - support for audio jack headset remotes: some usb-c to audio Jack already support volume control via headset buttons on fedora
  
  - single handed lid opening: the weight and balance should allow to open the LiD single handed, this worked most of the time but sometimes it won't

Anyways, I'd still buy one (the AMD 14" model with better display) as soon as my thinkpad dies or is too slow for my purpose.

1: https://www.elac.com/

Got mine (13th Intel Core Ultra Series 1) and very happy with it.

Re modular ports, I don't think they are super useful after you've selected your configuration, but being able to have a custom port selection is very nice.

I am using Arch, btw, and everything has been working well so far. I thought there were some drivers issue, but turned out it was due to my bootloader setup (https://yobibyte.github.io/kernel_update.html)

I pre-ordered my 13" with an i7 in late 2021. As a long-time Linux user, the experience has been very plug-and-play with the installation, and everything has been working as expected.

During these years, I ended up opening the laptop multiple times: - upgraded the monitor hinges: this was a major annoyance when travelling. - went through support to get the mobo repaired/swapped as one of the ports broke for whatever reason - ended up moving to AMD mobo, while increasing RAM and SSD simultaneously. - I bought the Coolermaster case for the i7.

Overall, all of the above happened as advertised. I enjoyed putting my hands on it, and to be honest, the engineering quality that went into it still impresses me.

There are a number of issues that I still find below grade but don't really bother me: - the speakers are definitely not great, I saw there is an upgrade available for them, will look into it, still not my primary use. - the original monitor was glossy, so ended up with an anti-glare screen cover. I now see that you can also have a matte version and one with bigger resolution, never been an issue, but interesting to see. - the fingerprint scanner is a bit jiffy, but I figure this is mostly a linux issue. - the battery was a major downside at the beginning under the i7, but right now I don't see it being an issue, at least under AMD: I get a good amount of hours and playing a movie on battery is something I can do without issues, draining just a few percent off it. (I'm currently running tuned and tuned-ppd if you want to know).

I'm very happy with it mostly, if not exclusively due to its upgradability and linux support. I only wish there was more competition in this sector.

I got one 1.5 years ago and still enjoying. I hope it will be the laptop of Theseus of the rest of my life, but some unexpected development will probably happen that will make that unlikely.

Be careful what people will write here. A lot will have buyer bias because they want to justify their purchase.

I've loved mine. Some issues with the heat management and fans--but that's also been a Linux/laptop thing--fresh thermal paste, a new (warranted!) fan replacement part, and finally figuring out best drivers setup have brought it roughly in line with a Dell or whatever. Really enjoyed when I recently upgraded the memory on my tower last year, and threw the old ones on the Framework and it worked great. The expansion slots are a bit gimmicky but still surprisingly useful--when my wfh setup changed recently it was simple to change the mDP over to the other side and then never having to think about a dongle.

But I plan to actually upgrade the motherboard this year, so we'll see how that goes and looking forward to reading others experiences.

I have one with an 1135g7. I bought it to replace a surface laptop and to support the idea of unsoldered ram and easy replacement parts. I upgraded the display, replaced the lid hinges, and dropped it right on the power button corner so had to replace the keyboard/lid/base the other year. For the money could have given a different machine with better specs but nice to repair.

It works well with good build quality but battery life isn’t amazing. I rarely swap out the ports so less helpful than I thought.

In a couple years I might change the battery and motherboard. For my use case something with a Costco or Microsoft accidental damage warranty is probably the way to go but I’ll eventually upgrade the motherboard and battery.

I bought an Intel i7 like 2 years ago. My takeaways:

- I would rather buy a MacBook now, the whole ecosystem is nicer. This is not Framework’s fault, Apple’s ecosystem just works and at some point you just want stuff that works. I absolutely love the AirPods and there’s always some minor annoyances when pairing with the laptop.

- The removable port adapters are nice but not that useful in reality. I occasionally change the charging port to the other side to make charging easier in different spaces. The HDMI adapter sometimes needs to be removed and reinserted which sucks.

- The build quality is good enough. I wouldn’t expect any less from any laptop at that price point.

- I believe the main selling point was that you could switch parts easily. However, I don’t see myself performing any major upgrade like changing the mobo/cpu. Those upgrades are fairly expensive. Also, I don’t see myself building stuff with a spare mobo/cpu.

- Given the previous point, I wouldn’t say this laptop is going to last me longer than any other high quality laptop. I have a Sony VAIO that is still working after more than a decade. I expect the same of this laptop and I expect the same of any high end laptop.

- speakers suck.

Overall I think the concept is really nice and I am glad that I supported the company. However, I think that making conventional laptops more repairable is good enough. Full modularity is a cool concept but it does seem to have a lot of drawbacks. Give me the ability to easily change the hard drive, the RAM, the battery, the keyboard/trackpad and that is sufficient for me. Maybe the screen.

If you are really environmentally conscious I would say you can achieve something similar by buying a high end device, using it 5-8 years, and then sell it/gift it when you need to upgrade.

There’s also the argument that a perfectly good laptop can end in a trash bin because of a faulty port or something minor. But honestly, I have never had that happen. Either I’m just lucky or electronics at this price point are generally well built. Given that you did a bit of research before buying.

I have a Framework 13 (12th Gen). I have no complaints about the hardware quality. I love the replace everything concept. I rarely do that though, my ports are always the same - 2x usb-c, 1x usb-a, nic (bulky I remove that one for traveling and replace it with another usb-c).

Having said all that, I would not buy another one right now. The software side of things is just not up to what I expect. They still have not figured out lvfs for this notebook; the last bios update I could install was a manual EFI installer (which is beta at this point it in time I guess, only really "production" ready update is windows based installer). Also the bios I have is now a year old, and there only has been one non-beta bios upgrade in the whole lifetime of this model (~2.5 years). So the software side of things is just miserable... At this point in time I guess the next machine will be something with coreboot+lvfs and regular, timely updates (still taking suggestions ...). I guess I would be willing to give a framework+coreboot situation another try in a couple of years. The main reason for buying this is reusablilty once I decide to move on to the next hardware generation.

I got one of the first batches of the framework 16 with AMD. Easily the best laptop I've come across.

I had some issues with wifi and i2c drivers in linux presumably because the hardware was new and hadn't settled yet. Upgrading the kernel to get new drivers fixed it.

The machine looks and feels great. Good keyboard, good trackpad, good screen. I got 4TB NVMe and 96GB of RAM for cheap because I could install my own. I love that if something fails I can repair it easily myself so I don't have to wait on someone else. I love that I can swap out the ports, I didn't expect that'd be much of a benefit but I use it a lot more than I was expected. I have a handful of different expansion ports in the backpack that I swap out as needed. 8 hours of battery life with active usage.

It feels too good to be true, like if I dreamed up my ideal laptop manufacturer, but then quickly dismissed the idea as too optimistic.

I had mine for almost a year now. The laptop is nice, although I had problems with the motherboard twice.

Pros: * super modular, I have 2 usbc and 2 usba usually and the hdmi and ethernet on the backpack for when needed * it's pretty fast in comparison to my carbon x1 from 2021

Cons: * the motherboard died twice and they still don't know why. I suspect the charger as it stops charging after a while, something tells me they haven't fully figured out the motherboard completely yet. * BIOS software is also somewhat lacking still, but this is a well known problem they are hoping to fix with time * Battery life is not really the best, but again I blame it on the BIOS * fingerprint reader just works in Linux, and webcam too which is a difference with Carbon x1

I'm looking forward to future improvements and maybe seeing them enter the mobile phone market.

Absolutely love mine (Framework 13") and have been running either Arch or Ubuntu for the last 3 years. As mentioned elsewhere, I also had an issue with the charging cable but that is the only problem in three years of constant use. Otherwise works as expected and I was able to run everything on the hardware.

I've got a piece sitting somewhere in my blog's drafts folder that I need to dig up photos for, literally titled "I fucking love Framework."

So full disclosure, even being immensely interested in their mission, I would have waited for the AMD version if my previous machine hadn't gotten wrecked in a car crash. Since insurance paid for it, it was essentially free. But. I've been daily driving a FW13 since early into their launch (Batch 4) and it absolutely holds up.

I'm still on a lot of the original hardware, and some of it is showing its age -- I'm particularly hard on keyboards -- but I'm aware that this is replaceable on its own. I also know I can just get the upgraded battery when my current one gives out, or eventually swap in a new display kit and also deal w the hinges in one go.

One thing that was exactly as magical as promised was upgrading the board. I opted for more RAM over a better CPU the first time but also had weird graphics driver issues under Arch when I tried running games on the 11th gen Intel board generally. Being able to clear up hardware-level issues by just installing better hardware, and then suddenly seeing a huge capability boost in what your machine is able to run, cannot be overstated. (I can also run smaller LLMs on it without pushing the limits of my CPU now.)

Some other gripes/musings:

- The DIY config should just bake the basic components into the up-front price. It's one thing to upsell on more expensive components (different expansion cards for instance), but as a customer it's irritating to see individual upcharges for things like bezels that I need as part of the build.

- Aside from wishing there were a good first-party way of recycling the monitor, I would be really interested in seeing a board that's just a USB hub, enabling the use of the body as an I/O device.

- I realize this isn't a Framework issue, but I wish there were an AMD board with more than 2 USB4 ports.

We have a pair of Intel 13s at the company as a pilot test, running Ubuntu.

One of them had a battery failure: the battery swelled inside the laptop. Framework determined it was out of warranty, since it was more than a year from purchase, so we paid for the new battery. (Along with some extra excitement because the 45W supply isn't provisioned to handle peak demand without a battery, so we ended up with an Amazon-delivered 100W supply to keep it running until the battery arrived.)

The other machine occasionally hangs. We're still trying to run it down, but it looks like it might be the SSD powering down and failing to power back up.

My overall take is that I really, really want to love this product, but a work machine has to be reliable, and these laptops are falling short on that front.

I have 6 months with my FW16. Everything has been good so far, the laptop itself is overpriced but I'd say that the added value of repairability makes up for it. Will have to wait more time to see if they update the mainboard for the 16 inch model, but it has been a breeze so far.

Framework 16+gpu had for almost one year. Pre-ordered and I think I have a "batch 3" or "batch 4" decice can't really remember.I agree with everyone the fit and finish is not as nice as other laptops of the same price range but I very much care about the repair ability and open eco system so I am willing to pay a bit extra. I love being able to swap out ports but honestly I think it adds some extra failure points. I was receiving random usb disconnection/reconnection sounds and eventually one expansion port on the motherboard stopped working. Haven't had the chance to call framework yet to get it fixed but I am sure they will.

The main issue is the battery life isn’t competitive

Been using my Framework 13 since launch. It's definitely better than the MacBook I had before it. I have not had to repair it even once (vs 3 times in 3 years for the Mac).

The "repairability" doesn't really matter much when it doesn't break. Any CPU from the last 10 years should be good enough for me to just be coding in vim. Perhaps faster compilation speed for Rust but I mostly write Go anyways.

I'm hoping new parts will still be supported/available in 10 years when I'll actually consider upgrading anything.

The best thing about it is Linux support. I have friends who regularly get driver issues or whatever on other systems but that's never been a problem for me

I got one of the first batches of the 13", been using since 2021. It's on track to last as long as my old thinkpad from 2014. The screen chassis got seriously dented and I was able to fix it without replacing the entire laptop (the replacement part costs 99 dollars). The only thing that isn't great is the battery life and the fans can be super loud. I like the keyboard and trackpad fine. The replaceable ports a kind of a gimmick I'd say, but doesn't really hurt anything other than I have to carry some around if I need them. I'd buy it again.

I have been using the 13" DIY Edition (AMD Ryzen™ 7040 Series) for 2+ years now and there haven't been any hardware issues nor breakages.

Software wise it's just worked out of the box with any Linux distro that I've tried. However Framework has been criticised for their slow availability of firmware updates (to which they responded and have gotten better at).

As has been mentioned in the thread already, the battery is not great. Expect about 3-4 hours of use depending on your workload (I do a lot of code compilation on mine).

Overall its a competent worker, but nothing amazing. Which I knew going in.

I bought a 1st generation framework in a pretty early batch. In between I upgraded to a ryzen mainboard and use the old mainboard as a desktop computer in the dedicated case.

The old battery is not as good as it were (even though I only charge it until 75%, which the bios lets me configure) and the display hinges are a little too weak. The hinges got fixed for newer models, even in the factory second 1st gen Intel I bought for a friend they are fixed.

There was a time when they could not keep up with bios updates, but that has apparently been sorted out. And it's not worse than other vendors...

I have no regrets.

I bought a used one, the battery life is quite sorry. It can live for maybe 2h using their linux with powertop improvements. Maybe linux is part of the problem and windows would perform better (heard an argument that linux driver writers are not privy to the hw details and so cannot write energy-efficient drivers).

I hate to say it as a linux fan, but if battery life was any important I would buy a mac. I have mac pro 2017 which is probably of the same age, if not older, and the battery life is just so much better.

I have one, still my main laptop and I don't see a reason to change that. Battery life is better than any other laptop I've had, though that may say more about my other laptops than the Framework. Biggest gripe: no touchscreen and, despite open specs, still no aftermarket touchscreen several years later.

> 3-4 years ago, [...]. Will it last you longer than any other laptop?

That's still too early to say! My laptop (ThinkPad) is seven years old and I see no reason to upgrade. My work laptop is six years old Dell and is also fine.

Very happy with mine, best Linux laptop I’ve ever had. I have the 13”.

I ultimately sold mine (launch model). The hardware was....fine. Battery life on Linux was disappointing, battery life on Windows was tolerable but less than a Surface device. I missed having a touchscreen though that wasn't a dealbreaker.

No one thing was the breaking point, I just found myself reaching for my other laptops more as they would more reliably have power after sitting for a while.

If I wanted a Linux device I would give it a look today, but its battery life and general UX are significantly behind a Surface Laptop or Macbook Air/Pro, so no, I wouldn't buy one as my sole laptop.

I bought mine in September. Overall, a big disappointment, the battery is less than mediocre (under linux). Unfortunately I missed the refund window.

I bought it after using a mac m1, so i was somehow under impression that i am buying a laptop to be used during a train ride, or watching a movie in a bed. It's none of that, i bought another "movable desktop pc".

Everything else is OK.

I have an i5. It’s decent but the machine stopped booting on battery after the cmos battery died. They sent me a bypass kit which is nice. The delete key on the keyboard failed and this is apparently a common issue, so I’m disappointed to have had to replace the keyboard when they know it’s their error. Horrible speakers.

I love the idea of it but am meh on it after 2.5 years. Good Linux support though.

I have an AMD 13" running Linux that I've used for a little over a year. I love it, would absolutely buy it again. The 7840U is a great processor, and one I'm happy to sit on for a little while -- works fine for what I need it to do, fairly efficient, and even plays some modern games pretty well. A few random thoughts:

- All the hardware works out-of-the-box in Linux, at least as far as I can tell.

- Swappable ports seems like a gimmick, but it's nice. A few months ago I realized I'd rather have a built-in Micro SD port than an extra USB-C, and that change was trivial.

- If I had bought a traditional laptop, I would have been very annoyed to have an upgrade with a much nicer screen and webcam released 6 months or so after buying the laptop. Instead, I just bought the new screen and webcam module and swapped them in in less than 15 minutes.

- Speaking of the screen, I've missed matte screens ever since Apple went glossy. It's really nice to go back. The 3:2 aspect ratio is a huge bonus, the extra vertical space is useful.

- On Linux, I get around 5-6 hours of battery life under my normal use, 8 or so under light load. That's more than enough for me. Finding a way to charge has never really been a problem since laptops switched to USB-C charging.

- The speakers are not great, and they're downward firing which makes them worse. The easyeffects presets here help quite a bit: https://github.com/ceiphr/ee-framework-presets

- The trackpad is fine. It's better than most non-Apple laptops I've used, but it's still nowhere close to a MacBook's.

- Most of the early issues with the processor have been solved with newer kernel versions. There's still a crashing issue that prevents running large accelerated LLM / image models: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/3482. This isn't a problem with the Framework specifically, but I wish they provided a BIOS option to reserve more VRAM.

- I'm very much looking forward to upgrading the RAM later without buying a new machine. I'll probably do this when the above bug is fixed.

- I wish there was just a little more focus on the details. For example, the swappable port modules don't sit exactly flush with the case on the right side (they're just barely recessed too deep) and it annoys me a bit every time I see it.

Overall though, it's my favorite laptop I've owned since the 12" MacBook. It makes me happy every time I use it.