Somehow batch 4 got skipped, so I’ll kick us off.
Who I am:
I’m a mom, a hacker (both old-school FOSS hacker and infosec hacker), and an entrepreneur. When I’m not working, most of my non-sleep time goes to family, working out, photography, fountain pens, reading, hiking, and learning Latin. I’ve also been playing with Meshtastic a bit lately and trying to make time for more FOSS projects.
What I ordered:
- Framework Laptop 12 DIY Edition in Sage
- 13th Gen Intel i5-1334U
- 500GB WD Black SN770M NVMe™ - M.2 2230
- DDR5-5600 - 32GB (1 x 32GB)
- Input Cover Kit - US English - Gray
- Expansion Cards:
- Sage USB-C x4
- USB-A x1
- SD Card x1
- 1TB Storage x1
Why this?
The FW12 is basically the machine I wish I had when I was 6. Most of the needed tech hadn’t been invented yet back then. It’ll be nice for me to have a computer that’s more for play than professionalism again. I haven’t had that in a while. Experiments in FOSS, something light for playing on BGA or messing about with photos when I travel, and of course a lot of stickers are in this machine’s future.
11 Likes
I’m Batch 1, but…
Go Team Sage!
I ordered an i3 but I’m bringing my own RAM and SSD.
4 Likes
Who I am:
I’m the IT manager for a religious non-profit, father of two, and have been tinkering with electronics in an amateur fashion since childhood. I have no free time, but I recently introduced my daughter to some of the computer games I played as a child, so now I have an excuse to ride the Oregon Trail or chase Carmen Sandiego and consider it quality time with the kids.
What I ordered:
- Framework Laptop 12 DIY Edition in black
- 13th Gen Intel i5-1334U
- 500GB WD Black SN770M NVMe™ - M.2 2230
- DDR5-5600 - 16GB
- Input Cover Kit - US English - Gray
- Expansion Cards:
- USB-C x2
- USB-A x1
- HDMI Card x1
Why this?
I’m evaluating the FW12 for use by our field staff. We currently use Dells, but I haven’t been pleased with the longevity of some of the models we have. I’ve deployed some FW13’s, but a handful of coworkers love the 2-in-1 form factor, which I am so pleased Framework announced (I’d like to see some more performant models with biometrics, though). I’m driving a FW16 myself, quite pleased with it. The only thing preventing me from shifting fully to Framework is the lack of a FW13-style laptop with a number pad (the accountants think my FW16 is ridiculously overkill for them) and a detachable form factor like the Surface (the treasurer refuses to use anything else…).
I love how most of your time goes to activities, more or less, and then suddenly, “fountain pens”. 
Which reminds me, I’ve got to open the one I got from India half a year ago…
Who I am:
Just some guy who bought the original Framework 13, had the CMOS battery issue, and have been trying to get it fixed after I broke the battery clip on it while trying to replace it and have been without my laptop for months.
What I ordered:
The black one because I am not going to spend more money on this Framework 12 to have to also assemble it myself. Even though I wanted the cool colors.
Why this?
Because it is a smaller touchscreen laptop that is repairable and customizable and I want to give them another shot now that the company has been making these things for years. Also my only other options for something this size is the Asus Vivobook Go which has only 4GB of RAM, or the HP Stream 11, again with the same issue. I did try with GPD P2 MAX some years ago, but that had issues and the keyboard was too cramped.
But the colors all have the same price… Or got I something wrong?
And building it but yourself should be cheaper.
2 Likes
I definitely SAVED money buying a DIY model.
BYO RAM & SSD
2 Likes
It is all the BYO stuff, I don’t have any modern hardware to use lying around, especially laptop parts.
I bought new BYO parts and I still saved.
3 Likes
If you buy RAM and SSD seperately it will cost you half the price.
E.g. the “Western Digital Black SN770M 1TB” will cost additional 179€ when ordered with the FW12. The cheapest price you you have to pay if you get it elsewhere is 83,99€ at the moment (here in germany).
4 Likes
Well I guess you can pay for the peace of mind knowing you’re getting compatible RAM rather than accidentally buying the wrong type. Framework sells the prebuilt for that reason, even if it’s a worse deal on paper
I will save enough money to buy a second SODIMM and SSD though, and I might accidentally learn something.
Exactly, and when buying it all from Framework it was more money. I don’t want to mess it up AND pay more.
Getting a working one was more important than failing to assemble it and then install the OS as well
2 Likes
Update… I got a higher-capacity SSD on sale last week, so I’ve changed my configuration a bit:
- Framework Laptop 12 DIY Edition in Sage
- 13th Gen Intel i5-1334U
- No storage…bringing my own
- DDR5-5600 - 32GB (1 x 32GB)
- Input Cover Kit - US English - Gray
- Expansion Cards:
- Sage USB-C x4
- USB-A x1
- SD x1
- MicroSD x1
This is nice because I lowered my overall cost and I no longer need to occupy an expansion card slot for additional photo storage. I treated myself to a MicoSD expansion with some of the savings, as one of my goals is to use the FW12 a lot when doing photography (and if I don’t…those expansion cards are equally useful on my FW16).
3 Likes
Lurking in the earlier batch threads, it looks like batch 2 is starting to ship. The batch 3 thread isn’t very active, so I don’t know if we’ll get much advance notice.
Not ship yet, haven’t charged our cards, but it’s the pre shipping prep email - 4-21 days from now it’ll ship
My FW12 is the third Framework pre-order in my family (if we go by shipping order). Each time, it’s been pretty smooth… we got the heads-up email a few days before cards were charged, then things shipped, and we watched the long journey as our devices came to us. It was at the same time excruciating and efficient. 
1 Like
Thanks, @catastrophic. As always, the wait is driving me crazy, but I’ve loved every FW my family has bought so far.
A peek at the Batch 3 thread shows that they have started shipping. We are next!
1 Like