Advice for a college student looking to buy

Framework Laptop 13
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Hello all,

I am a senior in college studying computer science one semester away from graduation. I have a budget of around 1k to spend on a laptop.

I love framework’s modularity and focus on a right to repair. My ideal machine would let me:

-run linux as a primary os

-allow for smooth windows use through a vm, not dual booting. I want to run windows exclusive apps without noticeable lag.

-align well with programming workflows (code editors, game dev, basic browsing with a lot of tabs)

-let me play less demanding games (retro titles, emulation). I play some modern games, but they need to avoid heavy 3-D modeling and rapidly changing camera angles since that triggers my migraines.

-have a battery that will last through my classes

I am interested in the framework 13 with the ryzen 5 7640U cpu. I am also open to the framework 12, but I am wary of the 12-14gen intel cpus because of the known manufacturing defects. I am unsure if the ones framework is offering on the 12 are having the same issues.

As for configuration, ideally I will sup this thing out over time due to its modularity. I need help deciding on what specs are more “worth it” for my use case starting out on a budget. Will I see better performance with a nicer cpu with less ram than I would with the amd 5 and more ram? Is it better to start of with 32 gb of ram (one stick) vs 32 gb ram (two sticks)? Especially if I plan to buy more ram or a nicer ssd in the coming months once I have a full time job?

My current laptop is near EOL, with some dead pixels on the screen and terrible battery life. It is unable to upgrade to windows 11, and I am hesitant to switch it to a linux distro because it is my only machine and if I break it I have no way to turn in my homework. Its specs are 16gb ram, 500gb ssd, i7-8650U CPU.

I am really only looking for something that feels smoother and snappier than my current machine with the option to upgrade it in the future.

Any advice is welcome! This is my first time shopping for a laptop so I am very excited about the process! :slight_smile:

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as someone who is also a college student who also had the same budget as yours, imma be so fr: buy used (either off of ebay or the community market on framework) so you can get a framework more realistic to price to performance. i bought a ryzen 7 7840u (32gb ram, 2.8k screen, 61whr battery) for 1000 dollars, and paid 200 for a 2tb ssd (not on framework) and 2 usb-a expansion cards. if you are comfortable with buying used i would reccomend finding a ryzen 7 7840u for your use case.

but if you want to buy new, get the framework 13 ryzen 5 7640u for what you need rather than a framework 12, it’s a better upgrade path especially if you want to buy a more powerful mainboard later since the 12 is meant for light work, and not good for you if you plan to game/code.

for ram it’s much more cheaper to buy those off amazon/newegg etc than the framework site. i would get 2 16gb sticks since it runs better than 1 32gb stick of ram, ram prices are getting expensive & 32gb should be good enough for what you want to do.

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Thank you for the advice!! I’m comfortable buying used, but I’m not really seeing very many people selling their framework 13s for less than I can get a new one for. Someone on ebay is selling their framework 13 AI 5 340, 8GB Ram, 512GB SSD for 2.1k obo :face_with_spiral_eyes: There is one amd 7 auctioning now for around 1k but I expect that number to climb easily before the auction finishes. Those are the only two listings I’ve seen in the past week.

I’ll probably buy an amd 5 with the cheaper display for now. I am struggling to tell which non-framework ram and ssds are actually compatible with the laptop though.

I could go with the framework DDR5-5600 32GB RAM (single stick) with plans to upgrade in a few months. I’m also considering this from memorystock for $145. I have concerns about compatibility. Framework does seem to be the most reliable option out there as far as pricing goes. I’m absolutely certain that I want 64gb ram eventually so I don’t mind the temporary performance hit from running 1 32gb stick instead of 2 16gb sticks.

WD_BLACK SN7100 M.2 2280 1TB ssd. Is this compatible? It’s $85 and ships free to me which helps me stay in budget. There’s also this option for $67, but I have concerns about durability and compatibility. There is also this option for $60, but it’s only 500MB.

This power adaptor. It’s rated for 67 watts and is priced at $20. Is this compatible?

That would put me at around $1049-1154 (sourcing from framework, 32gb ram 1tb ssd) pre-shipping pre-tax. Not sure if the $100 difference is worth struggling with compatibility issues. Ram and ssd prices are insane right now but I really need a laptop.

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for the ram imma be fr i have no clue about memorystock and the House Brand memory, if its a sodimm ddr5-5600mhz it should be compatible (example: Crucial 32GB DDR5 RAM, 5600MHz) but i cant confirm the link you sent since i’ve never heard of the brand or even the site, and compared to what i linked, framework’s ram is 6$ cheaper pretax/shipping.

both the WD_Black (1tb & 500gb) you sent is compatible, the 67$ dollar one is not compatible because it’s a M.2 2242, which the framework 13 does not support since it only supports the M.2 2280 which the WD_Black SSD’s are.

the wall charger is compatible, anything thats rated over 60+ watts and is usb-c is compatible for charging.

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Thank you so much! I think I’m going to watch ebay for the next week or so and see if anything reasonable pops up, and try to save a little bit more so I can more comfortably afford the laptop.

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Only get the AI 340 if you can get it incredibly cheap, it’s not good value.

The 7640u is probably the best deal at this point.

145 for 32GB? Jebus memory prices got bad quick.

It is certainly compatible but I would feel pretty bad paying 85$ for just a tb. Maybe look if you can find some decent tlc based ssd for less (lexar nm790 tends to be pretty cheap and is still really good) or maybe a larger capacity qlc drive for a similar price depending on if you can actually use more space.

Get a 100w if you can. Also ikea makes some pretty cheap usb-c power supplies that are pretty good (and have all the safety listings and stuff that an “amazon special” may not have).

Fortunately those are also the easiest parts to replace so you could theoretically slum it with some cheap used ddr5 (there still seem to be relatively cheap 16gb sticks available from people that upgrade to bigger ones) and there are also a lot of 512GB ssds available really cheap for the same reason.

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7640U is recommend, cheaper and longer battery life than AI 300

Can you reuse the SSD from your previous laptop to save money?

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I’m getting out of the FW13 ecosystem, and will be posting a big sale box of goodies. it will have an entire FW13, cooler master cases, extra display, expansion cards. The mainboard has just 1 8G ram stick in it - and I will throw in a nvme. I’ll try to get it posted this week.

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I am expecting that to change in the future as software support matures. The ai300 series has some hardware bits that, if used correctly, could help with some of the 7x40u series weak-points.

On the other hand with the 7x40u platform you get the same cpu that’s going to be in the GabeCube and can benefit from optimizations to linux that come from there.

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the ai series for fw13 was only really appealing for people who wanted the ryzen 9 or was banking on NPUs being a thing, but compared to the 7000 series it was just not it

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My HP ended up dying yesterday morning so I ended up placing an order for a framework 13 with the amd 5 7x40u, 32gb(16x2) and a 1tb ssd from framework at a higher price point than I would have liked (just under $1200 usd). I can’t reuse the ram or ssd from my dead laptop because they’re both soldered down. My college will loan me a chromebook in the meantime, but that is insufficient for my workload. I’m really close to finals week and desperately need something that I can develop on. I’m nervous, but hopeful that this works out for me.

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Wait what? HP has soldered SSD now?

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Sorry, I’m stupid. The ssd is not soldered, but the ram is. I read ‘soldered memory’ somewhere and thought it applied to both ssd and ram.

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I would not buy a FW laptop in your shoes.

I have a FW13 AMD 7040. The ongoing battery life, failure to start, and heat issues have made it unreliable (won’t start, goes unresponsive, heats up dramatically). BIOS updates have made things noticeably worse, not better. I can’t trust the laptop to turn on, stay on, or respond to inputs, and Framework ‘support’ was a very polite but extremely useless runaround.

If I had to depend on this laptop one semester before graduation, I’d have been extremely stressed and upset. In your shoes, getting a reliable laptop from an established brand is probably a better idea, and save getting a FW for after you have time and energy for a tinkering project.

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The 370 is good but really expensive, the rest is just mostly more expensive side-/downgrades depending on what you do with the laptop.

In that case going with a prebuilt is a pretty reasonable choice. Might be good to spend maybe 1-200$ on something like a t480/s or something in that class to have something to tinker with and more importantly have a spare laptop if something happens to the primary.

I remember when I broke my primary laptop right before a trip and had to daily a chromebook running linux for a few weeks (2GB of ram and the worst 720p tn screen they were able to find) XD

Consumer hp doesn’t even have proper iso keyboards anymore (weird iso ansi hybrid, and so does asus just slightly differently, shame cause the zephrus would be pretty sweet otherwise) and soldered ram is basically standard but I have not seen soldered ssds outside the really budget stuff that uses emmc, you would not want to reuse that if it wasn’t soldered either.