Dude, about the backlight leading issues, this panel is the best IPS screen I have ever seen so far which got the best leading control. And its a 16/10 screen just same as any mainstream laptop
When did mainstream stop being 16:9?
Heās the only one thatās posted power usage stats, e.g. minimum cpu draw. This is of great interest to me and has not been covered elsewhere.
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I believe long time ago, these things are updating quite fast arenāt they.
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I guess they are
We will see how much Framework means when they said that the review units are rushed and donāt have the benefits and changes that the consumers will have. They said that prior to the embargo and the reviewers reacted accordingly. Weāll see if they go 2-2 and at least get a majority of the reviewers complaints fixed with the consumer release.
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Sorry, 16:10 
Anyway, I feel always more confortable when coding on a 3:2. But I understand thatās a compromise.
About the quality of the screenā¦ well. When comparing with other non-OLED laptops, it seems a good IPS indeed, even if the backlight bleeding seems a bit less diffuse than other laptops. A lot of laptops are released with an OLED screen, so why not expect it as an option for the FW16? It would get even closer to the perfect laptop
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I donāt remember reviews for the first FW13, but I bet they were similar to the ones for the FW16. Building a laptop is hard, and I have a feeling designing one with a dGPU is ever harder.
I guess if I could vote twice itād be āBetter in some worse in othersā re: Performance, but āAs expectedā re: Modularity/Repairability.
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Has the flimsy screen been fixed? . I find it unacceptable for a product of this price.
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Frankly, my ONLY concerns are with the screen and keyboard. Keyboard seems to be being worked on, but if the screen isnāt, thatās something I canāt live with. I want a durable laptop, if I had a flimsy one Iād probably snap it on accident or something stupid like that.
If I see these problems addressed, Iāll buy the Framework 16 with a Celeron and a GTX 650. The modularity is an incredible promise.
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The reviews are a bit concerning, but itās mostly stuff I already anticipated, and/or arenāt dealbreakers.
First, would be the keyboard flex mentioned in the LTT review. However, this doesnāt seem to have been mentioned by anyone else, so itās possible itās a one-off issue. Plus, Iām aware that these review units are not 100% identical to retail unitsā¦ Which to be honest, seemed like an odd decision to me. I understand the need to get reviews out ahead of release, but if they arenāt truly indicative of the final product, the negative points that have been fixed could turn away potential buyers.
Second, would be the speakers. The audio quality seemsā¦ Worrisome.
Third, would be the GPU performance. I didnāt expect it to be a beast, given that the 7700S seems to be a mid-range GPU. Still a lot better than the integrated GPU, but I am curious how itāll compare to my current laptop (which has an RTX 2080)ā¦ Hmmmā¦
That said, not canceling. This still offers something no other laptop does: unlimited future potential.
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Out of the two āless positiveā reviews Iāve seen, I am unfortunately thinking Sean Hollisterās from The Verge posted a review that is borderline irresponsible. Then again, The Verge is seemingly stuck in the past in terms of reviews and also starting to release clickbait non review articles. So if Iām being honest, that one doesnāt really matter. Iām just calling it out for being a āreviewer who doesnāt understand that there are many use cases for this laptop where there literally isnāt an alternativeā type of crap.
Just Joshās review is a bit more concerning. I had trusted hia reviews for quite some time. However, the battery life his unit had gotten seems abnormally low and the thermal results seem a bit sus. I have not seen any other reviewer mention battery life as an issue; in fact, Iāve seen it be a massive plus (likely thanks to the AMD 7040HS CPU and bigger than average battery). Unlike with Sean, I donāt hold any animosity to Josh or his co reviewer Taylor, but something seems horribly wrong with their review unit. @nrp you might want to see if there was something critically wrong with Joshās review sample. Iām think there was.
Otherwise, Iām still in this, partly because there isnāt any other alternative, given Iām a Linux user and pretty much every other Linux offically supported option has deal breaking flaws, but also partly because 2024 has seen manufacturers move in the wrong direction with regards to upgradability with too many OEMs moving to all soldered RAM.
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Honestly I put zero stock in anything the Verge says these days and the average review seems pretty decent. Iāve considered cancelling my preorder just to order the AMD 13 simply because itās available but Iām in batch 1. I currently use a Zephyrus G14 with a 2060 that has the random display driver crashes that were never fixed so some days I really desire a new machine. I have faith Framework will eventually resolve any issues with the 16, my major concern is that the 13 might be the better device for me just weight and size coming from a 14" laptop. All things considered Iāll be going through with my preorder and try to resell at as close to cost as I can to buy the 13 instead if it turns out the 16 wonāt work for me.
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I think the reviews are as expected, which is they would be good, but also beyond as well. I think people are just totally clueless to how complex building a computer is, let alone one with the extra complexity of being modular and repairable as Framework products are.
Because of Framework the dream of a modular UMPC is within reach. I have a prototype that is almost ready for the big time, in fact.
Also, if you look at this thread youāll see that NRP is a frequent participant. This speaks volumes to me. They donāt ignore the bad they tackle it, and we all benefit. Nobody else has done what they have in the 16 so well.
Iām very happy about the true value of these reports and all the improvements they are responsible for. Iām confident my batch 1 is going to be great. Canāt wait!
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It really says a lot about the company when the CEO is still this actively involved. It was something I had admired about the (late) former president of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata. He was very active in the companyās happenings, even presenting their āNintendo Directā videos (in both Japanese and English, even).
If nothing else, Niravās attitude gives me a positive outlook on Frameworkās future. Both with specifically the Laptop 16, and in general.
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Framework 16 still looks like the best laptop I can configure for what I want at the moment, the price isnāt even prohibitive compared to other brands. I still think I will pre-order as a birthday present to myself.
I am quite concerned about the keyboard and screen flex though; will it be possible to replace those in future (e.g. 2-3 years), or are we stuck with those? (I am actually interested in keeping the laptop for 10+ years, so the more sturdy the better.)
And I am actually also quite shocked by the weight and size of the laptop with the graphics module; I had not quite registered that until seeing the reviews. It is not ideal. But it is also not so bad that it is a deal-breaker for me.
The graphics card does not actually seem to be as good as recent nvidia ones, so that is less good value for money compared to competitorsā¦? That does look like something that can be upgraded in future though, right?
Also I want a proper SD card slot, but, again, it looks like thatās in progress, so thatās okay.
I think the reviews raised more questions for me than I had before ha (if anyone has answers for me, much appreciated!).
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In the other hand, The Verge cannot review something they cannot test, itās also a matter of credibility. As they said, they are ready to raise the score when the updates will be released. They gave 9 on 10 to the FW13 AMDā¦ But maybe they should have asked for another unit for this overheating issue.
Like for the video gaming industry : when a game is buggy at its release, itās reviewed as a buggy game.
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I agree with your general sentiment. Thereās a lot going on in a computer, and even more so for a Framework. However, for the majority of reviewers I donāt think that matters. The point of a review (usually) is to help you make an informed purchasing decision. To a customer spending money, it frankly doesnāt matter how āhardā something is, only whether or not it will be a good product for them and their needs. E.g. Defending subpar speakers (which remains to be validated in final units) because itās āhardā to do will fall with a general consumer if a lot of other companies are already past that hurdle.
Iāve been left with the impression that each reviewer is doing their best to balance āreviewing a product as isā and ābut Framework actually is different, and this is why it deserves some special considerations.ā
Overall, I donāt think any of the reviews were overly surprising, which itself shouldnāt be surprising given their level of transparency. The poll seems to agree with this sentiment.
Itās definitely a good omen.
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Well, Iāve seen the videos by LTT, Just Josh, iFixit and heise, and also read the reviews by notebookcheck and engadget (unfortunately heise.de, as the first German review to date, hides this behind a paywall, but notebookcheck now has a translated version).
With that much input and differing opinions on the device, I decided to keep my pre-order and Iām still excited, but my enthusiasm has been dampened a little.
What I think will break the display over time is the wobbly lid: Open it once too hastily and maybe too far from the centre and your display is dead with a crack. On the other hand the display seems to be pretty good, though it lacks HDR support, which I donāt really understand, as it is rather bright and could handle Display HDR400 with ease and even HDR600 with a bit more nits.
The performance is where I expected it to be, CPU does a decent job, but the dGPU is too weak for 1440p/1600p. Since I already suspected this, I didnāt even order it and will wait for a better GPU.
Battery time seems fine to me, Iāll have to run my own tests anyway, but it shouldnāt be too shabby.
Iām not sure about the fan noise though. Every reviewer has had the GPU module and obviously measured the noise with the 7700S in place. Just with the fan module and using the IGP, it should be much quieter.
All the other things, I donāt really care, like webcam, surface temperatures and speakers.
(Partially translated with DeepL.)
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There seems to be a fair amount of variability in the experiences reviewers had. Donāt know how much to chalk that up to the review units being given out early.
It is probably too early to call, but Iām slightly disappointed in the size/weight/battery/performance equation, a little bigger than I thought it might be (hadnāt actually gotten out a tape measure until now), a little heavier, a little bit lower performance. Those values arenāt outside the outer bounds of the expectations I had, and all other quibbles I have are represented in the reviews consistent with my prior expectations, so Iām comfortable keeping my pre-order. Iām looking forward to getting my hands on this thing.
(edit) Somehow I overlooked reports of the battery draining while plugged in playing The Witcher 3. Without having a 240W charger available for sale, this is quite bad. I knew 180W was a bit undersized, but I assumed games wouldnāt be demanding enough to be unsustainable workloads, was thinking itād only be torture tests capable of creating that result. Iāll plan on buying a 240W charger, I guess, butā¦ standard workloads + an outlet should always be runnable indefinitely. Itās one of these implicit contracts. Hopefully the battery drain is slow at least.
I do like the choice of pulling from battery to maintain performance on an undersized charger. Itās justā¦ donāt sell me a laptop with a 7700s that canāt support a 7700s ā sell me a 240W charger at the same time or donāt sell me the 7700s. Let me shoot myself in the foot, but not on accident.
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