Last week, I received my new laptop: a Framework 16.
As per my usual tradition when I receive a new cool device, I have to write about it a week later, then either three months or a year later (as I did previously with my Index, or work MacBook Pro M1).
As you may know, my previous laptop was a ThinkPad x200.
It's not exactly a young machine, being around 16 years old now.
As I started working on more demanding projects (mainly C# ones), the x200 simply wasn't enough (it couldn't even run a modern web browser any more).
This is why I decided to scout for a new laptop.
Fear not, the x200 is not going to waste! It will now be used mainly to test Libreboot and other stuff like that.
Now, I had a bunch of criteria for the new laptop:
- Can last as long as the x200
- Can run my IDEs correctly (namely Sublime Text and JetBrains Rider)
- Has a proper GPU (to run VR stuff)
- Has modern hardware in general
The Framework 16, tho expensive, checked a lot of those cases:
- Can last long by sheer virtue of being repairable
- Has modern hardware, therefore can run my IDEs correctly
- Can be upgraded to have a dedicated GPU
So for around €2100 (ouch, my wallet D:), this is what you get with Framework:
- AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS (8c16t)
- Radeon 780M Graphics integrated graphics (decided to buy the GPU upgrade later)
- 32GB of RAM (single stick to leave room for upgrades)
- Wi-Fi 6
- A 2560x1600@165hz display
- 2x USB-C expansion cards
- 2x USB-A expansion cards
- 1x HDMI expansion card
- 1x DisplayPort expansion card
- 1TB of m.2 storage
- Power supply
- Keypad module
Overall, pretty good specs by my standards for a laptop.
Before you say anything: the HDMI is for a second screen, the DisplayPort is for VR headsets.
To save up some money, I also decided to take it as the DIY edition without any OS, and then install Fedora on it.
The laptop itself was painless to build, even fun. The only issue is my hands trembling when doing anything requiring a bit of precision (in this instance handling a screwdriver with small screws), but that's a me issue.
There was a small issue on first boots where the keyboard wasn't responding at all, but taking it apart and verifying all the connections one by one made it work.
Fedora is one of the supported OSes on the Framework, along Ubuntu and Windows. I would have gone with Arch, however I wanted a headache-free setup this time, which Fedora offered.
During this week we actually got a new BIOS upgrade for the 16 being 3.05, fixing some security issues and adding a cool new feature to extend the battery longevity.
Upgrading the BIOS was pretty much painless thanks to fwupdmgr and was easy as:
$ fwupdmgr refresh --force $ fwupdmgr get-updates $ fwupdmgr update
Then, being patient.
I remember having to fiddle with USB keys back a few years ago, so this CLI utility is much welcome.
The battery life itself is correct, never really running out when working on stuff.
Fedora itself also is a breeze to use, having GUIs for everything simplifying the task a lot.
I do miss a bit my good old XFCE4, but GNOME does the job just fine as well.
Another thing I totally forgot to do after the first install was to get the EasyEffects profile, which does makes a huge difference on the laptop's audio.
Overall, I'm very satisfied with what I got, remains to see a few things:
- Will new hardware upgrades come out (for instance, additional GPU modules)
- Will any other companies start making expansion cards (instead of relying on Framework alone; though the community already made a lot of those)
- Will Framework as a company remain in business long enough to offer the longevity I want
But those can only be answered with time. It goes without saying that most of the hardware replacement (or upgrades) (RAM, storage, etc) can be done with any off-the-shelf components and not just ones sold by Framework.
For now, I'll keep using it, and I'll see you peeps in either three months or a year (or both) if I don't forget for the traditional update!