I have been a long time lurker of Framework since Linus first invested in them and have been very excited to build my own someday. Well, my Surface Pro 7 is finally due for replacement and I am looking into buying/building a FW13. Between my own personal branding preferences, performance and battery metrics as well as easy Linux compatibility, I have chosen to go with the Intel Core Ultra Ultra 7 155H mainboard.
I could easily just order the DIY kit with that mainboard; however, it has all gen1 parts. The Ryzen AI DIY kit is put together with all gen2 parts. (I’m talking the keyboard, fingerprint reader, webcam). So I want to have the best of both worlds. All the newest gen2 parts but with the previous years mainboard (Intel Core Ultra Ultra 7 155H). So the only option that I see to achieve this is to take on a full piecemeal DIY build.
Anyone have any thoughts on my idea, or see any pieces that I may be missing? I’ve spent days researching and trying to make an absolutely complete list of everything. I am planning to run Fedora KDE or Bazzite. Still experimenting with what specific OS I want to run on a spare laptop until I complete building the new Framework Laptop.
Saying that the Core Ultra has superior linux support is kind of crazy. i915 kernel driver is the default and sucks ass, and the Xe kernel driver is newer but has bugs. Especially for older Intel Xe stuff.
“Between my own personal branding preferences, performance and battery metrics as well as easy Linux compatibility…,” doesn’t really make sense. I think its silly to choose either AMD or Intel based on the brand name. As far as performance goes, looking at a glance at Geekbench, the Ryzen AI 7 350 and Intel Core Ultra 7 155H seem to be around the same in performance, both for GPU and CPU. Knowing this, and the fact that AMD has the superior drivers, I don’t see any reason to buy the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H in such an ad-hoc way. This project seems like an exercise in a waste of money. A base Intel Core Ultra 7 155H starts at $1,109, while a base AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 starts at $1,229. So, for $120 additional, you can get all of the 2nd gen components and save money.
I would not recommend getting the 61Wh battery. As far as I can tell from countless posts on the Internet, the 61Wh battery is far more prone to puffing up and becoming extremely dangerous when it ages. Besides it’s basically a marginal 6Wh upgrade from the 55Wh battery.
I just recommend spending the $20 you’ll save from buying the 55Wh battery + some spare change on a powerbank that supports at least 9V/2A output over USB-C PD. This is what I use; it’s out of production now but it’s pretty good for its price of $15 and does 9V output over the USB-C port so I can use it to keep my FW12 on for longer. It seems AT&T has made a more “modern” redesign of it available here.
DO NOT buy a powerbank for your Framework laptop before confirming that it has 9V (or higher) power output as Framework devices generally seem to not accept charging from 5V USB.
From the benchmarks I’ve seen the AI 7 350 nudges ahead in single core performance, while the Core Ultra 7 155H nudges ahead in multi-core performance. But yeah it’s not a wash out by either, they are both really close. I couldn’t find a ton of benchmarks for GPU performance but in the Geekbench 6 OpenCL GPU tests, the AI 7 350 scores avg ~25,000 while the Ultra 7 155H avg scores are ~33,000. The AI 7 350 also has a higher TDP which can lead to more power draw and worse battery life. The reviews I read through all stated that the AI 7 350 got worse battery life then the Ultra 7 155H.
I am by no means a brand loyalist to Intel, I’ve just had a really good experience with Intel in mobile platforms and AMD for desktop platforms. It’s just a personal preference. And for the boards performing mostly neck and neck I’d rather go for the Intel board.
Screws. I didn’t see screws on your list. Unless an item explicitly says screws are included, don’t assume.
Last I heard, parts like the bottom shell do not come with all screws needed for building a laptop from scratch. These are primarily replacement parts, for someone who has a full laptop already. Keep that in mind when looking at all parts. There are screw packs in the store.
Whoa, that’s crazy! I haven’t heard anything about the 61Wh batteries puffing up. That is definitely concerning.
I just looked it up and it appears Framework has acknowledged this problem and extended the warranty on 61Wh batteries for an additional year, covering units shipped before the release of updated firmware. And tat the swelling is believed to be linked to the lack of a hysteresis loop in the charging system, which means the battery may be charged to 100% without a buffer, potentially accelerating degradation and increasing the risk of swelling. It looks like the firmware update keeps the battery from being held charged at 100% for long periods of time and if left plugged in for an extended period it will drain off some of the charge now to prevent this. Wild!
I have the screw listed above, it’s the items labeled “Fastener Kit”. I just copied and pasted the naming from the framework store page for the screws. Thanks for looking out! I have seen a few other people buy all the parts to do a DIY build and forget the screws.
*Fastener Kit - Top Cover ($5)
*Fastener Kit - Bottom Cover and Mainboard ($5)
Pretty much where I land. Also if you have a bunch of thunderbolt peripherals moving to usb4 can and often does result in those peripherals not being fully compatible. Yes I know USB4 mostly equals Thunderbolt but that is the issue…it ain’t Thunderbolt.
As far as I can tell most issues with thunderbolt stuff on framework are more related to the funky pd controller firmware than usb4/tb4 itself. But the extra reliability of full certified tb4 is indeed neat even if it actually is slower than the amd usb4 implementation at the top end.
Tracks with what I stated, Ryzen 7 CPU pulls ahead slightly and the Core Ultra 7 GPU pulls ahead slightly. I honestly can’t find a ton of real world head to head comparisons other than the initial review videos at both laptops releases.
I’ve never had anything new enough to support TB or USB4 . So not really a concern for me, but interesting to hear the support isn’t great. I’ll read into it. Most everything I do storage wise is over the network to my TrueNAS servers (2.5Gb). At most I’d use a USB-C dock to connect to my monitor, keyboard and mouse at my desk sometimes.
Thanks for looking out! I have seen a few other people buy all the parts to do a DIY build and forget the screws.
