hi,
pretty much the subject… I am trying to choose my next laptop and I am tempted to buy a framework 13 AMD. I saw this post from one year ago : https://www.phoronix.com/review/framework-13-amd
and while the review is impressive, comments are not. how things have evolved since then? any experience?
EDIT: you convinced me, I just ordered mine. Thanks for the incredible answers !
NEW EDIT: I use arch (btw), and Gnome. For the answers, I do not think this will pose a problem but… what do you think?
(and yes, I ordered mine before reading last comment of paequ2 who doesn’t like it… for reasonable reasons, maybe. I hope I will have more luck ;) )
I can speak to longevity - I have a gen 1, batch 2 (humble brag?) - and absolutely love it. Got me to switch over to linux, and the quality is there. Minor gripe about the trackpad sticking intermittently, and had to have the hinges replaced (both known issues, resolved). 10/10 great laptop
Minor gripe about the trackpad sticking intermittently
Aaaah!!! It’s not just me! I used a track pad on another computer and realized the Framework’s stickiness wasn’t just in my head!
Oh dude no, it’s a headache! I wrote to them once and they said it was an issue with the balance plate/sensor.
Apparently the quick fix is to click the bottom center of the trackpad 5x, then test it (I do so by clicking top corners). I find it hit and miss haha. Going inside, you can adjust the placement of that plate, but I never found that useful.
Did you notice if it seemed to improve a bit with time?
Did you notice if it seemed to improve a bit with time?
Mmm… no. I just more violently drag across the trackpad until it works and then resume what I was doing. 😅
Does anyone have experience running the 13 with linux and an eGPU by any chance?
I can confirm the Intel version of the Framework 13 works amazingly with an eGPU (Fedora). 11th gen was my daily driver until I upgraded to a Framework 16 😎
nice, that sounds great
yes, that would be via TB4 for now…
I’ve found linux support to be stupendous. I am running fedora silverblue and I can’t think of anything that didn’t work out of the box.
Even the fingerprint sensor!!!
Framework has really great forums and pages dedicated to linux. I even get firmware updates through ufw no problem.
Great build quality, amazing repairability, performance for the price is pretty decent. The keyboard is even pretty good.
It’s probably one of my favorite laptops I’ve ever used.
I was like batch 5 of the AMD framework 13 running Arch and Gnome on it.
I did have some problems with suspend/nvme drive that was fixed by replacing the nvme. If you go with their drive you’ll probably be fine (I just grabbed one I had laying around). Ever since then the laptop is perfect. If you do get it check out the Archwiki article that has a lot of helpful tips for tuning your OS to the Hardware
I’ve had one for a few months now and it works really well. The only issue that I’ve had was that I expected Linux to run well on it, but it seems like AMDs Linux support has been overstated, and gnome would crash entirely when browsing certain websites like Tumblr, I assume because of some poorly supported video format. Everything runs fine on windows and it’s been a solid laptop so far. Obviously it’s not going to be the best for gaming, but the integrated graphics will handle lighter workloads fine and I’m hoping that it’ll save me money in the long run from the much cheaper cost of repairing vs having to buy a new laptop after 5 years.
What distro has given you trouble on gnome? I’ve had mine a couple weeks and it’s been pretty solid on fedora (gnome)
I’ve mostly tried Fedora 40, I gave it another quick go after 41 with no improvement. Given that most other people haven’t experienced it, and I’ve only had this issue with Tumblr specifically and no other website, I’m guessing that it must be an uncommon codec.
Huh, yeah… I’m running fedora, whatever the latest is. Maybe my smoothest Linux experience yet. I don’t use Tumblr but I think that codebase is probably ancient and also doesn’t it do an infinite scroll? That could be part of the problem, that’s a hard thing to perfect. Curious – were you using chromium or Firefox? For me it’s Firefox all the way. Seems to work great so far
I was using Firefox. I don’t expect Tumblr to be well coded, but at most it should be able to freeze a single browser tab, if a tab can crash the entire desktop then that’s a greater issue. I haven’t had issues with tumblrs infinite scroll on other desktop situations, and while the crash happens at random I’ve had it happen within 30 seconds of opening a site if there’s a video first thing. The dmesg logs indicate that the GPU driver gets upset about something and resets itself at the time of the crash.
Trying the Firefox flatpak, or not installing the nonfree drivers didn’t make any change for me.
When looking at past reports of the crash I’ve seen some people report that things are fine on chrome but I’m not willing to make the change to see if that helps haha. It’s not a massive deal but it bugs me that I have to remember what websites to ignore and I want an expensive laptop to be a stress free experience so I’ll stick with windows and maybe give Linux another try every year or so to see if they can tempt me over yet.
You could also try using KDE Plasma instead of Gnome, which survives GPU resets.
Yeah you’re right that a website shouldn’t be able to cause that issue. I’m wondering if it’s a hardware issue. I’ll try to reproduce this later on and will report back. You said you have the current amd chip, framework 13 right?
Yep! The Ryzen 5 7640U. It’s never immediately, it generally takes several minutes, maybe just bringing up a Tumblr page with a video and letting it loop for several minutes might hopefully do it, though, I’ve had a crash when Tumblr wasn’t the active tab so you can multitask if you’re fine with suddenly getting booted.
Yeah same machine I have. Forgive my ignorance – I’ve actually not used Tumblr very much. Could you link me to a page with a looping video? Somehow I’m having trouble finding a non-gif video at the moment.
I too am considering a framework 13, and am wondering the same. Hopefully someone will give some insight.
I just bought one a couple of months ago. It’s my daily driver. My work issued laptop sits on my desk, and I carry my framework around. If you’re a Linux guy, fedora runs fantastic on it - everything works, couldn’t be easier. Battery life could be better, but it’s fine. Trackpad is great, I heard some bitchin about it, but I don’t get that hate. Some complaints about the hinges and how they bounce. Again, unfounded complaints in my opinion. The hinges are stiffer to open/close than I expected, but they are fine (just a little different feeling). New webcam is great for a laptop webcam. New screen is nice - but let’s be honest, not much touches an apple screen. Sound is ok, nothing special. The case is fantastic-people (engineers and nerds) drool over it. The swappable ports are awesome, that alone makes the laptop imo. But the real star is the serviceability of it. Five screws and the whole thing comes apart. Everything can be replaced and upgraded. They even give you the screwdriver you need to take it apart. Bios updates work with fwupdate in Linux and they update regularly. Keyboard feels good. It stays cool and fans don’t go crazy.
It’s expensive. But I love mine. But I do plan on keeping it and upgrading forever - or at least until I smash it accidentally, so maybe it wasn’t expensive.
The 13 doesn’t have a gpu. It’s capable, but if you want to game on it, look at the 16. If you have specific questions I’d be happy to answer or post a vid/pic or something.
I read through those comments - there’s actually more complaints than those. Those weren’t that bad.
They updated the fan curves recently, mine runs fine. Fans aren’t silent when humming along, but normal use they aren’t even spinning.
Sleep is always a bitch on Linux. It doesn’t have great sleep life. I just shut mine down at the end of the day, and close the lid during the day.
I believe they fixed the amd graphics issues. I should have noted that I have a core ultra chip. I wish I had gotten the amd chip - but guess what - no biggie, I can upgrade later!
There was a complaint about the windows key. I will admit that I ordered the Linux keyboard and it pissed me off that I got a keyboard with a windows key. But I didn’t make a stink, I just deal with it.
There was fingerprint reader complaints. Mine just worked. Dunno what that was about.
My vote is a firm “buy a framework” and get a fun color. People will be jealous.
The linux keyboard has a Windows key?? What’s special about it then, that makes it a linux keyboard and not a windows one?
They (at least KDE) calls it the “meta” key. Which I kind of like.
It’s not a “Linux” keyboard per se. It’s the same keyboard - it’s just one has a superkey symbol instead of a windows key symbol printed on it. They screwed up on my order and sent me a keyboard with a windows key on it. It’s a non issue, and I didn’t say anything - I’m sure they would have sent me the other keyboard if I bitched.
Ah, I misunderstood then, I thought the linux option still had a win key on it and that it was different in some other way. Thanks for clarifying
I’m sporting a Framework 16 since a few months and had some battery problems at first. Due to work load, I couldn’t really get into the problem and something I changed or updated resolved it.
But I sent a mail to framework support at that time and the answer was just awesome.
Not just some typical 1st level response to update or restart, but real technical questions and obvious interest in my problem.
They even sounded a bit sad, that I couldn’t really tell them anything, because the issue resolved without me being able to pinpoint it.On that note, I also have to say, that Tuxedo support was really good.
My Pulse 15 battery was starting to get a belly, and they sent me a new one without much questions - and no pay.
Now, after like 4-5 years, I have my old Pulse to my nephew and saw that the CMOS battery is dead. Again they just sent me a new one.Some companies really deserve to get recommended.
Yea*
It’s spelled Y-E-A.
I’ve got a 13 with Intel Ultra and it’s a good machine.
I have a Framework 13 AMD running Linux Mint. It works great and I love it. Modular IO ports are super nifty.
Here are the downsides as I see them:
- Price
- No touch screen
- No wifi 7
I expect 2&3 will come in the future and I can upgrade! The fact that I can upgrade rather than throw it away in the future offsets 1.
According to Framework support, there are no supported models as of yet.
Yes, of course. Check for a refurb on sale though from the official store. No sense in paying full price for a 2 year old reference.
Don’t think you’d regret it. I can’t speak for that one in particular, but I’m still running one of the DIY Kickstarter versions. Will probably replace it with another Framework (or maybe even just upgrade the components if I can).
YES! Big yes. I have one as well. Very pleased with it. Be very sure you pick the new 2.8k display version. So either pick 7640U - 2.8K Display or 7840U - 2.8K Display. Which works great for Linux, WITHOUT the need of fractional scaling.
Also be sure to pick the correct + right amount of expansion cards for your needs. 1 USB-C will be used for charging, so just saying.
Then if you installed your distro of choice, be sure to install power-profiles-daemon for improved battery life. So the chip goes to a lower power state. More info: https://knowledgebase.frame.work/en_us/optimizing-ubuntu-battery-life-Sye_48Lg3
is ppd better than tlp for amd? because I still use tlp for all my devices (intel) and it works really well
Hmmm… I’ve been using Bazzite on my FW16 and it’s been running great. They have a distro image specifically built for Framework, and it’s been great in terms of power management.
I wonder if that stuff is covered in the Bazzite FW installation? Anyone know? I guess I can check…
Multiple good reasons actually:
- 2.8k version, comes with a great 2.8k display. A very high quality screen, high DPI (can be set exactly to factor 2x DPI scaling, so no fraction scaling).
- The new screen also have improved brightness (higher brightness)
- The 2.8k version despite the name, also has bigger battery of 61Wh compared to the 55Wh
- You will also get the 2nd generation webcam module, which not only gives better image during day light, but also in low light conditions
I’ve been stuck deciding between getting the 2.8k screen and upgrading to the larger 16 laptop. I stopped using my desktop last year entirely and so now I’m trying to figure out whether I should go with the larger laptop since it’s the only thing I use now.
