Ok so now that I set it up and have had a chance to get at least a full 24 hours, here is a somewhat premature mini review:
-
First here are some relevant specs (basic af): DIY, 7840HS, No GPU, No extra keyboard modules (only US English and just black bezel and spacers), and 180W charger.
-
Physically putting it together took less than 15 minutes and that’s coming from someone who never even built a PC
-
Please please please, make sure to have the drivers installed on a USB drive and ready to go. When setting up windows, it wasn’t detecting any wifi and after setting it up without an internet connection, I ran the drivers and that fixed everything.
-
The 180W charger is so much smaller than I thought (might even be smaller than my old lenovo’s 65W charger??) and I absolutely love it since I often use my laptop charger to charge all my USB C stuff.
-
If you’ve used 15.6" laptops before, this doesn’t feel too strange! Compared to my old Lenovo Flex 5 15, it is the exact same size but just a bit longer in length. I even tried putting it in my old laptop sleeve and it fit perfectly but couldn’t close the zipper because of the length difference (just barely though).
-
there is definitely screen flex but not as bad as some people made it out to be. I will say you don’t feel it at all but it is definitely the lid’s sheer size/thickness that seems to be causing it so I definitely look forward to a strudier one in the future.
-
If I deliberately try to, there is some keyboard flex but that does not translate even in the slightest when typing (typing this on it right now!)
-
The seams on the trackpad spacers are definitely visible but you don’t feel them at all. Unlike someone else’s post, I haven’t been able to “wiggle” them in place except the left spacer from the top left corner (about a half mm of wiggle when doing it deliberately).
-
I have the 2x16gb crucial kit and it worked immediately before even installing the drivers (although it did take about 2-3 minutes before the device booted at first which I am guessing was the memory training thing.
-
The fans are very quiet (but again I don’t have the dgpu) but you can definitely feel the heat being exhausted out when running semi-heavy workloads (it would be very uncomfortable to use on your lap for a long period of time)
-
Dbrand skin was an absolute pain to install because of the antenna cutout thing and at the end I settled for it being not so perfect and just deal with it lol.
let me know what else you guys are curious about and I will make sure to answer as many questions as I can!
Updates:
[Will be updating this over the next few days as I spend more time using this]
- 2/6/2024: as some people have said before, I too would like to see a future iteration that does not
require the keyboard and trackpad to be lined up so that I can have a single piece trackpad. - BIG UPDATE as of 2/8/2024: Framework has confirmed that they are working towards a solution for the keyboard flex. The current solution they have is planned to be included in the coming batches and anyone who already received their laptop will be bale to request it from Framework. For more info, read the 7th shipment update.
- 2/8/2024: Kind of on topic with the keyboard update, I do feel like Framework should look into making a sturdier lid cover. Although it is not a significant amount of flex, I feel like I have been noticing it a bit more (maybe because I was specifically looking for it before? lol)
- 2/8/2024: just some more notes after spending some more time with this laptop:
- ok maybe I just haven’t had experience with enough laptops but the physical switches for disabling mic and camera are honestly underappreciated or they are just very common and I live under a rock lol.
- Also I’ve heard some people complain about the size of the trackpad but I feel like it’s honestly more than big enough (~8x12cm).
- Also again I have not had any issues with fan noise it’s honestly one of my favorite things but again note that I have the expansion bay shell and not the dgpu.
- Maybe some are spoiled or my standards are low (sorry audiophiles) but I genuinely think the speakers on this are plenty loud and are very clear.
- screen brightness is very good. The combination of that with the matte screen makes working outside very doable (had to use it while commuting yesterday and the direct sunlight was not an issue at all)
- 2/8/2024: Not sure how I didn’t notice this earlier but there appears to be a rectangular cutout on the back of the expansion bay shell, anyone know what it’s for?
- 2/10/2024: Ok today I was running a pretty heavy workload and the fans got pretty loud but notably, it wasn’t constant throughout (only at certain times when it was extra heavy) and didn’t linger for too long after (slowed down to near silent only after a few seconds of getting past the heavy workload)
- 2/11/2024: I didn’t get a numpad but today I was curious as to how it would feel if I did and had to bring my keyboard to the left or right. I will say the fit of the trackpad spacers is way more noticeable in this configuration. It is fine at the bottom of the spacers near the part that locks but there is definitely visible misalignment/you can feel the seams between them towards the top of the trackpad spacers.