Hey all!

A week and a half ago I received by new Framework 13 and posted a quick thought on it. Someone (@[email protected]) asked that I give an update after a bit of use, so I figured a quick note now would be appropriate. I’m thinking I might give some updates again after a couple of months and then at six and twelve months.

I’ll make mention of my old personal laptop (HP Envy x360 model 13-yO13-cl) for comparison sake, and my work laptop (Microsoft Surface Laptop 3) as well.

Specs

DIY Framework 13, 13th Gen, i5-1340, 16GB DDR4-3200 RAM, WD_BLACK SN770 NVMe M.2 2280 1TB SSD. Bought without OS and installed Fedora 38 Workstation. For whatever reason, the Live image wouldn’t load with Secure Boot enabled. Once installed I was able to turn it back on.

Cooling/Fan

When ever I boot to the “BIOS” boot settings the fan goes crazy. I don’t stay in the screen long enough to see if the system gets hot or not. During normal use, the fan doesn’t come on, not that I have noticed anyway. It does get a bit warm on the bottom during browsing. I haven’t watched a lot of video on it yet. I mostly use it for browsing the web, poking around Gemini space and writing.

Display

I had read a couple of reviews where they mentioned that the hinges were weak. While they are not as stiff as other laptops that I have used in the past, I wouldn’t call them flimsy or weak. I can move around the laptop, pick it up and put it down without the screen moving. At the same time, I haven’t intentionally tested them by moving quick or jerking it around. I just use it “normally”, not taking any extra care that I wouldn’t with any laptop.

The screen itself is decent. My last laptop had a glossy screen that was too dark at its brightest and reflected even the most ambient light. Having the keyboard back-light on reflected in the glossy screen. The Framework is matte, so the reflection is a non-issue. I have been using it at about 25% brightness, mostly because I use it at night when it is darker out. Even at that low of a level I am able to use it in normal lighting conditions. When my eyes are tired and the room I’m in is very bright, the Framework screen brightness can be turned up significantly, almost kind of blaring if I’m honest.

I run Fedora 38 with default Gnome at 100% resolution. I love the extra space and the ration is great for working on two documents side by side. I can have my editor open on one half and Firefox open on the other and work comfortably.

Keyboard

I’m putting this here because it made an impact on me. The keyboard backing is nice and firm, so when I bang away at the keys they feel nice and solid. I generally use mechanical keyboards on my desktop computers, so I am used to giving a bit more of a push. Compared to the my HP, they keys feel really nice. The texture of the key caps is not super smooth, giving a bit of resistance to the skin of my finger tips. I’ve used super smooth keyboard before that made my fingers feel like they were sliding all over the place. These just feel good, solid, responsive. Really nice to use.

I generally don’t care about keyboards having back lighting, I’m a touch typist so I don’t look at the keys normally. When I got the Framework and realized it had back lighting for the keyboard I tried it out. It has three levels of brightness! That was a surprise. I’ve used it a couple of times while laying in bed in the dark one-handed. No, stop it, not like that. I was on my side and was propping my head up with the other hand.

Chassis

Another complaint that I had read about was the cheap feeling of the chassis, keyboard cover, etc. People say it feels like plastic, when it is actually aluminum. I can see what they are talking about. While it certainly feels like metal, it doesn’t feel as “firm” or “metally” as some other laptops. But I’m satisfied with it. I think that the Frameworks metal is just a bit thinner than others that make if feel cheaper. My old laptop and work laptop both feel “stronger”, but also feel a bit heavier.

While I’m talking about the chassis, the Framework is narrower than both my HP and the Surface. Not by a huge margin. It is also “taller” (front to back) than them. It is certainly thicker. All the same, not such a difference to be of importance.

Performance

So far I haven’t had any complaints about performance. I don’t do a whole bunch of resource intensive stuff. Small database work, writing, and surfing the web.

Bluetooh and Speakers

I was able to connect my Pixel Buds Pro without issue and watch a couple of Youtube videos and listen to an audiobook just fine. I did play a couple of music videos over the Framework’s speakers, and yeah, they’re not great. Speakers and Bluetooth worked right out of the box with Fedora 38.

Wifi

I’ve had no issues with the wifi at all. Unlike my old laptop that constantly went into airplane mode if you closed the lid or turned it sideways when moving it, the Framework maintains its connection. Which is probably part of the battery drain, but we’ll discuss that later.

Expansion Modules

Such a great idea. I purchased two USB-C, one USB-A, an HDMI, and a 1TB storage drive. Under normal usage I leave out the HDMI; I only got that so that I had the option. I can charge from either of the back slots (left/right), I haven’t tried the front slots. (Update as I am writing this: I tried it, I can charge from the front slots as well!) Part of the beauty is the ability to hotswap the modules as I need them. Printer on the left and USB-A module is on the right? Just swap the module to the other side and I’m good to go!

The release button for the modules is on the bottom necessitating picking the laptop up, not a big deal, but I find it annoying for some reason. They can be tough to pull out, which odd when I have had them pop out when trying to remove a cable or thumb drive plugged into them.

Fingerprint Reader

It seems that the 13th generation chips for these require a firmware update that requires Windows (for now). I have interest in installing Windows, even in a VM, just to fix it. I don’t miss the functionality since I have never had it on any of my computers, so i am willing to wait for now. We’ll see how this plays out in time.

Trackpad

Works as expected. Can’t think of anything more to say about it.

Battery

This is the one I see complained about the most. Without any tweaking, I get 5-6 hours on a charge. I don’t find that to be a problem for me. My work laptop only gets about four hours, and my other laptop around five. The only laptop that I have ever owned that got better battery life was my Chromebook (Acer c720p, loved that thing, miss it every day). The only thing about the battery that concerns me is the hibernation. I haven’t yet had a problem as I have been using it pretty consistently so I’ve been charging it regularly. But, there are times where I don’t use it so much and I worry about how quickly it might run down.

Overall

I love it. I have been very happy with it as a whole. The downsides so far have been minor and don’t take away from the overall joy of using it. Here is a little story. The other night I was chatting online in irc and needed to get dinner made. Someone in the chat suggested french fries and I thought, that is a great idea. So I brought my laptop to the kitchen and began making french fires (and other stuff). I got side tracked and let the oil get too hot so when I put in the raw potato slices it shot out a cloud of oil steam and sprayed oil everywhere, including on my laptop. I briefly panicked that the screen would be ruined, then thought to myself, the screen was so easy to install when I got it, it won’t be an issue to replace!