I haven’t posted a review here in a while, however I received quite a few DM’s asking about this one, so, here it is.
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Ooh! I’ve been waiting for your review! 
Ooof. As both a FL 13 owner and fan of your channel, this was a rough watch. Not because of anything wrong with your review, but it highlights some serious shortcomings with the 12 I was not expecting. That chassis flex is…
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Yeah, hope these problem got addressed in future revision.
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Yikes. I didn’t see a lot of those issues with mine. The chassis does flex, but I don’t really see that as a problem, unless it’s a problem, you know what I mean?
But compared to a lot of other machines, I felt like the top cover actually felt fairly solid, and I don’t have the screen pulling up up in the corner, the input cover not seating right along the edge, or the trackpad peeling. I think if that was my machine, I’d be reaching out to support.
Edit: My light bleed wasn’t that bad either. There was a tiny bit along the bottom in tablet mode, but almost none in laptop mode. Unfortunately, it seems like there is some variation from machine to machine. Hopefully units with these issues uncommon.
Edit 2: Battery life is pretty much in line with what I found. Not…terrible. But far from great in an age where the MacBook Air can get a couple days of light use before needing a charge.
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All I can say is that I hope the FW12 doesn’t have to wait for upgrades as long as the FW16 has been. The QC issues can be worked out, the display and internals can be updated, and maybe that chassis flex can be solved. But how long will it be until then?
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I might be too positive.
I forget where I read that framework team doesn’t expect framework 12 to be these popular as they originally targeted education market, so I do believe framework will release different upgrade to Framework 12 for more advance user.
One thing out weight my other consideration of Framework 12 is modular design that allows manufacture to easily fixed their “mess up”.
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Yeah, there is no other laptop that meets my needs like what Framework offers. I’d like for them to stay in business long enough to make new parts and keep my laptop going, but I’d hate to see them lose customers and go out of business from bumpy product launches like these. They can save themselves with timely part upgrades though
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I do show my Framework 12 to a friend working as an engineer at a junior high school, he absolutely loved the idea of Framework 12.
The average Chromebook can only survive 3~4 semester before it become too badly damaged for any repair, most of the Chromebook don’t have much removable parts and adhesive are heavily used so they can’t salvage parts from badly damaged one to repair fixable one.
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My local school district leases their fleet of ChromeBooks from Dell. A few times a month a local Dell tech arrives at the schools, picks up damaged units and drops off refurbished ones. The total cost to the schools for all of it is frankly unbelievably low. I’m not sure how FW could compete in that market.
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It’s worrying, because there’s clearly a demand for non-education users that want this laptop (the 12) for their own needs if it only had higher specs, but if Framework then caters to that crowd, does it erode the value of the 13 model?
They could potentially add adapters to the 12’s mainboard so it could fit in the 13, at least; everything else might be problem, though…
It’s a bit sad to hear this fact. The school where my friend works doesn’t partner with any companies — instead, they receive an annual budget to purchase a large batch of Chromebooks or low-end laptops, and all the maintenance is handled by them.
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At that point, just buy the 13? The mainboard isn’t the draw for the 12, it’s the screen. The mainboard is nothing to write home about and is a downgrade from the 13.
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Imo the only draw for the fw12 is the convertible form factor and the stylus support, those are it’s only unique features.
Everything else is a downgrade.
I have a 13 and those two features are the only reasons I picked up a 12.
I hope they offer upgrades for the screen cuz otherwise it’s just a (very slightly) cheaper but much worse 13 that can do a flip.
I don’t understand this comparison with the FW13 I see anywhere.
The FW12 with my setup i5 has a price of 838€. (edit: The tested i3-Version is at 668€)
The FW13 with AI 7 350 has a price of 1558€. Both without RAM, storage and OS but with the default expansion-cards and power supply.
That’s nearly double the price. (Edit: well with the tested i3 it’s over double the price). I don’t thinks that’s a fair comparison.
I’d love to have the FW13, but I really want a touchscreen, would like to have a convertible and don’t want to pay slightly more than 1000€.
Are others cheaper, sure. It’s not the best hardware you get for this price, but don’t compare with devices of the double price or with totally other features.
I’m not sure if I will be satisfied with the device, but as I use refurbished notebooks for years now, it could be a hit for me. But most comparisons send to make few sense to me. Other reviews say the performance is low in contrast to other current devices (again often for double the price), but we all know it’s an older CPU in there… So you should it be on par with a current CPU?
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I’m still using the og 11th gen Intel cpu in my 13 so for me the 12 was over $800 and my 13 was $1000. They will perform about the same but on my 13 I have all the nice bells and whistles except for the convertible stylus/touch screen.
If you just need a normal laptop I personally don’t see any reason to buy the 12, but I agree that the highest end 13 main board isn’t a fair comparison to the 12 for the price.
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Fair, but I thought another draw was the smaller form factor (and the pretty colors! 
), and it might help if they can standardize the mainboard between the two systems.
The TPU and the springiness help make the FW12 durable. Every choice has pros and cons.
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I wish they had made it a lot smaller. Like 10 inches. I want netbooks back!
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