Greetings! I’m in the market for a new Linux laptop and, following the presentation of the new Framework Laptop SKUs, I am particularly interested in acquiring and AMD-based unit to run Linux on. However, when I looked at the official Framework Laptop Linux support reference page, I noticed that Linux support is only mentioned for the 13th generation Intel model (which, just like the AMD model, is still pre-order only) with no mention about the AMD model.
This is making me a little concerned, especially since I am aware that several AMD laptops ship with poor Linux support and are not stable on Linux; like my previous AMD laptop, which I had to return for the same reason. Will Linux support be there for the AMD model?
I have no personal insight into what’s going on behind the scenes – but I can assure you that Framework has consistently demonstrated that they prioritize linux compatability very high. They have staff dedicated to linux integration and linux community liason. They have established relationships with linux distribution developers. And they have consistently supported linux every step of the way.
I suspect that with the CPU information just being released and with a clear publication ban before that FW was limitted to what they could prepare. Also, the Gen 13 CPUs versions are coming out earlier so it makes sense that support documentation would have a bit of a lead, too.
The future is by definition fluid so if it’s critical for you then you should probably wait until you see the evidence. But if you’re just looking for reassurance and have some tolerance to deal with some inevitable iterations as the new hardware settles into the linux ecosystem – there aren’t many safer bets around.
Welcome to the framework community, yes I’m with @Richard_Lees on this one, might as well wait and see for more concrete info to be shared and perhaps wait for others that’ll be taking the first plunge. I think most issue will be ironed out on the kernel level pretty soon.
No idea on when you purchased your previous AMD laptop, but AMD had a pretty rough time a few years back and i guess linux was a second thought for them back then.
Right now they are providing the APU for the Steamdeck, which runs linux and some other gaming handheld vendor (cant remember which one) also stated that they want to switch to linux. So my guess is, that there is a good amount of motivation for AMD to make sure their current / coming APUs are running perfectly on linux.
Arguably the amd has a very high chance of working significantly better than the intels at least until thread director or some other way to deal with the heterogeneous cores in those comes to linux, currently that is quite rough.
Most of the linux people I personally know run semi recent amd chips in their laptops and I have not heard any particular complaints about that.
I’d say both should work great, but AMD nowadays usually works a little bit better as it doesn’t use the weird different core types which not everything supports well yet and the Panel Self Refresh of newer Intel GPUs can cause some problems.
Thank you Jonathan, I could not find this answer. That is helpful.
Are both fingerprint sensors the same? Are those laptops the same? Intel vs AMD? Except the maindboard?
I am using the 12th Gen Intel Framework, I haven’t noticed stuttering from the P-core/E-core architecture (remember ARM SBCs run on Linux too). Iris XE in terms of games won’t be as good compared to AMD GPUs for sure. My issue with AMD GPUs is the Prop drivers which can be finicky, if just gaming and general use, no probs.
Both works fine.
I am actually waiting fot the 14th Gen (rather than 13th Gen) Intel on my end. Waiting for comparisons on actual performance between the upcoming AMD Phoenix vs 14th Gen Meteor Lake to decide my upgrade path.