Community reviews

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49

Good afternoon fellow frame.work’ers. I received my i5 DIY build kit last Friday, so I thought I’d give the community my thoughts on the laptop.

The TL;DR points below:

  • The Good: Overall … everything. I’m running Fedora 35 and it installs and configures and works like a champ. Fingerprint scanner, camera, microphone, and touchpad all “just work” as you’d hope. I’m currently in the process of migrating all of my work related projects from my MacBook Pro and simply cannot wait to leave that thing behind and never use Mac OS again. To avoid e-waste, I’m going to wipe it and sell it for whatever I can get for it.
  • The Bad: Well … everything works … until it doesn’t. I can’t say for sure whether my minor issues are Fedora 35 issues or Framework BIOS/HW issues, but some things are pretty strange. When the system is put to sleep while the lid is open … no problem. It wakes up when you press keys and life goes on. But when you have the unit docked with the lid closed and then go into suspend mode … it just … doesn’t. It’s hard to tell what’s happening because the lid is closed, but when you try to wake up the system via the docked keyboard/mouse/trackpad … nada … but when you open the lid and try to wake the unit up … still nada. If you press the power button, it will throw some failures up on the screen and then you have to power cycle it get it back up and running.
  • The Perplexing: The system could use a once-over when it comes to operating while docked. When the unit is asleep and you plug it into a dock, there’s kind of no way to wake it up (at least not that I’ve seen). You have to open the lid and physically touch keys or the power button to wake it up. This is kinda lousy. It makes the processing of transitioning between portable and stationary modes a bit clumsy.

Okay … if you’re still reading, here are some of my more in-depth thoughts.

I’d like to see better power management options in the BIOS (rather than depending on the OS). It would be nice to have more finely tuned controls over the battery charging. I would like the battery to only charge when it drops below a threshold and stop charging above that threshold or at least to stop charging when at 100% and plugged into power. I’ve noticed the laptop is sometimes warm (but never hot) while idling and my guess is that’s due to charging.

I would also like to understand the expectations of operating while docked. It seems off to me that you’d have to open the lid to wake the unit up in order to use it while plugged in. Maybe someone way smarter than me could make a “wake up” button expansion card. I’d hate to have to waste a slot to add that feature … so maybe “bundle” it with a USB port.

A few knocks on the setup process, and I’m not sure if these problems are Fedora 35 (which just launched) or hardware/BIOS related. The first time I plugged it into power, I was told the unit was charging extremely slowly. Unplugging and reconnecting to power fixed that. Later, the unit was plugged into a USB-C dock/hub/dongle and it didn’t recognize the Ethernet port on that dock … until it was unplugged and reconnected. These are both super minor issues, but I found it weird that unplug and reconnect was beginning to form as a pattern.

I absolutely and wholeheartedly recommend this product. I’m not sure that all or any of the problems I’ve experienced can be attributed to the laptop hardware. I love the openness of the platform and my ability to reduce/throttle the e-waste aspects by choosing to fix, reuse, or repurpose the unit or its parts as time goes by.

I am recommending it to everyone I know who’s looking for a laptop and also suggesting it to folks that currently own closed hardware from ecosystem/platform holders that are just fed up with Big Tech’s shady ways.

Enjoy your new laptops … I’m digging mine.

4 Likes
50

Would you be able to provide these exact error messages? There’s quite a lot of people on this forum who might be able to help.

I use Fedora 35 as well, but I don’t use a dock. It may also depend on the particular dock you’re using and the hardware inside.

Finally, there might be quirks depending on the suspend mode you’re using. What do you get when you run (in a terminal)

cat /sys/power/mem_sleep

while your dock is connected?

1 Like
51

Hi all,

to add my 2 cents after I received my i5-DIY unit:

  • I seemed to be one of the last ones for batch 4 delivery. It got delayed a week into early November. Still, for 4th pre-order batch of a brand new company I am impressed you turned around batches like this. Major kudos!
  • I am on Arch and everything just works, besides a little Bluetooth thing going on, but other wrote already. Sure will be fine eventually.
  • The laptop feels more premium, than I expected! Photos looked more plastic-y.
  • Screen resolution is better than thought. I come from a 2015 Pixelbook with 4k, but the Framework is just fine. 1.5 scaling works very well.

I think the one thing I don’t like is the windows logo on the SuperKey. By selling a DIY model, attracting a ton of linux users, you should have put a framework logo on that key.

Overall very impressed and very happy! Would recommend :slight_smile:

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52

I don’t do Linux, but I agree with it being neutral by using Framework’s logo. Missed opportunity in my mind.

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53

@Devyn_Cairns thanks for the reply. I did a little bit of digging and found that enabling deep sleep through GRUB seems to aid with sleep/wake problems. So far it seems to be behaving better.

It was tough to get the errors from the screen prior to enabling deep sleep because they were in a console text space with no cursor to select or copy/paste. I would have had to transcribe them manually or take a picture.

Below is the output from mem_sleep but this is after enabling deep sleep (which does seem to have helped).

cat /sys/power/mem_sleep
s2idle [deep]
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54

Okay, great, I was wondering if deep sleep would help the issue (or be the cause)

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55

Anyone else noticing really low Wi-Fi strength? Whether I use 5GHz or 2.4GHz, my connection never seems to show full strength, even when in the same room.

It’s the one thing I’ve noticed after a few days of use that’s really been a drag on the overall experience.

At my desk, I really love using the laptop. It’s docked and has a wired connection to my network, so all is well. But when I start moving around the house, I immediately notice the laggy connection.

Before anyone starts making suggestions about my home network, I’m finding this to be an issue relative to other devices. My phone and Mac Book Pro connect with no problems and consistently show a higher strength connection than my Framework.

Just curious if anyone else has experienced this?

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56

Shameless review on my personal blog: Framework Laptop

tl;dr The laptop is great, the tiger lake CPU – not so much.

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57

@hspak Great review! You mention scaling not being an issue - this is one of the things I’m most concerned about when I recieve my unit, as I’ve heard fractional scaling doesn’t work very well on Linux. I was wondering if you could elaborate on how you set up the scaling?

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@Mirage regarding (fractional) scaling on Linux: from what I’ve read, it’s not an issue on Wayland-based window managers (which is what @hspak mentions using). I therefore suspect there is not much of a setup beyond setting a comfortable ratio (175% seems to work best for most people) to it.

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59

Thank you!

Yup, as Jason mentioned above, Wayland window manager can do fractional scaling no problem. I use sway which allows you to do something like the following in your sway config:

output "<id>" scale 1.5

I believe gnome will also have some option in their display setting as well (I’m not sure of the others).

1 Like
60

Well, my new laptop is 6 weeks in. I thought I would give you a review.

My coworkers and I all got new laptops. They got Dell XPS 15’s (2020 spec, Intel Core i7 1165, 16GB ram, 1TB gen 3 ssd $1680 shipped) and I got a framework batch 6 (I7 1165, 32gb ram, and 512GB gen 4 SSD $1430 shipped and I put mine together)

We are tech support and IT network engineers, so we got together in our tech meetings to compare.

First off, on specs, My Framework is faster than theirs. I attribute this to the choice to sacrifice some hard drive capacity to get a generation newer SSD. My hard drive performance is twice the gen 3 in every metric we have run. I also saved $300 by building my machine, and I spent some of that getting faster and more ram. They have me beat in graphics, but honestly, I just don’t feel dedicated graphics are worth the weight and heat.

On display, we each like our own choices. I love the 3:2 display. they like the touchscreens. I like the smaller footprint, they like the bigger ones. But we are all happy.

Weight: I love love love the size and weight. I have a Macbook Air M1 as my second machine, and the frame works is lighter despite being a little bigger.

Port selection obviously goes to me. I have a choice of 7 ports, (4USBc, 1 USBa 1 HDMI, 1 DP.) My normal config is 2 USB-c, left and right, HDMI left, and USB-A right. sucks to be the dell guys, who are stuck with whatever Dell decided to give them. The expansion cards also extended the support for the Mac, since I can now cut down on dongles a lot! I had intended to get a dock, but thunderbolt docks are stupid expensive, so I just use the ports.

Battery life goes to them. Generally I am getting a half day but part of that is I have the screen brightness up. I carry a battery capable of charging the framework and the macbook 3 times over, so I don’t worry too m much about it.

Keyboard, touchpad and fingerprint reader: I love the framework keyboard, and i much prefer the keyboard over the Dell one. Touchpads are about equal, and I kind of wish I had windows Hello in the camera like they do, but I am fine. I really got them beat with the hardware switches for the camera and mics. They have to use tape to control camera access. lol

Overall, I am really happy with my purchase. No issues, no quality problems, and inside, I was able to make certain component choices that give me a faster computer. I paid less, and got more so what is not to like?

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61

Nice review, makes waiting for mine even harder :sob:

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62

What powerbank do you use? I’m still finding out what’s the best one to buy without compromising size. I’m currently looking at the Lenovo Go USB - C Powerbank. Does anyone have this? Is it good?

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64

I just wanted to share that I have been overall very happy with my framework i5 diy version after two weeks. The real challenge that I’ve experienced so far is that since I ordered the DIY version and a full retail version of Windows 10, I have been the one who has to make all of the battery tweaks, usb connection configurations, and basically all of the OS configuration and optimization myself. While I’ve been more accustomed to doing this in the ATX form factor with new hardware, this is my first time on what’s essentially a custom laptop. I enjoy learning about the available OS’s and how they interact with the hardware and am excited about being an early adopter and providing feedback to make the product better over time.

My expectations were actually exceeded by the overall fit and finish of the product and quality feel and user experience. While I’ve had some minor frustrations and bugs to work through along the way (like you would with any PC build), I am very happy.

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65

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B099DF4P2T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is what i use

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67

Not much new to say but I received my framework laptop some weeks ago. I was expecting a good device, but I am pleasantly surprised, it is more powerfull that expected. I have got a desktop pc with a good CPU and GPU for 3 or 4 years.

In the CPU intensive tasks, like video editing and such, the framework is better and quicker at exporting those videos. Obviously the framework gets hotter (85°c approx.) and my desktop pc doesn’t overcome 60°c with a noctua air cooler.

The lack of GPU makes it less performing in games and real time 3d work, but not as much as I thought. Even for “big” games, if I drop down the resolution and set the graphic parameters as « low » it work quite well.

The screen (love 3:2 aspect ratio, it is weird to get to a 16/9 one), keyboard and trackpad are really great, the sound is OK not super powerfull but good. I have a macbook pro for my work and I dislike it a lot, it is slow, irritating closed and I have ever found the keyboard to be really annoying to use. The trackpad is also quite « sticky », never understood what people love so much about them :slight_smile: , I find that my fingers don’t slide easily on the surface, the framework is way more enjoyable to use for me.
The small form factor is so cool, even more with this tiny power supply.

I think that it is a great device, with evolution and personalisation in mind at is core, and I hope that framework will continue on the long run, I am really happy to have get one !
I’m probably a little biased, but I love the enthusiasm of this team, that’s my feedback on it !

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68

Similarly here as before, I am very happy with my purchase of the framework, which I received about 2 weeks ago. Previously, I was rocking a Lenovo Thinkpad T440p, which I had purchased used, but the hardware basically is from over 6 years ago so there was definitely some speed up to be expected. Yet I was blown away by just how much faster and better the framework felt. The combination of framework + arch + gnome41 and how well the finger gestures work is stunning.

Putting the entire thing together was trivial, as only RAM and SSD need to be put in. It was really nice to get to see the guts of the laptop though, and I can’t express how much I loved being able to buy a laptop without having to pay for a fucking windows license.

The screen was a bit smaller than I expected, but the aspect ratio suits me as a developer very well, as vertical screen space reigns supreme. The screen in general is also very nice to use. Besides coding and compiling, I also played some light games. Basically if it’s anything 2d, you’ll be able to run it no problem. Stuff like Celeste, CrossCode, 1 step from eden run smooth as they can. For more graphically intense titles you’ll likely need to reduce the detail level a bit, the few I owned and that I tested I had to go to medium settings with. Which I’m perfectly happy with, given that I didn’t even expect to be able to do any gaming on it.

The keyboard feels perfect. On the Lenovo I had the occasional miss while typing. Here I often think I missed the key, only to find that I hit it perfectly. It’s ideal and honestly wowed me.

What I didn’t consider was that you don’t get fillers/placeholders if you do not buy expansion cards, which I had assumed I would. Which is fine, my bad, I’ll just have to wait until the marketplace in Europe opens to buy a few.

What I can’t quite get to work though is the fingerprint reader on gnome. I mean, it works, but whether it recognizes my fingerprint or not is very hit or miss, I’d say around 20% chance that it recognizes it correctly. I’m semi-certain though that’s either a software issue or a configuration issue which would be a problem on my end rather than the frameworks.

I’m slightly saddened that I seem to only get around 5:30-6:00 h of use out of the framework while under light usage (browsing + youtube), but it’s an “alright” amount of battery life to me overall. A drawback I happily pay for a product with a philosophy that I can support.

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69

Framework logo on the super key?
That would be cool and should have been done.

70

IIRC it’s something about Windows and OEM licenses. IE they require OEMs to ship a Windows key.

don’t quote me on this, I might be totally misremembering lol