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Laptops · Framework Laptop

Framework Laptop 13

115owners with an opinion
74%of verdicts positive
75/26positive/negative since 2024
5 yrslongest happy owner
5happy after 3+ years

Praised for repairability and reliability; criticized for battery and ergonomics.

What owners wrote

Doesn’t like itOwned 5 years
I bought a Framework 13 in 2021. I was so stoked. I used it for 5 years, and of those 5 years only 1 was heavy use. I had to replace the battery and the input cover. I never had to do that before. I never had a laptop I wasn't able to use for 5 years so the repairability was actually not that much better for me. I gave up on Framework because after 5 years they still didn't give a crap about terrible battery performance on Linux distros. I was using a Macbook Pro before. Went back to a Macbook Pro again. I don't want a Mac. I just can't find anything else remotely worth my money.
Likes itOwned 5 years
I switched my main home computer to the Framework 13 (albeit on Windows) in 2021, after multiple weeks with my MBP sent away for AppleCare. I had some minor electrical issues with the original 11th gen Intel motherboard, but the 13th gen Intel board I've since upgraded to has been perfect. It's by far the best primary computer I've owned. The tradeoffs in battery life, speaker sound quality, and so on didn't matter much for my use case, so I was happy to take them; but this new model seems to fix those issues too, so I think it'll appeal to a much wider audience.
Doesn’t like itOwned 5 years
Adding to the review thread: I bought a Framework 13 in 2021. I'm sold on the ideal, I really like the chassis and the keyboard, and I _love_ the screen ratio. I replaced several parts and own every type of connector. I really liked my 13! I just had my mainboard die, and I was advised there currently isn't another mainboard in stock that works with my old DDR4 RAM. They don't have any newer DDR5 RAM in stock apparently either, so I was out of luck and ended up buying a Lemur Pro last week. In my experience, the Framework hardware is great but very flakey and frequently needs replacing. Support is awful; they'll repeatedly ask you to do things you've already done (and shown proof of), they can take days to get back to you, and are generally unhelpful. They also didn't think to mention to me when I said I needed to buy a new laptop and their parts were all out of stock that they had a new machine coming out in the next week, which is insane to me. I would've been an easy convert. Sometimes I think it's bots doing the support, but if that was the case, they'd reply back faster. Time will tell whether I'll return back to the ecosystem, but the support experience (and the hardware being poor enough that I frequently need support) is putting me off for now.
Likes itOwned 4 years
Consider that maybe you've just gotten lucky? Laptop components do break. I haven't had Mac laptops in a bunch of years, but just off the top of my head I've had a keyboard key break (MacBook Air), and a mainboard die (MacBook Pro). But if you don't need repairs, you might want upgrades. I have a Framework 13 from 2022 and I expect I won't be buying a full new laptop for many many years. It's great that you've been able to repurpose your old laptops for other family members, but every new laptop manufactured eventually becomes e-waste.
Likes itOwned 4 years
Framework 13, 11th Gen Intel, running Fedora 41. I've gone through many Fedora upgrades since buying this in 2021, my unit was I think the 3rd batch of the original laptops. Everything generally has worked fine over the years, though I did have to replace a broken fan recently. Super easy to repair with a new fan/heatsink unit - cost me about 50$, 10 mins to install. Trackpad has always been mediocre... workable, but not as good as leading brands. Fingerprint reader always worked well, and no issues with Wifi or Bluetooth. Battery life has always been crap, but I usually have it docked (which also works great with a Dell Thunderbolt unit).
Likes itOwned 4 yearsStill going
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.
Likes itOwned 3 yearsStill going
The 13" is upgradeable, just not in the same way the 16" is. It shouldn't be surprising that you can fit more stuff in a chassis for a 16" laptop than an 13" laptop, not to mention it's harder to deal with thermal issues in a 13" laptop. While it's not unheard of, it's much less common to see a dGPU in a 13" laptop, and Framework is no exception there. I've upgraded my Framework 13 a bunch already since I bought it in 2022, and will hopefully continue to do so for years.
Likes itOwned 3 years
Back when I had a desktop computer (almost 20 years ago!), I would usually keep the case and upgrade motherboard, CPU, RAM, video, etc. Unless the case was holding back something I really wanted to do (like have more drive bays or PCI slots), I'd see no reason to replace the case. In fact, a case upgrade would be independent of the component upgrades. I had a very janky, cheap case for the machine I built for college; once I graduated and had a job and some income, I replaced the case without upgrading any of the components. And then a year or two later I think I upgraded the motherboard and CPU. I'm pretty happy with the Framework 13 form factor (though, after 3 years of use, I'd still probably prefer a 16:9 or 16:10 screen over the weird 3:2 they ship with), and absent any future catastrophic damage to it, I don't see a reason to replace the chassis. And I've already upgraded a few things in it: I have a newer mainboard (well, to be fair, I got it due to a warranty repair where they decided it was cheaper for them to upgrade me to the 2023 model), and I upgraded the built-in speakers and the webcam. I'm thinking about upgrading the screen as well at some point. In two years I'll probably replace the mainboard and RAM (not that I want to replace the RAM, but I have DDR4 now, and I'll presumably need DDR5).
Doesn’t like itOwned 3 years
I got my FW 13 late Sept 2022 when pre-orders were available in Australia. I needed it for work. Look the modularity and repairability is nice, and I like how it addresses e-waste. However regarding modularity, I would rather have more fixed ports than a choice of changeable ones. My biggest gripe is battery life, in Linux I can only seem to get 4 hours of usage and that's if I'm lucky. More like 2.5 to 3 hours, and that's usually minimal usage. My second biggest gripe is the hinges in the laptop. WHen I pick up the laptop with the screen erect at the 90 degree position, it usually falls flat 180 degrees. How this even got past QA annoys me, and the fix is to buy a new hinge kit, but that costs $30 AUD plus $40 AUD shipping, so basically a ripoff. The keyboard is actually quite decent, but I would've preferred Macbook layout with the fn on the left and half-size inverted T arrow keys. I was hoping a 3rd party would make the keyboard, but the reality is not many 3rd parties are making FW stuff. The modular ports can be erratic when powering on the laptop, sometimes a usb port doesn't register and I have to eject and reinsert the modular ports, which is annoying. The display is fine, except mine developed a thin grey line that's noticeable when the pixels aren't lit up. I take care of my laptop carefully, but I feel like this display is weaker than most. Thankfully it's not noticeable when the screen is bright. I also find the screen overly glossy that I had to buy a matte scre…
Recommends itOwned 2 years
I have a 13" one for 2 years and a 16" for close to 6 months. I love them both and I will likely only upgrade these and never by a complete new laptop. The 13 is amazing for the go, lightweight and comfortable. The 16 is great for me for general use, because I don't work at a table, so the larger screen makes a big difference. I recommend the AMD one, that performs better for me(my 13 is Intel). I have 2 articles about them on my blog if you are curious: https://greg.molnar.io/blog/framework-laptop/ https://greg.molnar.io/blog/framework-16-first-impression/ And if you have any specific questions, I am happy to answer.
Recommends itOwned 2 yearsStill going
Yes. Unequivocally. Had my 13 for a couple of years now, Debian/XFCE. I've owned and only owned a 13 laptop for about ten years now. I can't imagine buying a laptop from a major vendor (Samsung, Sony, Asus, etc). There are some smaller vendors, but they don't sell what I want in terms of a spec, and what FW offers, both in terms of kit (the spec I want) and repairability / honesty / lack of stuff being pushed on you / etc, I can't think of anyone else I could buy from. Note that being able to self-repair is a very good thing. One of the keys died, early last year. I ordered a new keyboard, it arrived, I spent an afternoon swapping them over. Took a couple of hours. Compare that to posting the laptop off for a warranty repair - and that's if the vendor gets the repair right. I remember once having Sony make a repair, and the messed it up, broke the Windows install (which I had at the time), and it only went down-hill from there. (In the end Sony support wanted to bill me 250 EUR to fit a new spinning-disk HD, to replace the 700 EUR Intel X-25 SSD I had bought and fitted, so they could have in place on the laptop a vanilla install of Windows, to "fix" how they had broken my fully-installed and configured for development Windows, where they had in fact swapped out the motherboard (underneath an installed Windows!) to replace a fan.) Being able to buy parts and install yourself, if you can do it, is a billion light years better than relying on large company customer supp
Likes itOwned 2 years
December I bought a Thinkpad L13 Gen 3 for my wife and installed EndeavourOS for her. The laptop is really not bad, which did surprise me to some extent, had low expectations. In any case a lot better than the Asus laptop my wife had before. Did not examine fixability very thorough, however. I would have preferred a Framework Laptop, but after two years of waiting they still don't deliver to Switzerland, at least officially. I am typing this on a Framework 13 which will be soon two years old, but when I discussed how to import it myself I got told off in the Framework community. I was not using a freight forwarder. I used my other address in Germany. If after enough years Framework still does not support Switzerland, my next laptop will probably be a Thinkpad. It's a very good second to Framework. I know a few years ago there were many complaints about declining quality but with the model for my wife the tide seems have to turned (finger crossed).
Likes itOwned 2 years
I'm super happy for this and it's truly great to see framework continuing the quest, and I would still buy a new framework today (if they weren't out of stock) but it is very frustrating how out of stock nearly everything is from current and last generation. You can't even buy a new 12th gen intel at all, and the 11th gen important things (like US Keyboards) are out of stock. As a US English speaker with a a little Spanish, I'd have to settle for French or German keyboard which would annoy me to no end. I cut framework a ton of slack for this during covid since everything supply chain was so crazy, but is this just the normal (or new normal) for framework? The dream of modularity and repairability only works when you can actually buy the replacement parts, and so far I've had my framework for almost two years and it's been quite difficult to get parts when I needed them. Unfortunately the beauty and lightweightness of the framework means it is a lot more fragile than the Thinkpads and Dells I used to buy, so gets broken more when dropped/abused. If I could get the parts I need it wouldn't be a big deal, but as such...
Likes itOwned 1 year
I've had a Framework 13 for nearly a year, been very happy with it, I've taken it on international work trips but it mostly sits on my desk with external displays attached. I ran Windows on it until I switched jobs, now its Ubuntu. I also have an X1 Nano, which I love too, its the around-the-house laptop and a great little machine but whenever it dies, if I replace it at all, it will likely be with another Framework (perhaps the 12") The real test will be in 2-3 years when I'm itching for an upgrade, assuming Framework is still around, I'll be able to swap out the MoBo and leave everything else as-is. We'll see.
NeutralOwned 1 year
I'm in a similar position to the author—running NixOS on a Framework 13 for about a year—and while I agree with some of their points I think I disagree with others. > However, this means that your projects end up populated with Nix files, which is particularly annoying when you want to submit PRs to upstream projects This is a legitimate gripe, but it does have a mitigation, which is to add those files to your global gitignore. The trade-off you make here is that you have to explicitly add the files to repos that actually do need them, but that's a one and done cost. > I'm now responsible for configuring this entire system. I am also responsible for updating this system. On the contrary, I have felt much less responsible for configuring and updating my whole system since switching to NixOS. Most of my system is just whatever the upstream channels are doing. My whole system config is maybe 300 lines long, and most of that is a list of the programs I want installed, which is something that I've always wished I could have on other distros but can't. On other distros I have felt much more responsible for controlling my whole system because random crap would break all the time and I had to learn how it was configured. That has never happened to me on NixOS. Also, containers are totally available on NixOS and I use them all the time. I've avoided flatpak so far not because it's not available but because I want to try to do things the NixOS way and I haven't felt the need to move aw…
Doesn’t like itOwned 1 year
Going to copy/paste from a comment I posted a year or so ago. I have a 12th gen Framework 13", 13" M1 Air, and a 15" M2 Air. I use the Framework laptop for work because I need to use Linux. The Framework laptop is mediocre just like pretty much all PC laptops. The hinges are awful, if you pick up the laptop upright, about 50% of the time the screen falls flat 180 degrees. The trackpad is arse in Linux. If you're lucky you can probably get 5 hours battery life, but on a realistic workload you're looking at 2-3 hours. The keyboard is pretty nice, but I wish ctrl/fn is swapped like Apple and it has the inverted mini-T keyboard arrows (or at least I wish someone would make a swappable keyboard for the Framework). The speakers are bloody awful. Display/Webcam/Mic are fine. I would like more ports over modular ports, but I appreciate the design that went into the modular ports. Speaking of modular ports, sometimes they abruptly stop working and require removing and reseating. All these small nits really add up and it just feels like a mediocre experience. It is my work laptop, but I try my best to avoid using it over my PC with WSL2 or either Air laptop, but I try my best not to mix work and personal. Both the 13" M1 Air and 15" M2 Air are just amazing compared to the Framework, and I suspect PC laptops in general. They have their drawbacks, price (gouging in some ways), less ports, can't drive dual displays, but their trackpad, finish, speakers, etc. are just amazing. I personally…
Recommends itOwned 1 year
While the Framework maybe isn't 100% Linux first, Linux is definitely treated as a "first class citizen": https://frame.work/linux with active (dedicated) first party support: https://community.frame.work/tag/linux (Matt Hartley, the new Linux Support Lead was formerly providing technical support at System76) I ended up going with a Framework last year as an upgrade since I liked the display (3:2 HiDPI 400nit+ 13.5") and form upgradability, but also because the official Framework forums was by far the best Linux laptop forum I've seen online. As long as you can deal w/ 5-6h of battery life, I can highly recommend it as one of the best Linux ultraportable laptops (although I'm really hoping that there's a Ryzen 7040 motherboard upgrade coming...). My review/notes on the 12th Gen Framework w/ Arch Linux: https://github.com/lhl/linuxlaptops/wiki/2022-Framework-Lapt...
Likes it
I had a fujitsu lifebook that was 10 years old when I bought it and it lasted another 8 or so after that. I'd maxxed out the ram to 8GB, replaced the missing stylus and bought a new battery. It had a fantastic display that was brighter and had a wider viewing angle than the system76 gazelle I replaced it with. And the swivel hinge connector was soo solid. I now have a framework 13 that I'd rate slightly higher than that fujitsu (it's lighter and the changeable ports thing is a truly wonderful idea), but it's a bit of a toss-up.
Neutral
With AMD, most GPUs including the integrated ones will just default to the `amdgpu` module which is maintained by AMD themselves. You pretty much have the best possible experience on Linux right now. I can't speak from personal experience since my only laptop is an Intel Framework 13 with no dGPU, but there'll be two other main cases both involving Nvidia that tend to bite people. 1. "Gaming" laptops usually with integrated Intel GPU + Nvidia discrete GPU. Not sure what advancements have been made in power management, there. I know there's some incantations one can put in .desktop files to prefer the discrete GPU for like, games, but not much more I can speak to. 2. General fun involving the fact that Nvidia's "gold-standard" drivers are not mainlined in the kernel, but maybe the fact that they are "open source"* means at some point there'll be parity with them. I think that is the goal of Red Hat's Nova driver in development. * these days, the GPUs got complicated enough they have management processors on them that can actually run most of the complicated algorithms via a firmware blob. So the current open-source drivers basically bridge the gap between the kernel's various subsystems and that little processor to work the magic. On another note, Intel Xe/i915 have been pretty good, I've used both for integrated GPUs and an Arc Alchemist-generation discrete card of theirs. The framework 13 12th gen intel GPU struggled at the start with a lot of hangs but within a few months o…
Doesn’t like it
I had to swap my Wi-Fi card and/or stop using the HDMI module in order to get my Framework 13 to stop locking up. I had to install an "obscure" app called `unpalm` to get my cursor to stop jumping random locations while typing. The fan randomly spins up to full speed which is ridiculously loud. This is on a laptop whose manufacturer claims I am running a an officially supported OS. I'll be a lot more likely to convince my family to switch to Linux if I could trust it for myself.
Likes it
I am running it on the Framework 13 and 16. Both are awesome devices, but I'm partial to the 16. Beautiful screen, great keyboard, and I can easily swap in an NVIDIA card when I want. Battery life isn't the best in this beast. I'd love to try a Dell Panther Lake laptop and may end up with one in the near future. DHH reports Apple Silicon-ish battery life.
Doesn’t like it
having 2 fw 13s this is my experience as well (and also friends who bought into FW); i was willing to give the 13 pro a try until they downgraded my order. I inevitably cancelled and went with a dell xps14 and its a fantastic laptop. I am unsure bout any future fw purchases. also my m1 macbook pro is made so well I've abused this to the cows come home and i feel like it still has another 3+ years to it.. everytime someone brings up the e-waste aspects of fw, i don't know if its that simple...because i've definitely already generated much more e-waste with my frameworks than any other laptop i've bought in the last decade that being said, i do like the fw vision, but they might be trying to do TOO much that their quality is suffering for it
Doesn’t like it
+1 I have the first gen Framework sitting in a drawer because of some issues and one of the nitpicks is the fact that it looks like a cheap knockoff of a decade old Macbook complete with the Temu apple logo on the front. I'd rather they made something similar to a Thinkpad/Latitude. But then again, there seems to be a mass delusion that anything non-Apple is a graveyard of garbage regardless of the price. So they're catering to that market. Maybe I've been extremely lucky in picking refurbed enterprise machines running Linux in the past decade that hasn't faced any of the issues people complain about.
Doesn’t like it
Not a huge fan of the "force touch" trackpads on newer macs, the old man yells at the clouds. In all seriousness though I have used a pre force touch MacBook not too long ago and I prefer that experience a lot over the new one I have from work. Though the larger size of these trackpads is something I really like and where neither the older MacBook nor the the current non-pro Framework 13 come close.
Doesn’t like it
I have a MacBook Air M2. I bought a framework 13 last year right before the RAM shortage. I really wanted to love it but ended up returning it due to really bad battery life performance (NixOS). Still on the MacBook today, but heavily considering the new framework