Case in point, I’m going from a Surface Book 2 to this thing; sure, the graphics will be slightly worse, but even the i3 version of the 12 is 80% more performant than the Book 2’s i7. 
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Is that a grey trackpad?
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yes, only the US layout was available with lavender trackpad, i have a czech/slovak (iso) keyboard layout
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Ah, gotcha.
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I am a Framework Laptop 12 Batch 1 gray user. I am using the Framework Laptop 12 as my primary daily driver now. I gave my old Framework Laptop 13, 11th Gen Intel Core Batch 2, to a person yesterday.
My experience with Laptop 12 is much better than Laptop 13, 11th Gen Intel Core. 
I installed Fedora Workstation 42 with the desktop environment GNOME first on the Laptop 12. Then I installed Sway window manager manually later.
Display
I am comfortable using the 12.2-inch display because I am using a tiling window manager, Sway, as my primary desktop environment. I am very happy with such a small display. But maybe I am still comfortable with a smaller 11-inch display, too.
Touchpad
When I was using the Laptop 13, I needed to press the touchpad strongly to click the touchpad. Perhaps, the touchpad on the Laptop 13 was broken. But I can click the touchpad on the Laptop 12 by pressing the touchpad lightly. Great experience!
Keyboard
I feel the Laptop 12’s keyboard is smaller than the Laptop 13’s keyboard. I would prefer the layout of the Laptop 12 more than the Laptop 13’s keyboard.
Speaker
My left speaker doesn’t work. My right speaker works. I am communicating with the Framework customer support. I need to try some steps to identify if the issue comes from the speaker hardware. Perhaps, the speaker’s cables may not be connected well.
Fan
The fan of the Laptop 12 is quieter than the Laptop 13, 11th Gen Intel Core. I like it.
Battery life
I am bringing an external charger, Omni 20+ 220v, that is like this. I am not sure if the battery life is enough without using the charger.
Tablet mode
The tablet mode works great on GNOME with features such as auto-rotation and a virtual keyboard.
I am playing and learning with an Android emulator, Waydroid. The ArchWiki’s Waydroid page helped me to learn it.
I want to run the Kindle app on Waydroid to read e-books on Kindle. So far, I haven’t found the way to install the Kindle app. See my attached screenshots where the Kindle app is not available to install.
I am trying to use a tiling window manager, Sway, or another tiling manager in tablet mode. I installed a virtual keyboard wvkbd. Then I need to set up the auto-rotation, and may add some buttons on Waybar.
4 USB-C expansion cards
I am using 4 USB-C expansion cards as my default setting. Conveniently, I can use any 4 expansion cards to connect to the charging USB-C cable. This is a great experience!
Additional items
I ordered Dbrand’s Laptop 12 skin, ALPINE, ViaScreens Paper Screen Protector, and a stylus pen, Lenovo Precision Pen 2, Part number: 4X81H95637.
Screenshots
alacritty, cmatrix, imv, waydroid, firefox on Sway.
alacritty, fastfetch, waydroid, firefox, wvkbd on Sway.
Framework Laptop 12 config files
I am sharing Framework Laptop 12 and 13’s config files below. Note, I haven’t used some of the config files in the repository anymore.
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Does Fedora Gnome not come with a window manager or why do you prefer sway?
(thanks for the config and all the info!)
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Your comment piqued my interest. I was able to get the kindle app to run, as usual by standing on the shoulders of others. See the directions here, and note my comments clarifying what I needed to do to get it working (basically more carefully following the poster’s directions): Waydroid cannot boot after installing libhoudini (Android 13) · Issue #237 · casualsnek/waydroid_script · GitHub
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People like tiling windows. It can be nice to automatically manage windows on a larger screen.
On a 12/13" screen, swiping desktops (workspaces) with maximized apps is more my style.
oh, so sway puts tiles them automatically? Instead of me drag and dropping it somewhere?
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You can also read Kindle-Books using your browser. Eventually not what you want, but might be a alternative.
I switched from Kindle to a DRM-free alternative some time ago and am very happy with this decision.
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GNOME comes with its window manager. I used the terms desktop environment (DE) and window manager (WM) above. DE is a kind of WM + something.
You can select a window manager on GNOME’s login page, which is called GNOME Display Manager (GDM), as following photo.
I would prefer Sway as a primary window manager. Because I can operate the windows faster and more easily by keyboard only, without touchpad. Sway is a lightweight program. It is stable in my experience.
Yes. Putting windows as titles is a basic operation of tiling window managers. You can also put windows as non-tiles, which is called floating windows.
- Sway - You can check a video on the linked Sway official page to imagine what Sway looks like.
- Hyprland - This is another tiling window manager, which I am interested in. David Heinemeier Hansson, the author of the web framework Ruby on Rails, and an evangelist of the Framework Computer
, is introducing Hyprland here.
If you want to try Sway on Fedora Linux, you can just install it with the following command.
$ sudo dnf install sway
Below are basic commands on Sway.
- Holding super (windows) key + enter key: Open a terminal.
- Holding super (windows) key + shift key + e key: Logout Sway.
- Holding super (windows) key + shift key + q key: Close a window.
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@lbkNhubert Wow! Thanks for your help! You found the issue ticket magically! I will try it later!
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I tend to use only one workspace on Sway on a 12/13 inch screen. I often use the full-screen toggle (super key + f key on Sway) when maximizing apps.
As a reference, for someone who is interested in how I am using the full-screen toggle feature on Sway, the following screenshot is an example image of my typical window layout when I write code on the Framework Laptop 12. Left: some terminals, including the text editor VIM. Right: Firefox. Though actually, I haven’t written any code on Framework Laptop 12 yet. 
Thanks for the info! I have been using Amazon Japan’s Kindle store. When accessing the Kindle Cloud Reader https://read.amazon.co.jp, I was able to open comics/manga and English books. But I was not able to open text-based Japanese books with the following messages. Perhaps, text-based Japanese books may not be supported on the website.
I am only using the Kindle app when I read books that I bought on the Kindle store. I understand when I buy ebooks on the Kindle store, I am not owning the books. It’s about buying the right to read books from Amazon.
I am using Calibre on Fedora to manage PDF and EPUB format ebooks.
One told me someday, that calibre can convert Kindle-ebooks, using a plug-in, in epub-format…
So, after spending almost a week with my Sage i5 Laptop 12, here are my own initial thoughts:
- I love it! I like the form factor, the color, the fact that it’s way faster than my (very old) desktop PC, the ability to hot swap expansion cards depending on my needs, the sturdiness…
- Config:
- Sage i5 DIY with a bunch of expansion cards
- Storage: I’m using a Corsair MP600 Mini 2TB SSD. Works great.
- Memory: I tried 2 different modules, Kingston FURY Impact PnP 32GB (KF556S40IB-32) and Crucial 64GB (CT64G56C46S5). Both worked without problem, but I ended up keeping the Crucial 64GB, here’s why:
- The Kingston has lower latency, so while I really wanted more than 32GB, if the latency made a big difference on performance I might have gone with the Kingston.
- I ran some benchmarks/tests: memtestx86, running games and looking at FPS, running a built-in benchmark in a game, building a fairly big C++/QT6 project (QGIS), processing a fairly big photogrammetry project (with webodm)…
- While the Kingston was faster in most tests, it was only by about 1%. But things like photogrammetry are limited by available memory. I had to set a lower processing memory cap when processing with the 32GB and it was actually slower than with the 64GB, and ended up crashing because the cap I’d set was too high and didn’t leave enough memory for the rest of the system. I could have tried with a lower cap, but it was slower already so my mind was made.
- I’m using a UGREEN Revodok Pro 313 docking station with 2 monitors (it has 2 HDMI and 1 DP). It works ok in Windows 11, Fedora KDE and Bazzite. No drivers to install. Sometimes I need to unplug/replug it into the laptop to get ethernet/USB ports to work (displays always work the first time), not sure if that’s just in Linux or also in Windows (I’ve been mostly using Linux).
- Just like @BigT’s, the touchpad was “crunchy”.
- In my case it was on the bottom-right: Right-clicking was really bad, so bad I used the 2-finger tap gesture instead to avoid using the physical right-click.
- It was pretty simple to fix: Remove the input cover, slightly untighten the screws that hold the touchpad in place, realign it, re-tighten the screws, test, repeat until it works, then put the input cover back in place. The Touchpad guide can help (although it’s a guide to replace the touchpad, not just realign it).
- While it was easy to fix for someone who doesn’t mind doing this kind of thing, I guess it does go in the category of “probably should not have shipped like that” (unless it moved during transport, but I doubt that).
- Those T5 screws are tiny! I use Torx screws all the time, but T10 is the smallest I’d encountered so far. The T5 bit and the “hole” in the screw head are very, very small, and I’m scared that one day I’ll strip one of the screw heads (i.e. not the screw thread or the thread on the other side, but the T5 hole itself). Anyway, I probably won’t open the laptop very often for that reason.
- I’m triple-booting Windows 11, Fedora 42 KDE, and Bazzite-DX KDE 42 (Bazzite first, then rebased to Bazzite-DX because I wanted easy Docker usage :-))
- I was going to use Fedora KDE, which I’ve been using on my desktop for a little while, because for some reason I thought atomic Fedora couldn’t be used in a multi-boot environment, and I had zero experience with atomic distros so they scared me. Turns out they can be used in a multi-boot environment so I gave it a go. So far everything I need seems to work perfectly well in Bazzite-DX, so it’s going to be my main OS on this laptop.
- Secure boot is turned on, Windows is using Bitlocker, Fedora and Bazzite are using LUKS encryption on their BTRFS filesystems, and Windows and Bazzite automatically unlock their encryption with the TPM. For Bazzite, see dual boot setup guide, secure boot instructions and ujust setup-luks-tpm-unlock. I haven’t yet made it work on Fedora, but since I’ll be using Bazzite, I probably won’t bother.
- No issues with tablet mode so far, but I haven’t used it a lot yet, I was mostly doing setup and testing, connected to the docking station or in laptop mode.
- Screen color: Yeah, reds are a bit orange. @BigT’s color profile 2 made it a bit better..
- I’ve tried a (borrowed) Microsoft Surface Pro pen (not sure which version) and it works fine as others have reported already.
So, yeah. I haven’t tried/tested everything yet but so far I’m VERY happy with this laptop
(I’ll post in specific threads about the SSD, memory, and dock)
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First impressions:
Positives:
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Form factor is a delight, and it feels durable, the size is just perfect and it has the right amount of ‘chunk’ to make you feel like it can take some punishment
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Keyboard feels brilliant actually for its size, a notable improvement on my pixelbook go 13
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Given the reviews etc I’m pleasantly surprised by the brightness of the display, and I am not sensitive enough to the colours to find them bad at least thus far (It’s super early admittedly)
Negatives:
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The fan is audible even during mild tasks, and seems to blow out quite warm air, the middle of the underneath is also warm - hoping I can reduce this with settings etc and when it’s done with updates and such which notoriously make laptops run hot at first in Windows
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There’s something wrong with my trackpad, as if it’s not seated right, doesn’t click consistently, clicking up the top is nigh on impossible, but left to right doesn’t seem ‘even’ either, in fairness I’m a tap to click guy mostly but this still isn’t right (will look through support articles and contact support if I can’t resolve this)
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One time pain only but needing to have a driver handy for the wifi for the setup of windows 11 is an annoyance
So far it’s better than I feared with some of the reviews, need to sort the trackpad and see how warm it is under casual use once all the updating/installing and silliness is done
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In addition to what Tim said, clicking toward the top being difficult/impossible is just due to the nature of the design. The physical button is actually at the bottom and it hinges at the top. So the closer to the top you push, the closer you are pushing to the hinge, so the effort will go up, right up to the point when you are essentially pushing on the hinge itself, so you can’t really make it click. It’s the unfortunate reality of this style of touchpad.
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hah I just noted that in the other thread because I needed to do what you did, that seems to have mostly fixed the weird double/creaky type clicking that was going on especially on the right but it still isn’t perfect and seems worse on my lap
I’m not sure why as it doesn’t look like it’s still misaligned but maybe it is, I’ll try tweaking again and then get in touch with support if it’s still no good
Further pluses:
Keyboard deck feels good, with little ‘flex’, and I have adapted quite quickly to the layout,
I also used windows calibration on my screen to change the colour a little bit and now it’s fine, won’t need to fiddle more
Compatibility out the box with it being windows is nice, I have it in battery saver mode and just browsing the fan isn’t as loud as it seemed earlier
Negatives (-)
The keyboard is maybe not as good as I first thought in terms of ‘feeling’ the spacebar in particular feels really cheap to be honest - like those cheap ASUS netboks they sell in Currys and ARGOS in the UK (if you’ve used one you know what I mean)
Speakers are quite poor, tinny in particular - not much use in tablet mode would need headphones/earphones etc
Performance (even on the normal non saver battery mode) is actually not that good to be honest, I have the i3 with DIY 32gb ram and 1tb SSD, and just browsing the web in chrome doesn’t feel any snappier than the fairly old m3 pixelbook go I have
When you do use it for anything slightly more performant the fan ramps up and is quite an annoying sound
There is a notable bit of light bleed when watching a dark screen, down the bottom right and top middle
TBD: Battery
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