hi,
pretty much the subject… I am trying to choose my next laptop and I am tempted to buy a framework 13 AMD. I saw this post from one year ago : https://www.phoronix.com/review/framework-13-amd
and while the review is impressive, comments are not. how things have evolved since then? any experience?
EDIT: you convinced me, I just ordered mine. Thanks for the incredible answers !
NEW EDIT: I use arch (btw), and Gnome. For the answers, I do not think this will pose a problem but… what do you think?
(and yes, I ordered mine before reading last comment of paequ2 who doesn’t like it… for reasonable reasons, maybe. I hope I will have more luck ;) )
I have a Framework 13 AMD running Linux Mint. It works great and I love it. Modular IO ports are super nifty.
Here are the downsides as I see them:
- Price
- No touch screen
- No wifi 7
I expect 2&3 will come in the future and I can upgrade! The fact that I can upgrade rather than throw it away in the future offsets 1.
Can you not use an M.2 wifi card? Or do wifi 7 cards not exist yet?
According to Framework support, there are no supported models as of yet.
I have the AMD edition and overall the laptop is nice but since I received the laptop about 9 months ago the screen broke 4 times. I only got it back 2 or so weeks ago from the repaircenter so I have only been able to actually use it for a few weeks. So my experience is pretty terrible so far. I honestly have no faith the screen is durably fixed this time but let’s see, I’m pretty done with it.
I just bought one a couple of months ago. It’s my daily driver. My work issued laptop sits on my desk, and I carry my framework around. If you’re a Linux guy, fedora runs fantastic on it - everything works, couldn’t be easier. Battery life could be better, but it’s fine. Trackpad is great, I heard some bitchin about it, but I don’t get that hate. Some complaints about the hinges and how they bounce. Again, unfounded complaints in my opinion. The hinges are stiffer to open/close than I expected, but they are fine (just a little different feeling). New webcam is great for a laptop webcam. New screen is nice - but let’s be honest, not much touches an apple screen. Sound is ok, nothing special. The case is fantastic-people (engineers and nerds) drool over it. The swappable ports are awesome, that alone makes the laptop imo. But the real star is the serviceability of it. Five screws and the whole thing comes apart. Everything can be replaced and upgraded. They even give you the screwdriver you need to take it apart. Bios updates work with fwupdate in Linux and they update regularly. Keyboard feels good. It stays cool and fans don’t go crazy.
It’s expensive. But I love mine. But I do plan on keeping it and upgrading forever - or at least until I smash it accidentally, so maybe it wasn’t expensive.
The 13 doesn’t have a gpu. It’s capable, but if you want to game on it, look at the 16. If you have specific questions I’d be happy to answer or post a vid/pic or something.
I’m sporting a Framework 16 since a few months and had some battery problems at first. Due to work load, I couldn’t really get into the problem and something I changed or updated resolved it.
But I sent a mail to framework support at that time and the answer was just awesome.
Not just some typical 1st level response to update or restart, but real technical questions and obvious interest in my problem.
They even sounded a bit sad, that I couldn’t really tell them anything, because the issue resolved without me being able to pinpoint it.On that note, I also have to say, that Tuxedo support was really good.
My Pulse 15 battery was starting to get a belly, and they sent me a new one without much questions - and no pay.
Now, after like 4-5 years, I have my old Pulse to my nephew and saw that the CMOS battery is dead. Again they just sent me a new one.Some companies really deserve to get recommended.
I read through those comments - there’s actually more complaints than those. Those weren’t that bad.
They updated the fan curves recently, mine runs fine. Fans aren’t silent when humming along, but normal use they aren’t even spinning.
Sleep is always a bitch on Linux. It doesn’t have great sleep life. I just shut mine down at the end of the day, and close the lid during the day.
I believe they fixed the amd graphics issues. I should have noted that I have a core ultra chip. I wish I had gotten the amd chip - but guess what - no biggie, I can upgrade later!
There was a complaint about the windows key. I will admit that I ordered the Linux keyboard and it pissed me off that I got a keyboard with a windows key. But I didn’t make a stink, I just deal with it.
There was fingerprint reader complaints. Mine just worked. Dunno what that was about.
My vote is a firm “buy a framework” and get a fun color. People will be jealous.
The linux keyboard has a Windows key?? What’s special about it then, that makes it a linux keyboard and not a windows one?
They (at least KDE) calls it the “meta” key. Which I kind of like.
It’s not a “Linux” keyboard per se. It’s the same keyboard - it’s just one has a superkey symbol instead of a windows key symbol printed on it. They screwed up on my order and sent me a keyboard with a windows key on it. It’s a non issue, and I didn’t say anything - I’m sure they would have sent me the other keyboard if I bitched.
Ah, I misunderstood then, I thought the linux option still had a win key on it and that it was different in some other way. Thanks for clarifying
I was like batch 5 of the AMD framework 13 running Arch and Gnome on it.
I did have some problems with suspend/nvme drive that was fixed by replacing the nvme. If you go with their drive you’ll probably be fine (I just grabbed one I had laying around). Ever since then the laptop is perfect. If you do get it check out the Archwiki article that has a lot of helpful tips for tuning your OS to the Hardware
i have the intel one, i love it.
it matches with my definition of laptop, portable, 2k screen, the battery lasts a lot and a bit touchpad.
i have kde 6.x so i also have TouchPad gestures.
Ooh I didn’t know that KDE has touchpad gesture support now, I’ll need to give that a go next time I try linux
I can speak to longevity - I have a gen 1, batch 2 (humble brag?) - and absolutely love it. Got me to switch over to linux, and the quality is there. Minor gripe about the trackpad sticking intermittently, and had to have the hinges replaced (both known issues, resolved). 10/10 great laptop
I can actually game one the AMD one pretty okay. Couldn’t with Intel. Battery life also increased by 30 minutes.
YES! Big yes. I have one as well. Very pleased with it. Be very sure you pick the new 2.8k display version. So either pick 7640U - 2.8K Display or 7840U - 2.8K Display. Which works great for Linux, WITHOUT the need of fractional scaling.
Also be sure to pick the correct + right amount of expansion cards for your needs. 1 USB-C will be used for charging, so just saying.
Then if you installed your distro of choice, be sure to install power-profiles-daemon for improved battery life. So the chip goes to a lower power state. More info: https://knowledgebase.frame.work/en_us/optimizing-ubuntu-battery-life-Sye_48Lg3
Hmmm… I’ve been using Bazzite on my FW16 and it’s been running great. They have a distro image specifically built for Framework, and it’s been great in terms of power management.
I wonder if that stuff is covered in the Bazzite FW installation? Anyone know? I guess I can check…
Apart from that, everything else should just work fine out of the box under any modern Linux distro most likely. The only downside I had with my Framework 13 laptop is the sound quality, because the speakers are down firing. You might like that or not. But you can definitely live with it.
is ppd better than tlp for amd? because I still use tlp for all my devices (intel) and it works really well
I’ve been stuck deciding between getting the 2.8k screen and upgrading to the larger 16 laptop. I stopped using my desktop last year entirely and so now I’m trying to figure out whether I should go with the larger laptop since it’s the only thing I use now.
I personally like the 13 inch format laptop, since I use it as a laptop.
I have had that laptop a couple weeks and have been loving it. On fedora, everything pretty much just works flawlessly with no effort. I had a small issue figuring out how to turn off secure boot at first (f2 at boot time I think?) because that menu was separate from the rest of bios.
Other than the speaker not being great (not surprising) and the battery life being meh, it’s a very impressive machine. Mac laptops for me have always been the gold standard for smooth operation but I despise apple, so when I got this machine and it felt mostly like the smoothness of a MacBook pro with the freedom of Linux, I was super stoked about this laptop. It feels very snappy and the keyboard and touchpad are great.
I’m super picky with laptops and have a bunch. Thinkpads, Macbooks… Framework 13 AMD is my daily driver that I prefer over all of those. It runs brilliantly with NixOS. I would buy it again in a heartbeat.
Hey, funny that you mentioned the Thinkpad. I’m between getting a Thinkpad and the Framework 13. Would you perhaps share things that for your personal preference were downsides in the Thinkpad?
My T14 is a great machine. The keyboard is excellent, and its Linux support it great, too. However the screen is pretty bad and has a bad ratio for coding, it always looks dirty because its black shell shows all the oil from your fingerprints. If something breaks out of warranty, you’re pretty much SOL. Whereas with the Framework, I can upgrade and fix any component, up to and including the mainboard/CPU.
I have both the 13 and the 16. Absolutely love them.
So I have a Framework 13 AMD with Mint. Framework on older firmware isn’t the best, but with Mint 22 and by extension 24.04 it’s fine.
Got mine back in December and had no issues with the installation process. Games play fine though the fan goes to 100% after a bit. But with power profile in 22.1 it can quiet the machine down.
Other than that and the occasional hiccup. Compared to other laptops it’s the best machine I’ve used. So far no issues with only a few times of opening the terminal to fix minor issues.
I recently picked up a Framework 16 (AMD with GPU to replace an aging gaming laptop used for travel) and love it. Linux (OpenSUSE Tumbleweed) works wonderful. Thinking about picking up the 13 when I need to replace my other laptop when it’s time for that.
Does anyone have experience running the 13 with linux and an eGPU by any chance?
Via TB4? If I’m not mistaken Oculink eGPU adapter is only possible with the Framework 16. It may worth waiting to perhaps get the new Arrow Lake with a discrete TB5
yes, that would be via TB4 for now…
Got it, the performance in the the TB4 for eGPU isn’t very good, with a degradation of 30% or more in some cases
I can confirm the Intel version of the Framework 13 works amazingly with an eGPU (Fedora). 11th gen was my daily driver until I upgraded to a Framework 16 😎
nice, that sounds great
I got mine last January and it’s been pretty much flawless on Arch with KDE and Wayland. No regrets whatsoever. Battery life is probably the only weakness, but I also push my stuff hard. Overall, I’m super satisfied with the choice.
