Framework Laptop 16 User Reviews

Framework Laptop 16
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As a gamer, I have played “God of War” yesterday under Linux / Vulkan 8.x on the RS7700S.
The one thing to keep in mind is that GoW needs to grab focus on the mouse - so when you start it, don’t do something else or you won’t have camera movements with then mouse in game.
On the first start also, as it computes all the shaders, the computer gets really loud → all fan’s powering up to max RPM. But once the shaders done - the FAN RPM goes down. You still hear them, but that’s about it. Temps CPU/GPU is around 75|9⁰C (checked after I stopped playing).

The keyboard flex test is really something I never understood. Using the “International English - Linux here”.
Honestly - who hammers onto the keyboard? It is really nice writing on it (can compare to a Dell Latitude 7400, a KDE Slimbook, a HP Chromebook and a FW13 here).
For writing text, coding and gaming - all OK for me (PS: as a piano player, I also have strong fingers). But I don’t really “feel” any flex when using it in all usage types.

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Recently got my Framework 16 (batch 3), and am loving it.

Specs:
DIY Edition

  • System: Ryzen 9 7940HS
  • Memory: 32GB (2 x 16) DDR5 5600 (Crucial CT2K16G56C46S5)
  • OS: Windows 11 Pro
  • AMD Radeon RX 7700S Graphics
  • Numpad Module

Review:

Here’s a (short?) summary of my first week:

First of all, this thing is a work of engineering art. Every detail is stunning in how well thought out it is, and how easy everything is to alter and get into.

Brought my own SSD, RAM, and OS, and set the laptop up in a couple hours (counting creating a install drive, the actual windows install, driver downloads, and OS customization). Super easy, I put both sticks of memory in initially and it worked pretty much immediately (maybe about 45 seconds of memory training on first boot). Install videos and guides were great too.

The cooling package was immediately impressive while stress testing, especially in comparison to other 16 inch laptops. I know the design of this thing is chunky, but it’s for good reason… I think it would be hard to thermal throttle at max fan speeds, and for a CPU intensive load, the underside of the expansion bay is cool to the touch, and vice versa. The fan noise is a little higher pitched than other laptops, but not louder, and fans never come on to a noticeable degree in school/web/regular use. In games and higher intensity programs, sure, they’re there, but nothing to complain about (I use headphones anyway, so take that as you will).

The expansion bay is sweet. While I only have the graphics module, testing taking it out and putting it back in is awesome. Seamless fit, slides easily, and replacing an entire laptop GPU with 6 screws is something else.

The input modules are nice, and in my opinion, while there are small gaps/edges between the spacers and the trackpad, after using the laptop normally, these just blend into the background. You definitely cant feel they’re there on your wrists, and while you can move them slightly when they’re locked in, you’d have to intend to. The trackpad is smooth, feels good, and its clicks are solid. Maybe a bit stiff in my opinion, but the glide in tracking is great. While it could be a bit bigger, there’s really no use case I can see where it being this size hampers laptop use, so I’m fine with the size. Keyboard flex is nonexistent for me, and even pressing down hard, there’s no feeling of movement or visible deflection. I like the deeper travel.

Expansion cards are expansion cards… they’re sweet, the switch to unlock them is nice, and working on designing some of my own is pretty fun.

Overall, this thing is so cool. From the product to the mindset of the company, I think I’m in love.

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Awesome! thanks for the info! Im currently using an Asus Vivobook, so any keyboard will feel like an upgrade. For my desktop well theres no competition to the Nuphy Keyboard, but for laptops i don’t have a high standard to beat :rofl:

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So far I am loving the 16. The trackpad spacers can be a bit wonky looking but I don’t mind it too much. I also haven’t really found keyboard flex to be an issue. Everything runs great so far.
My only complaint is that the battery seems to be draining even when the computer is on standby and the lid is closed.
I am running the overkill spec with Windows 11.
I am sure it will be a simple fix/just how the computer is.

With the system being so geared toward repairability the usual anxiety associated with “my computer is potentially acting funny” just isn’t there for me.

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At long last, the review you’ve undoubtedly all been waiting for. After two weeks, I think my opinions on the product are fairly well developed. I’d like to focus on the more controversial, subjective areas, as you can refer to the professionals for performance testing.

First, some context. I feel I’m more of a casual nerd. I don’t have many specific or demanding needs. I bought this for personal use, to do programming and video editing on the couch or on the go, and of course to support the cause. My fleet includes:
• Latitude E7250 (12.5”, 5th gen i5), refurbished, for average stuff on Windows or Linux (Manjaro)
• 2015 MacBook Air 13”, bought used, for Mac things
• Optiplex 7010 (3rd gen i7, 16GB, datacenter HDD), refurbished, for heavier work
• 2020-era AMD DIY machine (3700X, 32GB, 5700XT) for fun stuff and video editing
• 2010 Toshiba Satellite 16”, bought new, an absolute monstrosity, retired in 2019, just keeping it around for funsies
I also have experience with dozens of other models through refurbishing donated laptops, but nothing quite like the Framework 16. So how do I like it?

Configuration:

  • Ryzen 7, DIY (64GB G.Skill kit, 2TB 2280, 1TB 2230)
  • GPU module
  • RGB US English Keyboard
  • Numpad
  • At least one of each expansion card, currently 2x USB-C, 2x USB-A, audio jack, and MicroSD installed
  • Black bezel
  • FW charger
  • Dual booting Windows 10 and Fedora 39

Keyboard: It’s fine. It’s not especially pleasurable, but it’s not dull. I’d say I enjoy it more than a MacBook, but not quite as much as an older Thinkpad or even a mid-late 2000’s Dell. I don’t know what people are complaining about with flex. I know we all type with varying levels of force, but I can nail this thing to a degree which I’d consider unreasonable and it feels perfectly solid to me. The RGB modes it ships with are very cool, and that is absolutely worth some points. The numpad feels like the keyboard. I haven’t done any customization of either, but that’s a very cool prospect that I’ll get around to playing with eventually.

Fit & Finish: Everything is exceptional except…drum roll…the trackpad and spacers. The aluminum is just too thin to hold its flatness, if it was ever flat to begin with. Thankfully it is just as easy to reshape them oneself, though it’s a bit absurd to need to do so. This is definitely an area for improvement, as these things are literally a safety hazard. I scratched my wrist three times writing this, and snagged an arm hair. Perhaps if they slotted into each other, they could at least mate more evenly and reduce exposed edges? I don’t know, Framework doesn’t pay me enough to do their engineering, though I’m happy to discuss that.

Trackpad: The trackpad itself is surprisingly OK. I really prefer physical buttons, but this one somehow makes up for that simply by being big. I like how big it is, and for some reason that distracts me from the lack of buttons.

Display: Best I’ve ever used. I’ve used MacBooks up to a 2019 and they’re always great, but not one this size. I also think I prefer matte to glossy. As for the alleged flex, I don’t find it concerning. It’s thin and wide and therefore less rigid than anything else I own. However, I don’t actually have, nor have I used, anything this thin and wide, so it’s not really a fair comparison. Would I use it in a tornado? Maybe not. Would I open and close it one handed? Yes. And I do.

Weight: For the dimensions, I find it rather light even with the GPU module. This is obviously a measurable property so go ahead and compare the weight to your favorite laptops, but I think it’s reasonable for the size and I find it fairly well distributed. Slightly rear-heavy with the GPU module, but with the display being so thin and light, it feels uncommonly firmly planted on my squishy lap with such a low center of gravity. That’s a bit of a unique feeling for me, and I like it a lot. Body to display weight ratio: the next big metric to obsess over.

Noise: I haven’t pushed it yet, but aside from initial setup, I haven’t heard a peep. That said, when the fans did spin up that one time, they were loud (GPU module). Would I game with this in a coffee shop? No. Would I game in a coffee shop? Also no.

Overall: This thing is freakin’ cool, and I love it! I of course love that I can reconfigure it for any mission and I can replace it part by part until they stop making compatible parts, but I also love it as a laptop. The keyboard and numpad are nice, the screen is awesome, the battery life is surprisingly good, even the button-less (ick) trackpad is very, very OK. I’m not just soothing the cognitive dissonance of literally spending more on one laptop than I did on the last 4 computers I’ve purchased/built combined. I genuinely enjoy using this thing. Excellent work, Framework!

(edited for weird grammar, added config)

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Nice review!! Thanks.
Did you find a noticeable difference between battery life under Windows 10 and Fedora?

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Honestly, I’ve barely used Windows thus far as I’ve been really enjoying getting to know Fedora, so I can’t give a very scientific assessment. Still, even understanding Windows was probably doing a lot of admin and updating with a new installation, it sure seemed to burn battery faster than Fedora. It’s probably a minimal difference once everything is settled, but my experience dual-booting Windows 10 and Manjaro on my little Dell has been that Windows wastes more battery. There’s a lot going on there and it’s hard to make a truly fair comparison between OS’s, but you can’t deny that Windows by default is a lot busier than at least any Linux distro I’ve ever used, so it does make intuitive sense that it’s more power-hungry. Still, it’s probably a minimal difference, maybe 10% or so tops.

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After receiving my Framework 16 (Batch 2) 2 weeks ago, I have quite a bit to say about it.
As a preamble, I’m a Linux power-user using NixOS as my preferred distro and haven’t had many personal laptops myself, the Framework 16 is my first personal laptop.
In the past I have used lots of ThinkPads, ranging from the T470, T480 to a T490 and a couple MacBooks at work.

Configuration:

  • Ryzen 9 7940HS
  • No GPU module
  • 32GB Crucial 5600MT/s RAM
  • 2TB WD_ Black SN850x
  • Black bezel (Bring the transparent bezel to the FW16)
  • Blank ANSI keyboard
  • Black spacers
  • Framework charger
  • Basically one of every expansion card

The CPU, iGPU & Thermals
The CPU is an absolute beast for my tasks and easily clocks to up to over 5.6GHz and stays very cool. Since I don’t have the GPU module, the laptop stays very quiet throughout almost any tasks. Even when compiling large codebases, the fans barely ever ramp up or the laptop gets hot.
The iGPU also works exceptionally well and can handle 4k video, light gaming and GPU-accelerated tasks without struggle.

Battery life
I have yet to do any tuning other than installing power-profiles-daemon. Under NixOS with Hyprland and PPD set to balanced it idles at around 10-11W with 50% screen brightness, connected to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off. I’m not using VRR or ABM, since I’m waiting for Kernel 6.9 for both of those.
I haven’t yet used the laptop for more than a few hours, but so far, by approximation, it should last a bit under 8 hours with no real optimizations.
With the Framework charger, the battery is fully charged in roughly 2 hours.

Display
One of the best laptop displays I have ever used, the brightness, high contrast and wide color fidelity make it very enjoyable to code on and consume content. With this display, it has been the first time, I actually really liked the standard Linux font rendering. With normal 1080p displays almost all fonts personally for me under Linux looked weird and not sharp, with this display it’s the complete opposite.
The colors on the display are very vibrant, and the blacks are deep black and not grayish.

The claims about screen flex seem absurd and overexaggerated, while the screen does have some flex, it doesn’t feel flimsy or like it can be easily damaged. I don’t think the screen would ever break due to screen flex or normal usage.

Keyboard
It’s fine and definitely in the higher segment of laptop keyboards, but not comparable to older ThinkPad keyboards or normal mechanical keyboards. It has more than enough travel for my taste, and after a bit of adjustment, it feels very comfortable to type on.
I haven’t noticed any explicit keyboard flex while typing or even when pushing on it.
Being able to adjust layers and modify the keyboard with QMK is a huge feature I wish more laptops had. I currently have two layer shift buttons set to left alt and right alt. Left alt activates my vim and shortcuts layer. Right alt activates the number layer and special characters I use often.

Trackpad
Very nice feeling and fun to use. Size is perfect, even if it could be a bit bigger. The palm rejection works like you would expect it to and does its job. Only thing that I had to adjust to, was that tap-to-click for some reason doesn’t work near the bottom edges.

Weight
For being a powerful 16-inch laptop, it is rather light, and the size is perfectly adequate. It doesn’t feel bulky or inadequate in a professional setting like many other gaming or powerful laptops.

Design, Fit & Finish
I am a huge fan of the sharp and only slight rounded edges design language of the whole laptop. The Aluminum makes the laptop feel high-quality and rigid. The laptop looks modern and not out-of-place in a professional environment or public.
The trackpad spacers have a slight bump with my machine, but it doesn’t bother me or looks weird. Some people complained about having sharp edges in the trackpad spacers, which I have not noticed while using it. The color variation of the trackpad spacers is barely noticeable and heavily depends on the lighting conditions.

Linux setup
Setting up NixOS was a breeze and everything worked out of the box (Fingerprint reader, s2idle sleep, webcam, mic, ambient light sensor, Wi-Fi, etc.). For the time being, I’m using the NixOS-hardware module for the Framework 13 AMD version, until an official Framework 16 module is merged, which I might even do myself if no one else does it.
Updating firmware using fwupd and the LVFS couldn’t have been easier, updating the mainboard firmware to a beta version took 2 minutes. My WD_Black nvme can also receive updates through fwupd, which is nice.
So far I have only stumbled upon one issue, that after sleeping with s2idle the domain name resolution would not come back, despite wpa_supplicant being connected and able to complete requests. I know that some other people with an AMD framework had similar issues, but I can’t find any of those threads again.

Overall
I am very happy I made the purchase and didn’t cancel over the first negative reviews during the pre-order phase. I am glad to support the vision Framework has towards the push of bringing repairable, re-usable and well-built devices back into the mainstream consumer market. Knowing your expensive laptop isn’t just e-waste after a few years because the battery died, or the hardware is outdated gives me a good feeling when using the laptop and justifies the price of it. I’m excited to at some point repurpose the old motherboard as a home-server, media station or secondary computer.
Another thing that I as a tinkerer very much enjoy are the open documentations of the whole laptop and possibilities you have with tinkering with it or developing your own modules. Other manufacturers make it purposefully hard to do this, while Framework encourages it.
Linux compatibility is awesome, and so is the whole community and team around Framework.

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I moved 5 machines to Linux Mint 2 years ago. They run faster and the fan runs a lot less.
2 of them date to about 2012, my wife uses one, and the other is for the projector.

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A quick review from me, just received my batch 5 laptop 4 days ago.

Keyboard
I personally do not notice the keyboard flex everyone is talking about. I do like the feel of the keyboard and do not have any issue typing with 10 fingers on this keyboard. The only thing I need to get used to is when numlock is not switched on (from the numpad) the enter key on the numpad switches the backlight. I now know that I use that enter a lot, also during my bootloader (I have dual OS).

Assembly
During assembly it was all very clear and well documented how to assemble the laptop. I ran into a small problem with the midplate that was not recognized on startup, however that might have been my own fault as I found out that the connecter cable was not plugged all the way in on the midplate side. I might accidentally pulled it slightly out.

Performance
Coming from a 300 euro laptop which I used to browse the internet this is mighty fast. But it can be faster when you plug it in, there are some options to make the battery life a lot better in the BIOS. Disable these and it will be quicker in performance and in battery drain…

For now I am very happy with my new laptop and working on finding a lot of things out about it. Can’t wait for any future upgrades, even the small ones like a sd card reader :slight_smile:

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i would expect that you could adjust that behavior, given the nature of the firmwares on the input modules. could be worth investigating; the hardware should facilitate you, not require you to change your habits without benefit.

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That is a very good idea, thanks for the input. I do have to look into that. Also to get my RGB mouse synced with my keyboard :slight_smile:

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You can remap every key using VIA, which interfaces with QMK (The firmware the numpad and keyboard use) at https://keyboard.frame.work/ .

If your mouse is supported by OpenRGB you should be able to sync it, since OpenRGB has support for QMK.

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Yes I just fixed it with that page, mapped the on/off backlight button to the calculator button which I use less often. Thanks to @eso for pointing me to the possibility to remap it.

Unfortunately it is not, but thanks for the tip. I will keep it in mind. :wink:

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I’ve had my Framework 16 for a few weeks now as I was part of the Batch 1 finale in early March due to the wayward Linux keyboard affair. During the past few weeks, I installed Arch Linux on it and used it in a variety of non-travel scenarios. These are my thoughts on it so far.

The Good

  • The chassis (minus the input deck - see below for details) is very well built with durable materials. It’s even more impressive than my previous all-aluminum HP Elite Book which also had a great build quality.
  • The laptop is big but is small enough to fit in larger bags. It is fairly light for what it is.
  • The snap-in input expansion module system is great. I wish more manufacturers offered this.
  • The UEFI firmware is easy to navigate and is well designed. The menu layout reminds me of the Steam Deck’s “Insyde H2O” firmware menu.
  • Compatibility with mainline Arch Linux and KDE Plasma 6 is decent as of Linux kernel 6.8. There are a few features (mainly the display’s variable refresh rate feature) that are not completely mature and/or supported out of the box yet but it is quickly getting there.
  • Screen quality is excellent.
  • The Ryzen 9 series processor is FAST. It seems like it is almost as fast as my desktop’s Ryzen 9 processor.
  • Battery life seems pretty decent. I can run it for several hours as long as I keep it from over engaging the dGPU. Fully engaging the dGPU seems to burn through the battery in less than an hour.
  • There’s a certain financial peace of mind that you get from using a system that is designed around repair instead of replacement.

The Bad

  • I am glad that I only ordered the GPU expansion module because swapping between modules on the road looks irritating due to the reliance on a module specific screwed-in interposer module. As implemented, I look at the expansion slot system as more of a “future upgrade” slot than a “hot swap” slot.
  • I hope Framework offers a combined keyboard and numeric keypad module in the future. While the modular system mostly works (except for the weird split backlight controls - see below), I would really like to see a more rigid unified module without the gap and separation between the keyboard and the numeric keypad area.
  • Running on battery power tanks the frame rate on high end 3D games. I think this is more of a “current limits of mobile dGPU technology” issue than an actual Frameworks design problem.
  • Out of the box, the current version of “libinput” on Linux does not support “disable trackpad while using keyboard” mode due to a missing configuration file. Uncorrected, this can cause some errant cursor movement during a heavy typing session. However, this issue is easy to correct through a configuration change and an official fix will be included in the next “libinput” release.

The Ugly

  • While I appreciate what Framework was trying with the modular trackpad, they should have made 3 trackpad SKUs (right/center/left alignment) and avoided using spacers. The trackpad spacers suck and I had to manually bend mine to get them to fit properly. I really hope Framework goes back to the drawing board here because the keyboard and trackpad issues are the only bad apples on an otherwise excellent product.
  • The numeric keypad module is in desperate need of a numlock indicator light. I am not really certain how design missed this critical feature.
  • There is no synchronization of backlight mode between input modules. While this enables some unique use cases, most of the time I just want one set of backlight controls that keep both input modules on the same synchronized backlight configuration.
  • I can not connect the laptop to the iPhone 15 Pro Max via USB-C. When connected, both devices go into a endless connect/disconnect loop. This needs to be fixed at the firmware level.
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Some people have come up with a solution for this: turning the Num Lock backlight on/off based on the status.

I haven’t done it myself yet, because… I honestly have no idea how to work with QMK, eheh… At some point I’ll research that…

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Guess that’s an issue of your used distribution. Using KDE Neon here and don’t see that behavior. When I’m typing, the trackpad is off.

That, I can’t confirm either. Mine did fit from the start correctly. So no bending etc. to be done.
Coming from the RC world though, a tip when bending them: heat them up with a hair dryer before bending them. Makes it easier to bend, and while they cool, they get sturdier.

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Yeah, on Hyprland there’s also an easy setting in the config that can change this behavior to how you want it. Probably similar to what Arazil did manually in the libinput config file.

My trackpad spacers fit decently, but as many others have said the fit is… meh.
If they were to ever release a new trackpad with Sensel tech with either improved spacers or just one that fits the entire width, that’d be an instant buy. Ideally they’d also offer more options for the touchpad spacers, like they do for the keyboard spacers.
As it stands, the touchpad is good. Luckily I’m not used to Apples trackpads, as those felt decently better the few times I tried them. If they were to partner up with Sensel for this, the touchpad could turn from a minor weakness to an actual strength of this laptop.

This is just me hoping though ^^

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@Christoph_Straten I’d really like to thank you a lot. I was curious what Hyperland was (I’m a Debian/KDE guy), and reading more, led me to screensharing. And annoyingly, for work, we use Slack which still runs as XWayland, so can’t share Wayland windows. And Hyperland docs mention KDE folks created a workaround! So now I have something to try today at work.

Also, Hyperland looks interesting. Will need to do even more reading. But being on Debian, even on Testing, going to probably be a somewhat old version.

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Do note, that Hyprland is a tiling compositor and not stacking one. See Window manager - ArchWiki for more info
Personally, Hyprland is really really nice to use on the Framework 16, everything works out of the box and it’s the smoothest Wayland compositor I have ever used.

1 Like