My god, that would be amazing… Although perhaps a little thinner would’ve been nice as well; I’ve wanted a small, ultrabook-like machine that charges at 65 watts for a while now!
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Some manufacturers have a mainboard on one side of the chassis and daughter board on the other; maybe Framework could do something similar?
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Nice to see they figured out how to disable the keyboard and trackpad when the screen is flipped around. That would have been an awesome feature to have on my 16 when the lid is closed 
The 12 does look fine, but the price really is not a value at all, unfortunately.
Great review. I am thankful for every video that compares the FW12 to other convertibles! If you decide to get the FW12 over the FW13, it’s clearly for the form factor, and then the MacBook Air is not really an option anymore — the alternative would be an iPad or a Windows/ChromeOS convertible. I didn’t expect the low-powered Intel chip in the Chuwi 2-in-1 to come so close to an i3.
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I have an Intel n305 device on the way that should perform much closer to the I3 but for about half the price. If it’s here in time I’ll include it in my Linux review.
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Ooh! Maybe a GPIO cutout as well?
Hey there, I noticed some issues with your unit during your video that shouldn’t have happened and I’d recommend contacting support. Let me know when you’ve reached out and I will let the team know. Thanks!
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Colors you can get with dBrand skins and the like. To me personally, having not held the laptop, going from 13in to 12in isn’t enough of a reduction to be worth talking about. 10 or 11in? Now we’re talking. Most everyone on the forum was clamoring for a touchscreen, there wasn’t much agitation for a new form factor. Has Framework pulled an Apple and divined a desire before it was even expressed? Time will tell. For me personally and especially after seeing the review, this was a total swing and a miss. The N-Series chips are reasonably performant for the kinds of tasks that this is supposedly being marketed towards (education, web browsing, word processor and the like), so more grunt is more expensive and wasted. It’s just not for me. Hope those who buy them, love em.
There are some legit improvements like the pogo pin connections on this motherboard but standardizing the two form factors seems to not be a concern. Which is fine, it allows each form factor to be the best version of itself.
Hmm… Yeah, I see your points, but it also seems like a few people were waiting for this size to buy their first Framework device, so I guess that’s a plus…
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And I’m not gonna put them down for that! Everyone has different needs and preferences. Some things are universal (some of which Framework struggles with) and some improvements are universally good no matter what, like the pogo pins. The cost is lower, however marginal a reduction it is and that does open the door to some folks. Sometimes an extra $100 or $200 is just $100 or $200 too much. I just wished they had achieved that by investing in a trade-in program, that generates reliable refurbs to sell at lower prices and mitigates the risk that comes inherently with private sales. We can even see the problem with private sales given that the requirements to even sell your device on the forum have been raised.
Bottom line, I hope it’s a good experience for those who purchase the thing. I can’t see Framework’s P&L statements so maybe this made good business sense but to me, it just doesn’t.
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Can I ask which one? I’ve been looking at some chromebooks with that in it, I imagine it’ll be more than enough for those if there’s windows machines on the n305
My only beef is still that it doesn’t fit the 13” motherboard. That would’ve made it so much more versitile.
I don’t remember the reason they gave for this but at least from a user perspective it doesn’t seem to be so much different in size.
Isn’t FL12 supposed to be a rugged laptop?
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Also a good idea! It would’ve prevented the fragmentation at least. On the other hand, I still feel that offering multiple sizes is a good idea, if at least for the chassis. Then they could’ve focused on perhaps shrinking the mainboard to fit all available sizes, which also could’ve helped with trade-ins, and used lower prices for smaller sizes as well. Somewhere in between our two ideas, I suppose?
More stiff means less spring, more weight, and more brittle.
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It’s probably because of the vents on the FW12’s case. They’re only on the side, so a FW13 motherboard would probably suffocate.
The lack of bottom vents is one of the reasons why I want the 12 over the 13, but it does feel like if the 12 got a stronger (but efficient) mainboard or if the 13 got a 2-in-1 touchscreen chassis, one laptop could render the other redundant. It’s weird
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Brittle? Quite the opposite.
My previous laptop, a Panasonic CF-SV has zero chassis flex, lighter and more rugged.
Chassis flex plus pogo pins, well it may cause an electrical open circuit, or worse, short circuit.
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People love the idea…but Framework keeps on dropping the ball on QC, on multiple product generations now (needs tighter tolerance).
Think someone referred to this as russian roulette. Not really knowing what you’d get.
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In some designs, [more] rugged means compliance and delayed impact force absorption. I think the chassis flex might be intentional here, by design. i.e. Rugged doesn’t necessarily mean the chassis needs the stiffness of ceramic slab. Two different rugged design philosophies. Toughbooks and other fully rugged designs NEED to be stiff due to IP rating / seals, vehicle mounting plate accessories…etc. FL12 doesn’t have an IP rating…that I know of. This is also why I asked about the 810H tests against the FL12 in the other thread. It’s not a fully rugged design (hell, FL12 isn’t even a semi-rugged design).
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When I first got my fw13 I had issues with the following:
1.Faulty screen
2.Two faulty touch pads
3.Two Faulty motherboards
4.Faulty hinges
That’s absolutely ridiculous.
All this within the first two weeks of owning the device. I didn’t get to actually use it until framework replaced everything but the hinges (which were very much defective.)
Framework has consistently had quality control issues that seem to still be a problem with the 12. It’s unfortunate because their customer service process can take weeks to accomplish basic repairs.
I think framework should either take QC a lot more seriously or provide fully tested complete replacment units much more readily. It would save everyone time and headache when we run into bad QC
Or both.
Edit: I was not an early adopter of the 13. I bought it after it was made to order, well after every early batch was shipped, but before they released a motherboard upgrade. I was actually kind mad cuz I got it right before the next motherboard upgrade was a thing. Meaning Framework had all the time in the world to solve the 11th gen issues and I still got 6 lemons.
6 lemons is unreasonable and I’m more inclined to belive FW has QC issues.
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