I would like to know how long you have used it, and which model you have.
Ask HN: Does the Framework laptop stand the test of time?
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Re: Ask HN: Does the Framework laptop stand the test of time?
#2Re: Ask HN: Does the Framework laptop stand the test of time?
#3I posted a review here: https://vale.rocks/posts/a-year-with-the-framework-laptop-13
Also, I haven't updated my review to reflect it, but my acid sweat has been damaging the chassis a bit. Not too dire, but certainly annoying.
Re: Ask HN: Does the Framework laptop stand the test of time?
#4It has good intentions but falls short. I would say overall it is a mediocre laptop in terms of quality.
Will it last longer than any other laptop? I would think so, it has a strong story of available parts and upgrades. Similarly I believe it would last longer than any other laptop, since you can essentially do a Ship of Theseus with it.
Pain points:
- display hinge problem, picking up the laptop would make the screen lie flat 180 degrees, which is really annoying - this has been fixed in newer versions of framework, but to get a new hinge kit costs $39 AUD plus $30 AUD in shipping, so I'm not willing to make that purchase due to the ridiculous shipping price.
- the modular ports are nice, but I'd rather just have fixed ports and more of them, of course that'd obstruct the repair/modularity story.
- sometimes the modular ports do not work after resuming from a hibernate, I have to eject and reseat it.
- the display is okay, I notice mine has a small granular line of off coloured pixels - i don't think this is due to any physical damage but rather a defect in the screen as I've never had this kind of issue with any other laptop and I've handled the framework fairly carefully; but this line of off coloured pixels is very faint and virtually unnoticeable at bright colours, so it's not a huge deal as I make it out to be.
- the keyboard works great, but I was hoping for an upgrade to something along the lines of an apple style layout with half height inverted-t arrow keys and fn/ctrl swapped; the idea of a marketplace for custom parts doesn't seem to really exist.
- Battery life of about 3-4 hours of very average usage.
- Speakers are trash.
The webcam / mic are good enough.I run Linux on it, and seems to run pretty stable.
I needed this laptop because I needed 32GB of ram for compile jobs. I have since got a macbook pro 16" with >32GB of ram and it can compile what I need using Rosetta 2 for Linux (so amd64 compiles). Since my mac can now do everything I need, I very rarely touch my Framework. I loathe the idea of having to use it over a mac laptop.
Re: Ask HN: Does the Framework laptop stand the test of time?
#5It's not perfect as battery life compared to the Apple Silicon MacBooks is simply not a competition, but everywhere else it's close enough for me.
Being able to upgrade the screen already was a huge "yes, thank you" as instead of needing to buy an entirely new machines for a particular upgrade I was able to quite simply swap in the new part, which is what I'm used to on the desktop hardware side of things. It's awesome! The community and Linux support is also very cool and I'm excited about a possible RISC-V board to pop in and the overall tinkering possibilities.
That said, if you just need a personal computer, it's hard to recommend in the most general sense I think. But for businesses I can see it being a no-brainer.
Re: Ask HN: Does the Framework laptop stand the test of time?
#6Re: Ask HN: Does the Framework laptop stand the test of time?
#7It works well with good build quality but battery life isn’t amazing. I rarely swap out the ports so less helpful than I thought.
In a couple years I might change the battery and motherboard. For my use case something with a Costco or Microsoft accidental damage warranty is probably the way to go but I’ll eventually upgrade the motherboard and battery.
Re: Ask HN: Does the Framework laptop stand the test of time?
#8Re: Ask HN: Does the Framework laptop stand the test of time?
#9Re: Ask HN: Does the Framework laptop stand the test of time?
#10Bought a Framework 13" in 2022 (Intel 13th gen). It's equipped with 32GB ram and a 1TB drive. It has good intentions but falls short. I would say overall it is a mediocre laptop in terms of quality. Will it last longer than any other laptop? I would think so, it has a strong story of available parts and upgrades. Similarly I believe it would last longer than any other laptop, since you can essentially do a Ship of Th…
I had to buy a friends Framework 13 to get parts to keep mine going, as spending $240 for just the top and bottom case and plastic screen bezel seemed excessive.
More users have put their Framework 13's on a shelf to languish than I expected. The alternatives all seem better polished.