Hi all! I love the concept of Framework (upgradeable, less e-waste, etc.) and would like to purchase a Framework 13. It’s quite expensive, though, and I’m looking for ways to save money on it.
I don’t game so no need to take the gaming aspect into consideration. I’m not too concerned about battery life. I’d like to be able to use PhotoShop and store years of photos, use various design programs, stream videos/shows/movies and have the option of doing some basic computer programming, if I go back to school at some point.
I’ve narrowed down my less expensive options and would really appreciate some feedback from the community before making a decision. (Price isn’t a factor for these less expensive options; I just want the best laptop for my uses). I could purchase a factory seconds A stock of an earlier gen (11th) but superior Intel core (i7-1185G7) OR I could purchase a new laptop of a newer gen (13th) but inferior Intel core (i5-1340P) or inferior AMD core (Ryzen 5 7640U).
Basically, I’m trying to determine whether I should put my money towards a newer generation or a superior system, since a laptop that combines both is cost prohibitive.
I’d go AMD or 13th gen. The 11th gen has an issue with it’s RTC / BIOS battery. And while some people don’t run into the issue with how they use their computer, the potential is there.
I suggest AMD. I know you said battery life is much of a concern, but it’s nice to have. Also, good if you go back to school. The AMD has better battery life, and I believe it’s just generally better than the intel 13th gen.
Thank you! That’s helpful info; I didn’t realize the 11th gen had those issues. And based on everything I’ve read, I’ve been leaning towards AMD over Intel if I do go with the 13th gen.
Just a note: both the i5 1340P and Ryzen 5 7640U will handily beat the i7 1185G7. This is because this i7 model only has 4 cores which are of an older design while the i5 1340P has 4 P + 8 E cores and the Ryzen 5 has 6 cores.
I’d recommend the Ryzen 5 model as independent testing has shown the AMD models have better battery life than the Intel ones currently. A caveat is this assumes that you don’t need Thunderbolt4 ports.
Okay, that seems to be the consensus. I’ve heard of Thunderbolt4 ports but don’t know what they are specifically, so I don’t think I would currently need them.
That is probably true for you, but just so you have the best possible info for your decision, I’ll expound a bit more on what thunderbolt 4 permits.
It is a high-speed bus, that allows you to use external desktop class GPUs, RAID file storage, and a host of other high-speed devices. If you don’t see a need for any of these things, then they can be safely ignored.
On the other hand, having thing, extends the life of the device, just because of its future expandability.
Note that the USB slots of the AMD are thunderbolt 3 compatible and also support eGPUs and other external devices, the speed might just be not as fast as the thunderbolt 4 slots from the Intel laptops.
11th gen is too slow to be worth buying 2024 in my opinion. 12th gen has no security/firmware update support (except the Chromebook model). Chromebook, 13th gen, or AMD are the recommendable ones. Maybe in the future Qualcomm Snapdragon X motherboards will be available.
The 1185G7 may be better than other 11th Gen CPUs, however it is worse than any other (non 11th Gen) CPU that Framework has offered.
The 1185G7 has 4 high performance cores. Similarly the 1340P has 4 high performance cores (which are slightly faster than the 1185G7’s cores due to refinements), but it also has 8 small cores boosting performance. The 7640U has 6 high performance cores.
The current AMD offerings have better battery life and better integrated GPUs than Intel, so that is what people typically recommend.
Thanks for the help, all! I’ll definitely buy 13th gen, most likely AMD. I’m looking forward to being part of such an informative, informed community.
Cheers,
Linnea
So the bios update just recently released doesn’t count? Not sure what you mean.
On top of this the performance differences between 11, 12, and 13th gen is not that significant to make the 11th gen not worth buying. For MOST people the 11th gen still totally knocks it out of the park.
That said, I have been very happy with all of the generations that have come to the Framework 13. All of them are VERY performant.
That update is windows-only still and a whole lot of folks are posting in that thread saying it still isn’t updating their retimers properly. So while it’s an improvement over the past nearly 2 years of literally no support, it’s still kinda hard to call the 12th gen “supported” lol.
I can understand some feeling that way. I have been using the 12th gen since it was released. It has been an incredible work horse. Very reliable. 3.08 went on their fine.
The thing that I would like to applaud is that Framework takes on a lot of the load for supporting Linux. This is not easy, and the cost of their laptops are not reflecting this effort. I think it is very impressive, and I have never felt that Framework was ignoring the 12th gen. It just wasn’t the squeaky wheel so to speak.
Anyway I know they are fully in tune with the issue being mentioned on the 12th. So I would still very much recommend it.
If you’re comparing low tier 13th gen or AMD to low tier 11th gen then 11th Gen can make sense in that comparison. However low tier 11th gen is out of stock (and actually removed from the outlet page so I severely doubt it’s getting restocked). High tier 11th gen is in stock, however it is significantly worse than even the lowest tier of 13th gen or AMD without being meaningfully cheaper.
This means that for anyone that doesn’t want a B-stock option (which have defective glossy screens) the savings of 11th Gen are only $50 compared to a 13th gen or AMD system with the 11th Gen having worse performance, worse battery life, worse top cover, worse hinges, the RTC bug, and no included Wi-Fi card (Framework charges $18 for the Wi-Fi card, bringing the savings to only $32).
OP specified A-stock in their post. I’d bet that for almost everyone $32 is absolutely worth it for all that I listed together.