Sticking around? Or dumping it to ebay?
I am keeping both of mine.
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Keeping it, absolutely.
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Keeping it. The experience has been pretty solid so far, besides the battery life.
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Keeping it. Is it perfect? Nope. Is it well worth the total I have paid, absolutely.
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This post seems to share some of my thoughts…
(I don’t mind the non-removeable battery…but the other points are pretty valid to me)
…and the top cover / lid bugs the hell out of me:
- The centre / Framework logo has a lot of vertical flex when pressed against it.
- It’s ‘bouncy’.
- It’s flexy…laterally.
- …and that hinge.
It’s almost as if the the top cover and bottom casing are made by two different companies, designed by two different engineers.
I’m dumping mine. Honestly it’ll either go back to Framework if they want it or I’ll probably destroy it. I was really excited about the concept of the laptop and bought in hoping to drive that concept forward. It feels like Framework doesn’t give any hint of a roadmap forward though so it’s tough to feel the machine is worth keeping on the off chance they do offer upgrades. I joined their discord to chat and see what was up in the near future after seeing some benchmarks pop up, ended up ran off by some “experts” who weren’t happy that some of us like me might want a little more than what we currently already own and anticipated that would be possible with a concept like the Framework laptop. Ended with several users mocking me while the mods scolded me for asking for their assistance. With that experience, I’m capital D done with Framework and don’t even want to open their laptop anymore. All in all, a cruddy way to end a journey with a great concept of a machine that has scared off this user to the point of not even wanting the machine in their home.
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@Sterling_Mitchell I’m sorry to hear that you had a poor experience with our Discord. I had been looped in and monitored the conversation as it happened.
While yes, people were being argumentative with you, you were also arguing with others and why the moderators had to speak with both you and the others involved. No one had been scolded. The moderators were just there to ask everyone to take a breather and move on from the argument taking place.
All-in-all no one was right or wrong, but it was just a lot of heated differing opinions.
We hope that a community disagreement doesn’t stop your support of our product but we can understand if that is not possible moving forward. We just thank you for the support you had provided us thus far 
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Keeping both of mine. I would also note that a framework laptop being sold and continued to be used by another fits in with some of Framework’s other goals.
The idea that any product no matter how well designed is going to appeal to everyone is just not something that is possible.
My hope is that as time goes on and as Framework keeps making the awesome strides that they are, that the bigger picture will make more sense to people.
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To be honest, I view it as an investment in some sense. Being able to upgrade things piecemeal (or a few subsystems at a time, if necessary) is way better (budget-wise) than being forced to buy a new laptop every few years.
Is my current Framework perfect? Eh, not really. But is it good enough that I can use it as my daily driver? Absolutely!
To address the specific points that post brings up:
- I have 2 USB-C and 2 USB-A expansion cards plugged in by default (since I don’t normally need anything else). I carry other cards around (HDMI and a few extra USB-C) in my backpack for the off-chance that I’ll need it.
- In the Linux case, I’ve never had an issue where the laptop gets hot after suspending (
deepsleep) or hibernating. This seems to be a Windows-only problem. - Performance seems to be decent enough, at least personally. I also got the lowest-tier option (i5), so that might also be influencing my opinions here.
- I’m genuinely just glad that Framework is selling replacement batteries (the first laptop I’ve had in a long time where the manufacturer actually sells replacement batteries). Like you, I don’t particularly care whether the battery is internal or external.
(about the mainboard part melting)- For most parts (except the mainboard and keyboard afaict), you can obtain replacement parts elsewhere (since they all use standard connectors), so upgradeability is partially removed from whether Framework succeeds long-term. This applies to the WiFi card, storage, RAM, and potentially the audio card, screen, and webcam. That’s a large majority of the laptop that uses standard connectors (and can thus be replaced using third-party parts) and certainly a large majority of the parts that often need to be replaced. That being said, I’d love to see Framework stick around long enough to make upgrading mainboards an option (and as they build up volume of sales, they can likely drop prices for mainboards and thus laptops).
So overall, I’d say a lot of the points are either things that can be worked around while a longer-term solution is found or aren’t really issues in the way that it’s described there.
As for the top cover, I can see why that might be annoying, I guess. Personally it doesn’t bother me too much, certainly not enough to return the laptop!
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I’ve had it for almost a year now, so… yes? It’s not perfect, but it was one of the only laptops that checked my main requirements at the time:
- Ultrabook.
- 2k+ screen.
- 32GiB+ of ram (ideally 64GiB).
- Linux support.
- A decent keyboard.
At this point, I’m staying because:
- I can easily open it up to clean it, check for problems, etc. For example, I just opened the bezel to clean the back of the webcam window.
- I can look forward to potential upgrades (e.g., a better screen) without resigning myself to throwing away the rest of the laptop.
- I have a fingerprint reader that actually works on Linux with no fuss. More generally, real first-class Linux support (not some specific LTS Ubuntu release that won’t be supported in a year or two).
- Framework is demonstrably committed to the user, not just the first sale. Getting most companies to, e.g., release source code is like pulling teeth.
In terms of roadmaps: I work at a tech startup. I’d much rather have a team promise nothing and focus on shipping. The alternative is to promise everything, waste a bunch of time trying to meet expectations, fail to meet expectations, waste a bunch of time re-planning, maybe eventually ship something very late.
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@FrameworkBee I appreciate the reply. I’m not a person that relives internet arguments. I’ll leave it as I felt, as a newish person just looking for information, that I was quickly attacked in a toxic atmosphere that moderators failed to address beyond words. I asked for help to get out of the situation and in the end no action was taken, I was told publicly not to bother the mods again with a ping again because I didn’t understand the COC, and the comments only ended when I pinged you asking to return my machine and left the Discord.
Take from that what you will. I’m not a perfect person in any way, shape, or form.
I’m waiting on a response from the Framework staff. My return was escalated, whatever that means. I’m not looking for financial repayment. I hope it somewhat shows what this felt like from my end when I’m willing and following through with eliminating this product from my life over it.
@anon81945988 It should still all be on the Discord. Who knows. I’m no longer there and would not recommend going there.
@Stebalien I appreciate your insight on the roadmap but, as just a consumer, some indication upgraded components are coming would be nice. I’m not looking for timelines but we don’t know any components Framework is working on. All we have is the product as it exists now. There is a middle ground between that and firm dates which could be missed making no one happy.
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I thought I could in the beginning…but I’ve been a mobile workstation user (W / P Thinkpads, Precision and Elitebook/zbook) for so long that I didn’t realise how much I was taking them for granted. Drivers / BIOS support (this part is a big let down), physical build quality, 2-hour same day walk-in repair (or depending on location, 9-5 NBD on-site).
That expansion card battery drain issue…you would have thought that a fix would be available by now (if it could be fixed via software). And since no fix is available…it remains a physical / realistic issue.
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Yes, keeping mine, been part of this since Batch 2. The thought of upgrading it in the future keeps me here and I don’t even care if there are no new mainboards in the future. Replacing just RAM, SSD etc would keep me happy.
Also a Batch 2 person here, OF COURSE I am going to keep it are you kidding? It’s my daily driver and my gaming machine!
The resolution and size is perfect for carry, coding and off site equipment testing etc (would hate it if it was bigger)… and when I am home I dock it into an eGPU with a widescreen monitor and play ANY of my steam games without issue.
As for having no AMD option ATM I am fine with that, I used to be an AMD / ATI boi years ago but the very bad driver support ended my relationship with them and I have never had a reason to look back so I will NOT get an AMD board if that option ever happens.
If a new board does come out with gen 12 intel however, I might consider getting the new board as long as I can build a case for the old board and find a useful purpose for it since I am trying to reduce my e-waste which admittedly, being in IT and loving gadgets, has been huge.
I can’t actually believe how many Framework laptops are for sale already on that screenshot at the beginning of this thread. Crazy!
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I configured mine with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD. While not a lot now, this is comparable to what my 2011 MacBook Pro had after I upgraded the RAM and swapped the disc drive so I could have both a 120GB SSD and a 1TB HDD.
I paid $1431 CAD excluding taxes for it. A similarly configured MacBook Air goes for $2049 and Dell doesn’t even give me the option to get the XPS 13 with both 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. Since a lot of modern Ultrabooks have soldered in RAM and storage, I couldn’t just get something with a weaker CPU but a lot of RAM and storage, I was stuck with their price scaling.
Besides the battery life that is disappointing, I feel like I got a pretty good deal here. I got a laptop that is thin and light, pretty good specs, a gorgeous and crisp display, a well built backlit keyboard, actual ports like USB-A and HDMI and I can take it apart without concerns of breaking it.
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(Bigger, heavier…not 3:2 and lower resolution…but an alternative-ish nontheless)
Adata Intel EVO Lifestyle 15.6" FHD touch i7-1165G7 16GB 1TB Win10 | Canada Computers & Electronics
I guess there’s a price premium for smaller units.
…a 14inch variant but only 512GB SSD([review](https://www.notebookcheck.net/ADATA- Amazon.ca Laptops: XPG Xenia 14 Lifestyle Ultrabook Ultra Light-Weight Intel i5 DDR4 3200MHz 16GB 512GB PCIe 4x4 SSD, Intel Iris X GPU, 14" Screen 92% Viewable-Screen Laptop PC (XENIA14I5G11GXELX-BKCUS)
Of course I am keeping it. FW is a little bigger for me and I prefer 16:10 ratio but 64 GB RAM, replacable ports, SSD, WiFi, keyboard, Linux support and possibility to order spare parts? This machine is unique and there is no other machine like that.
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Have had mine for 9 months, intend to keep it for many more…
Still haven’t gotten over the lack of Trackpoint but the rest more than makes up for the sub-par ThinkPad choices of $currentyear.
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Batch 6 machine (~Jan 2022) and still keeping mine. As others have pointed out, it’s not a perfect machine. A few major reasons I’m keeping: 1) it’s still a bang-for-buck device compared to similarly spec’d laptops in my 3rd world country despite freight forwarding, 2) I love the 3:2 screen for my work and these are essentially non-existent in my country, 3) I view Framework as a platform on which future improvements are made upon. I view the repairability as awesome, but something I wish I’d never have to use. The modularity is where it’s at.
I, too, have several pain points with the Framework laptop, but I guess these are part of the risks of being early adopters and buying into a Gen 1 product.
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