Framework’s cheaper, colorful Laptop 12 up for preorder, starts at $549 bare-bones
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Flux is carrying a lot of weight in that subhead.
I wish them luck. I don't envy any tech company releasing a product right now. What a nightmare. "We may have the product ship by XX date, or not ...and it may cost YYY, or not."
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Until the next tweet, anyway.
It must be incredibly frustrating to run a business where the cost of your product swings wildly day to day based on the whims of a huge manbaby that wants to swing his dick in the face of the entire world because some people said some mean things about him.
It must be incredibly frustrating to run a business where the cost of your product swings wildly day to day based on the whims of a huge manbaby that wants to swing his dick in the face of the entire world because some people said some mean things about him.
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The 12 isn't for me, and I say that with some regret; if I still traveled more, or played tabletop games anymore, I'd definitely be interested.
Which is fine for Framework, because if my laptop blew up today I'd be getting a Framework 13.
Which is fine for Framework, because if my laptop blew up today I'd be getting a Framework 13.
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The fact you can just unscrew a plate and take the screen out for repair is pretty nice - if my Surface Pro dies anytime soon I might contemplate it.
Also really nice that it supports Linux without resorting to weird hacky installs
Also really nice that it supports Linux without resorting to weird hacky installs
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I wonder if they will offer a Framework 13 motherboard that fits in the Framework 12. Cause a lot of us (read: me) might buy the 12 for the form factor, but then want the 13 internals for Ryzen and dual-channel memory.
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Pre-ordered one for my 12 years old. These are perfect machines for school. Super excited to assemble it with him and show him the Linux ropes.
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Shame there's not AMD option, but maybe AMD is no longer the cheapest way to get a CPU given they are trouncing Intel on both efficiency and performance.
Overall, this looks pretty nice.
Overall, this looks pretty nice.
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They used an older generation Intel CPU to balance cost and giving good performance, over the usual newer-but-slower fare that would be in there for 500 dollars. I've seen the same tactic from something like Chuwi (quite the opposite of repairable or durable though), using an older Intel part that gives decent performance at a discount, and bundling in surprisingly good screens for that price in turn.
Pretty fine choice by me, expecting the battery life to be ok but nothing great
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I'm somewhat disappointed that the system does not support Thunderbolt. I understand that Thunderbolt certification by Intel costs money, and most likely contributes to the omission, however in my case it prevented me from placing a reservation.
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Conceptually, I love Framework. I want to want a Framework. And there is something to be said for their 13 inch model, where you will pay a few hundred dollar premium over a comparable laptop (on sale) for the privilege of tinkering, reparability, and upgradeability. But unless you specifically need a laptop with a screen this small, $800 is just way too much for this laptop. A $300 premium on an $800 laptop is a much higher percentage of the price than on a $1300 one, and you are starting out well behind the curve here on performance. A humble suggestion for folks concerted about sustainability, want a cheap(er) laptop for their kids or whatever, and want (some) level of reparability: Dell Financial Services sells off-lease business-class systems for often absurdly cheap prices (often below $300 for 11th/12th gen Intel), Latitudes are pretty decent for reparability, and parts are plentiful on eBay.
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So I know generally nothing about most things, but I doubt that the 13 motherboard would be able to fit in a 12.
Maybe the better thing to hope for is that a next gen 13 chassis is cleverly adapted to optionally use the 12 motherboard primarily (assuming there are no performance compromises from the size) - then they could leverage the volume of 12+13 having the same mb and broaden to higher spec boards that could go in either.
As I say I know nothing and there may be a fatal flaw in my thinking, but it would be nice (as would better international availability -hint hint!)
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I really want to see that touchscreen as an upgrade for the 13in. This seems targeted at those that don't already own a Framework 13, but I like the idea of getting this for your kids as a school laptop, depending on how expensive it is to replace the screen. My boys can be brutal to their cheap-o chromebooks, and I like that this will run a full OS (no, not that one...I'm talking Linux).
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Yeah, it's a little expensive, but nothing out of the ordinary coming from Framwork, I discussed with someone who thought the base model would be $800, and I was hoping for $600, so we're basically there, the DIY version will probably be close to $650 if you buy the parts yourself and not from Framework, so I'm pretty happy with that. I'm not looking at replacing my laptop right now, but if I was, it would probably be my first choice, I love smaller form factor and modern "netbooks" are always using shitty Celeron, so even a 2 years old i5 is a big improvement.
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I like the design and think it could be good for kids to learn.
But otherwise having hard time with that price when the significantly more powerful M4 Air is like $899 on sale or with edu discount. Obvious trade off in reparability, no touch screen either. But I find Apple's M-series laptops to be very reliable anyway.
But otherwise having hard time with that price when the significantly more powerful M4 Air is like $899 on sale or with edu discount. Obvious trade off in reparability, no touch screen either. But I find Apple's M-series laptops to be very reliable anyway.
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I was excited for this product before launch, but this is not price competitive. Once RAM, HD, ports and charger ae included, a base model is $969. A similar Lenovo 2 in 1 with a better CPU is $599. I can't justify paying a $369 or 62% premium for reparability.
The prebuilt packages are cheaper than the DIY. That deflates Framework's maker/DIY credibility for me.
The prebuilt packages are cheaper than the DIY. That deflates Framework's maker/DIY credibility for me.
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The base DIY with four expansion cards (2 USB-C and 2 USB-A) is $609. You can go on Newegg and find a stick of 16GB DDR5 for $40 and a 1TB M.2 SSD for another $80 or so. Most people also have a spare USB-C charger lying around as well. So you're looking at ~$750 total assuming you do the right thing and run Linux. The repairability and upgradeability alone make it a good deal at that price point.
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Alternatively, you can max out the specs (48gb ram/2tb ssd) for $899 at that price, which is pretty good (especially against e.g. the macbook air). There's still a definite cost of repairability, and buying new - my l14 was $360 - but ... it's not ... /that/ terrible.
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I don't want to be mean, the general sentiment is understandable, but... That's not how this works! That's not how any of this works!
I'm not sure what aspects of the 13 motherboard you want, but by definition, they're 13". If they fit a motherboard into the 12", it would, also by definition, be 12" motherboard. You could describe just about any aspect of the motherboard or cpu or memory and you would be clear and logical. As is, it sounds like you want tardis technology in your laptop!
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I get what you're saying, and yea, Framework would market a motherboard for both the 12" and 13" if it fit both, but you should know that for multiple years now, laptop manufacturers have been making small motherboards along with a basic IO daughterboard, connected with a flex cable, which they vary the length of to fit said board-sets into anything from a 10" to a 17" laptop.
The bigger issue that I can see is that the 13" boards wouldn't have a physical connector and circuitry to support a touchscreen, unless Framework planned ahead for such a configuration, and I don't recall anyone making a modification to the 13" to install a touchscreen without extra components?
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IMO they don't want the FW12 to cannibalize the 13" version so this is why they pegged it with Intel only entry-level CPUs. As a pro I want to get the FW12 because (surprisingly) it's the only one with an "antitheft" port (kensington lock), but yeah, I'll wait for a second generation with more potent options and maybe a 7 row keyboard and a trackpoint (one can dream).
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When my current 6 year old Lenovo X1 dies, a Framework laptop will definitely be my next laptop. I was briefly tempted by the idea of the 12 instead of a 13 since I have an eGPU to do the heavy lifting, but apparently the 12 doesn't have Thunderbolt. Also the price difference between the i5 version of the 12 and the 13 isn't much so not much point for me to go for the 12 IMO. Cool device for the education sector though and even for light office work
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My last laptop was an HP that had a touchscreen and did the fold backwards to be a tablet mode. I ended up hating that form factor. When the mobo died, I bought a FW13.
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Yeah. I had a couple of surface gos and the situation was not much better there. The UI was not tablet focused enough, and the keyboard and trackpad was too compromised to be a computer.
It is just too many compromises for me.
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Only thing like that I can find from Lenovo at that price point is a sixteen inch two in one with no touch screen that weighs over four lbs. Just not remotely the same market as this laptop.
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