I’ve been thinking of this subject and now I can answer it.
I am a grad student in engineering. I spend most of the time reading pdf files (portrait letter or A4 sized). Current fw 13 is a good machine to test any tools that I develop, but is not perfect for reading documents. So I was hoping to get 2in1 laptop to use it in portrait screen format and run Linux.
For your information, I listed the facts that I considered here.
Accessible portrait screen options: I could rotate screens of fw 13, but it was a bit awkward because I couldn’t do with default keyboards. My best was to spread it as if it was a book (so screen to the right side of hinge and keyboard to the left) It was totally ridiculous and not really practical. (Attached photo)
Linux machines: Current tablet PCs are mostly running mobile OS, and those cannot meet my requirements, because I need linux desktop distros in some reasons.
Upgradability: There are a few linux tablets and 2in1s out there, but they are not upgradable.
I’m at a similar place.
I use a Lenovo 300e (Windows-version, replaced with Linux) as my second laptop, ultraportable and durable, to carry with me into a huge variety of outdoor places. I love its insanely long battery life and fully passive cooling, I do not like its non-upgradeable RAM and too weak CPU (AMD 3015e).
FW12 ticks all the boxes except the very long battery life. If there was a mainboard option with a more power-efficient CPU (even leaving some performance on the table) it would be a no-brainer for me. Not sure what such a CPU could nowdays be though…
I have a gaming PC, but also a pixelbook go M3, as a ‘secondary’ device, which I take on the go, I remember the days of the ‘netbook’ so this framework will replace the chromebook as my secondary machine, but will be much more capable software compatibility wise
Hi,
my FW12 will be used for surfing, reading, streaming and playing chess online. So all the things you usually do on a smartphone or tablet.
Until now I use a 2017 Macbook Retina (runninx Linux) for it, but it lacks a touchscreen, the butterfly keyboard has always some dirt under its keys and the drivers for bluetooth and sound are not good.
But it was fanless, I hope the FW12 will be quiet enough.
Watching movies on the sofa or in bed (much more convenient than a laptop), drawing diagrams for work using a stylus using a mix of Visio Web / draw.io / MS Whiteboard. General hacking around on Linux, might do some small projects.
For me it’ll be my main machine for programming. That might sound insane, but hold it, it’s also replacing a 512GB MacBook Pro M1 from 2020. It has served me amazingly well, as has Apple at large. But in recent years I’ve been studying programming and gearing up for a tech role. Got a little fed up with Parallels workarounds for everything, x86 is still king in the tech space outside of YouTubers with media editing needs I guess. Things like SQL… had dependencies that Windows on ARM and the Mac can’t and probably never will come out with a workaround for. I’m not personally holding my breath for it anyway.
Well, I’ve always wanted an iPad as my only machine and over the years tried doing that with varying degrees of success and failures. For personal stuff it was historically fine but now with programming, naturally, it’s a no-go. I also don’t want a Mac AND an iPad. A folding iPhone and a Mac in theory could come close to perfect. Apple knows it’d save people like me from needing multiple devices.. with multiple accessories and multiple AppleCare plans… To hell with that. I’ve got a house to save for and other things in life than continuously replacing my Apple kit.
The Framework 12 gives me a chance to have a ‘full computer’, a tablet and overcome the limitations of Apple Store repair pricing.
Initially, the lack of power had me cancel my initial pre-order of the i5 model. It’s so much slower than even the M1. Problem is, Apple is on ARM… a MacBook Pro with adequate storage… RAM… we’re over £3,000 - can you imagine the anxiety of having that in a backpack? Or losing it for a week for Apple to fix it. It’s also still not a tablet.
The screen also put me off… outright inferior to my M1 and previous Mac displays going back years.. But… there is hope.
This is Framework. Maybe there will be a better screen, maybe even one focussed on better colour… higher resolution … higher refresh rate. They already exceeded my expectations with Windows by going to 400 nits. Not quite the MBP M1 but hoping close enough.
There might even be better CPUs down the line from Intel or AMD - for me doing something slowly on x86 is way more useful than doing what Apple or some developer has kindly decided to port to ARM. If that happened, well my FW12 would be perfect - my investment just gets better. I’d much rather spend a few hundred every few years getting a genuinely new mother board - maybe screen. If I could still have this same MacBook Pro… or even my thicc 2012 MBP with a modern board… newer screen… keyboard / new battery when they were wearing out… I would have done it in a heart beat. Unfortunately, got a stuck key? £600+ from Apple… why? Have to replace the whole body and battery… Alright, guess I’ll cough it up. Wait what? You only guarantee those parts and work for 90 days?! … … Even if you had money to blow, they don’t want you keeping your machine too long. Even now the M1 feels like it’s being artificially slowed down now that the M4 and beyond are here.
The future of my computing needs lays in the FW12. I’m so damn excited.
I loved that machine. Got one very cheap, brand new from John Lewis on clearance. 2017 512GB model - about a week or two before they announced it was discontinued. Ever feel like the M-chips in that thing would have been a dream? I loved the keyboard - when it worked. But sadly I had many a trip to Apple and a week without my machine back when I used it professionally because of that keyboard.
I didn’t word it accurately - my bad. I saw charts similar to yours where it was behind in most metrics - which just didn’t impress me given the five year gap. But I suppose this is still a few years old. Perhaps the site I used wasn’t great - can’t remember if it was CPU Boss or similar. How does the i3 stack up? What site are you using? Curious now!
I bought a FW laptop a few years ago, and I couldn’t get it to work with my TV. So it had to be returned. So I’m trying again now. I don’t need it for work as I retired a few years ago.
But it will be good if the FW works for me.
At the start it did bother me - the fact it wasn’t slightly better than the M1 by now. Opened my eyes to how far ahead Apple really is in the mobile game as far as Facebook surfing machines for the everyperson go. However, in any case, x86 is what I need and prefer.
Even now… as I export a tonne of files - or at least try to - from iCloud using every means imaginable;- the data export from the privacy site, the Mac utility (on my M1 MBP and our shared M4 iMac), the utility runs out of steam fast. Large downloads… Safari drops the ball whereas Edge on a VM on the same computer / connection manages to finish the job. Apple software is showing itself to be pretty useless outside of the usual uploading / downloading of a document to sync… Things like refusing to write to disk or read from my own damn file directory on Finder too. Since Swift and ARM whilst many things got faster and more seamless… many heavier lifting tasks that are done infrequently (if at all by most people) seem to be totally forgotten about. Apple’s resources need to go to ensuring the new purple stain emoji look alright on social media, heaven forbid they lose a customer to Samsung who do it better… lol
So regardless, the FW12, even if slightly lagging behind wins. Btw, I compared many of the Ultra 165 etc mobile chips from Dell and Lenovo’s latest ‘decent’ machines to the M4 and the M4 just totally annihilated them in outright comparisons - most of the time, with much lower starting prices. But again… no matter how ahead of Apple are, ARM remains a no go for me. At least Windows users at large are refusing to adopt it in the workplace, in gaming, etc. At least even with overpriced Surface’s, Intel is an option. Seems much more grounded .
And then I thought… hey in 3 years time Framework are bound to introduce a more current CPU for the 12. If it proves to sell well beyond the education market I could see more ‘premium’ options on Marketplace coming out. If Intel and AMD deliver on competing not just with Apple, but Snapdragon with things like efficiency and thermals perhaps they’ll have a new CPU that really comes closer to ‘doing it all’ how M1-M4 has. I don’t care if they don’t match it, if it’s moving forward, the current i3/i5 shouldn’t be a total or noticeable ‘step back’ day to day!
Anyway, it’ll be a long time before my ‘programming’ needs ever demand any real power. It’ll all be learning and portfolio building until then. The ability to run these sometimes ancient platforms / technologies on it at all without needing a tonne of workarounds or alternatives is much more valuable than the raw power.
Yea I’ve only had mine for a few days but it seems just as snappy and responsive as my M1 MBP, except my FW12 now consolidates 3 devices when I travel (laptop, steam deck, tablet)
