Hi!
I am interested in buying a Framework laptop because of the advantages and their statement. But I would like to know the disadvantages of the company from the customers’ perspective and what Framework is doing to solve issues and risks. For example, I have read some complaints about the lack of software updates related to BIOS for older models. How much of it is true, and what is Framework doing about it?
Thank you for your attention!
Well, speaking as an early batch 11th gen owner. We’ve received a very recent BIOS update. A lot of the complaints stemming from that were coming from the apparent lack of those updates, but after a few years, systems tend to become pretty stable and without modifications (Such as the larger battery) frequent firmware changes are not necessary…
The team has been pretty transparent with updates on these matters, and I’d argue, go out of their way to make sure that the community is updated when it comes to these sorts of things. Providing details to the tune of Such and such vendor is verifying the patches for X, Y and Z CVEs, they found a fix that caused an issue with A, B, or C. We’re performing internal testing, we’re rolling it out as Beta this week, we’ve uploaded it to the Linux firmware update system for verification… All Details the no OEM would have bothered with.
At the end of the day though, and I think this is the main sticking point, We have to remember that the Framework team isn’t all that large. You’re talking a few dozen people at most based on the communications. Product availability, firmware patches, etc… can be a struggle as there is a massive line of large OEMs ahead of them practically every step of the way. So as far as my expectations go, they’ve been met and surpassed, honestly.
You’ll get differing opinions here. I disagree with @Allenx51 but that really is neither here nor there.
Some things I’d say are just weirdness that you can find in almost any computer and FW isn’t immune to those problems. Others are issues that are within FW’s ability to fix and some in the community don’t feel like Framework moves quickly enough or with enough transparency. Other issues are outside impossible to resolve until FW grows bigger. Things like shipping fees are just part and parcel of being a smaller player. Regulatory hurdles continue to generate threads from those who want to purchase from unsupported regions despite being told that nothing can be done.
I think of myself as a fair enough individual. I give kudos where they are due and demerits the same. I personally feel pretty burned on this laptop due to my experience some months back and I can honestly say I haven’t viewed this forum the same since. I’m much less active than I was and more guarded in my responses.
Really this kind of thread has enormous potential to go sideways fast as people start to bicker about things.
Definitely agree with Ghostlegion on this one. Even just looking at bios updates, 11th gen has had more releases than 12th or 13th and people will take that one way or another. Same thing with the level of communication of certain topics. One perspective is when is the last time you’ve directly communicated to a high-level person from another tech company? However, Framework has been quiet on other things when many in the community feel that needs to be improved. The best thing for you to do is just to look around the forums and come to your own conclusions. No company is perfect and they’ll all have their strengths and weaknesses.
I have the 12th gen under linux ubuntu. It runs nice and smooth, very stable now that I run kernel 6.1.
Definitely BIOS update is the problem with 12th gen.
The 12th gen didn t had a software update since its launch 12 monthes ago.
On a professional laptop you get one every month… so we are lagging 10 updates.
Luckily the first BIOS is working quite well for me…
But things like camera not working properly on linux…needs to be fixed. Like 5FPS 
My understanding wit hthe BIOS update is trouble arround USB (retimer) which is I guess linked to making thos USB C modules…
The cards things is nice, and seems to be improving…but still generating bugs on the AMD version… The fact that the cards is a real innovation , means there are not so much hardware manufacturer with those problems…Framework, the little company has to find ways to make it work.
So the most important is wait for version 2…like with other techn things.
If you buy an AMD you will run into troubles 
I would recomand a 13th gen if the battery time is OK for you