I see a lot of grumbles on this forum. I started with a FW13 11th gen batch 5 in Framework’s first year, and I’m still pretty darned happy.
Like all adventures, the journey hasn’t been without its glitches. I’m hard on my laptops and I’ve broken stuff. My original mainboard is now a CoolerMaster running in my chocolate shop. I use it for online teaching, meetings, and everyday stuff. My on-the-ground laptop has been upgraded to AMD–the only original parts are the chassis, battery, and speakers. I’ve replaced pretty much everything else. (hinges, display, input cover, camera).
I’ve spent my share of time with Framework support, and the experiences have been pretty good. My “periodic random spurious keystroke” problem took months to debug, and they were all over it.
The inherent challenge with Framework’s model is that you fix stuff yourself, and that’s not always trivial. If you need a laptop that’s going to work no matter what, buy a Thinkpad with a five-year serivce plan (I’ve done that, and it’s a good option). If you want a laptop that you can improve, upgrade, and hack around on, there’s really no substitute for a Framework.
Specs:
FW13 11th gen (now AMD bios 3.5) running Manjaro with kernel 6.10.13-3
FW13 11th gen CoolerMaster, same OS and kernel
A good option? It may well be, but when the support period expires, things are - or at least In my case were - decidedly otherwise. In that post-warranty period, Lenovo pointed me towards non-existent repair shops, sold me multiple defective motherboards, bounced my emails, sent asinine replies to emails that were received, and promised me compensation that was never paid. That is why I switched to Framework.
That’s part of the game, right? The support’s great when you’re under warranty, but you’re on your own afterward. I found Framework support to be helpful, event once my warranty had expired.
No: incompetence of an extreme kind, evasion, and lies ought not to be ‘part of the game’. (To be clear: it is Lenovo that was like that, not Framework.)
And you know, my laptop still gets a solid 4 hours off the battery on linux, and I can stretch it to 5 when I’m traveling. Sure, I’m not gaming, but I could really care less about gaming. No disrespect to folks who like that sort of thing, but my laptop’s for work.
I recently gave my FW13 (from the initial batches) to my mom, I only changed the speakers and touchpad, I was very happy with it and she’s very happy with it. I even got her to switch to Linux!
Have my original FW 11 gen, in a cooler master, with another 12 in a cooler master, and am running gen 13 i-7 in my 11 gen chassis, with a bigger battery and the upgraded screen. Running Windows and have reduced the battery drain to negligible with a usb-a, micro sd reader, re flashed hdmi and 3d printed magnetic module. Have had the computer in bag on 90% charge for 8 days with no battery discharge. Replacing original charging cord with an Anker has made all the negs for me go away. Have and AMD 7840 ready to go but really am happy with the intel. I am going to build a Coolermaster and combine with older display (I put a non gloss film on it) and a circular display I bought for fun. Going with a steampunk build. I love to build things and this machine allows me the excuse to build away. Waiting on upgraded camera for my original chassis. Never changed the hinges or the top cover as do not have the need. Running 64k or ram and this thing flies for my applications. Would love to get a clear bezel but does not seem high on FW priorities.
September 2021 seems like a pretty long time ago, but that’s when bought my 11th Gen Batch 5. Just replaced the battery with a 61W–I’m going to try to connect the old one to my CoolerMaster, where the 11th Gen is now.
Recently had to add a kernel parameter (amdgpu.dcdebugmask=0x10, if you need to know) to prevent the gpu from causing occasional hard crashes, but that sort of thing happens. You figure it out and move on.
My other laptop is an X1 Carbon, and you know, I always find myself preferring the FW.
Specs:
FW13 11th gen (now AMD7040 bios 3.09) running Manjaro with kernel 6.14
FW13 11th gen CoolerMaster, same OS and kernel
Good to see you chiming in. I hope that you are doing well. I may have asked this in the past, but will ask again: how is the step from the 11th gen to the AMD? My machine is used frequently but not often loaded heavily, so I have been sitting tight with the 11th gen board so far. Interested to hear your take.
I am also an early adopter getting the 11th gen back in 2021. I switched to the 7840 AMD when it became available and now use my 11th gen as a webserver
running on Ubuntu Server, inside a cooler master case. I have no complaints with either. They have both been great systems for me. I upgraded my screen to a matte screen, upgraded the hinges, and went from 64 GB to 96 GB of RAM when i switched boards.
I remember having some thermal issues early on but it seemed to correct itself with kernel/bios updates and changes to the fan curve.
Overall, I am pleased with it and its my go to nowadays. I have my M1 Pro Macbook which is still a great machine but it will most likely be my last Apple purchase as they’ve fallen from grace with me.
I love existing in a pure Linux environment now and I don’t really see myself going back to MacOS or Windows (just for gaming but gaming on Linux is getting better).
I got my Batch 6 FW13 in November 2021 and I’m still using the same 11th gen i7 1165G7 motherboard with 64GB of RAM, currently running Ubuntu 24.04. It gets a bit heated when I run scripts in RStudio or any CAD software but it’s gets the job done and I think I can squeeze a year or so of life out of this motherboard before I switch to AMD. I’ve replaced the display & keyboard when my husband stepped on my computer and broke the display & keyboard. And I upgraded the hinges, top cover and swapped to the 61W battery.
No complaints. I’ve only had to reinstall the OS once when I accidentally deleted some files that caused the system to not load up. Completely my fault. I’ve not been careful with this machine (literally my border collie trampled over it while it was open yesterday and miraculously there’s still not a scratch on it). No regrets on purchasing the FW13, the quality and durability of the product speaks for itself.
Nice to hear from you! For the past year I’ve been president of an international non-profit (hcpcacao.org) in addition to running the chocolate shop, so haven’t had a lot of time to post.
The update from 11th gen to AMD was pretty easy. The important thing is to enter the BIOS on the 11th gen and enable standalone modebefore removing the mainboard from the laptop. I didn’t, which meant I had to re-install the 11th gen in the chassis before I could put it in the CoolerMaster.
The AMD is faster, but lighter on the battery. Overall, it’s been great. But there are occasional issues and glitches with GPU handling, at least on linux. I’m not sorry I made the switch.
The 11th gen CoolerMaster has been running my chocolate shop for well over a year. Since I just replaced upgraded the laptop battery to 61W, I’m going to try to rig the old battery to the 11th gen motherboard. We’ll see how that goes.
I’m really satisfied with both the 11th gen, which is still my workhorse, and the AMD. As I’ve mentioned before, I abuse the heck out of both of them. And the laptop has now outlasted any of my Thinkpads or Dells under the same conditions.
Non-FW story. I’m in Costa Rica a few weeks back, and bring some lovely flowers in from the garden. Didn’t notice the spider egg sac on one of them. It hatches. For days, every time I turn on the Thinkpad, dozens of pinprick-sized spider babies swarm out between the keys on the keyboard. Guess they thought it was nice and warm in there. Moral of story: if it were the FW, I would have quickly opened the cover and knocked all the spiders out!