I’m on the verge of ordering a Framework. I’ve watched a number of reviews and read about Known Issues in Early Framework Laptops, but I’d love to read the opinions of people who have been using their Framework on a daily basis for more than a month (I believe batch 1 was received in early August). Anyone?
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I’ve used it as a daily driver for work and personal stuff for the past month or so and I absolutely love it.
For context, I came from an X1 Carbon, though I will say I’m not a trackpoint adherent and I’m fine with tap-to-click. That said, I’ve long been of the opinion that the X1 is near the pinnacle of PC laptop design.
With that, performance is fantastic for my workloads. I’m satisfied with battery life; it’s not an industry leader but it’s good enough. The keyboard is excellent, stiff with good key feel (though I’d prefer scooped keycaps). The touchpad is a major upgrade from my old machine.
I’m a huge fan of the 3:2 display. My old 16:9 laptop feels very weird now. Brightness is excellent. I’ve adjusted to the glossy screen though I’ll probably apply a matte screen protector at some point.
The modular port scheme is far more useful than I expected.
My biggest complaint at this point is oil markings on the screen due to transfer from the keyboard. A screen protector would help but IMO a slightly deeper bezel would be better even if it makes the thing a little thicker.
I’ve really come to love the anodized aluminum finish, if only because it hides fingerprints (apparently I’m just really greasy…).
Overall I’m extremely happy with my purchase and have no desire to go back to my old machine.
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Besides shipping issues (they are working on that) and a temperature issue on my expansion card (throttles at over 70 and maxes at 75 when in full use) I have had Zero issues with using it as a daily driver and Zero issues with the install process’.
In fact it has already come in extremely handy twice this week when I had to troubleshoot a network issue at one of our stores and when I needed to quickly upload some dashcam footage from one of our Vehicles (hotspot from mobile phone).
The funny thing is I game when home on the framework (using an eGPU) and haven’t had any issues with ultra graphics set on most games and haven’t even turned on my old gaming rig (which I am retiring) since getting the laptop.
So basically, I am using a framework laptop for EVERYTHING… well… unless my smart phone can do it! (plus I have my desktop when I am in the office, but being in I.T. I always need a desktop running in my office on a UPS :P)
… and that’s exactly what I wanted… to simplify, declutter and of course REPAIR MYSELF WHEN NEEDED!
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I received mine on August 8th, six weeks ago. I’ve been using it as my only personal laptop during that time. I had purchased the i5 DIY w/ 64gb of ram.
It has less ports than my Dell, however I find that I am never using all 4 of the ones I have at the same time.
The screen took a little getting used to. My Dell had a 4k touchscreen. To make the framework screen the most useful, I set the browsers to 80% scaling. It’s fine for web browsing, IntelliJ, GIMP, etc.
I expected the keyboard to be harder to get used to, but I haven’t had any problems with it. You’ll find some threads talking about the arrow keys. I thought they were weird when I first saw them, but I never notice them anymore. I did turn on the backlight (fn + space) when I first got the machine and keep that on.
The trackpad used to be pretty non-responsive. I noticed that it was not defaulting to the correct setting in gnome settings. It seems to be generally fine now.
I am currently dual booting with the OS installed on the modules rather than on the nvme. I have not noticed any performance problems from doing so and it is much more convenient than keeping multiple OSes from overwriting each others bootloaders. Ubuntu 21.04 and Arch 2021.08.01 installed fine out of box. I’m did not setup any custom drivers/etc – though I am not using the fingerprint.
I’ve opened the machine… 3 times? Unlike my Dell, I am not at all concerned about doing so. They way the modularity of the internals is handled is fantastic. The one caveat is that the wifi module is a pain and if you order it make sure to take your time on that one component.
That last point can’t be stressed enough. Even though I have other machines with some higher specs, this is the only machine I will recommend to my friends right now.
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Also an X1 Carbon guy here. I love my Framework. It is weird, in fact, how few problems I have with it. I am annoyed by the function key on the keyboard, and honestly, I miss the physical buttons above the trackpad, but I adjusted to those things pretty quickly. I would have been happier with a better keyboard, a matte screen, mouse buttons and a larger display, but none of those things were deal breaker requirements for me, so I’m elated with the purchase. What were requirements for me were the switchable mic and camera, the ability to easily run various Linux distros, and the ability to upgrade or change out components with ease. I had just about given up on that last piece when I found the Framework, but boy, it is really astounding on that front.
I will buy a second when they’re opened up a bit more, actually.
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What do you mean by opened up?
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Yeah, sorry, opened up in terms of ordering. Nirav has mentioned that eventually they won’t use a batch system - that they’ll open up ordering just like any other product. When they do, I’ll likely buy a second.
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Another very happy customer here. A lot of the feedback possible about the Framework is subjective, so please take that into consideration.
I find the keyboard on the Framework to be excellent. I REALLY like how much travel each key has. I have an X220T and a X230 and I prefer the keyboard on the Framework. Also on Windows the touchpad is excellent! Super precise and I love that when you reach an edge of the trackpad the cursor keeps moving at a set linear speed so you don’t ever need to reposition your finger.
The screen ratio is excellent as well! Honestly although the laptop has a few lingering issues, they are not dealbreaker at all, and I too will buy another! I can wholly recommend this laptop to anyone in the market. You’ll get far more with the Framework than you’ll get with any other.
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