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Framework 13 AMD 7040 Series: A Developer's First Impressions

zach.codes

11–20 of 192 posts

Re: Framework 13 AMD 7040 Series: A Developer's First Impressions

#11
I wonder what kind of battery-life Framework users get?

I've recently gotten an Elitebook 845 G10 which runs on a Ryzen 7 Pro 7840HS, and battery life was at first shit. The issue was with the BIOS being bugged and not allowing ASPM. After manually activating, I now get around 12-15 hours on a 50Wh battery, depending on use of course. Results still preliminary though, more testing needs to be done.

Btw, I chose the Elitebook because it actually features great repairability. Pretty much everything can be swapped out, including memory. I was reluctant to buy HP, mostly due to the reputation they earned with their printer business shenanigans, but so far don't regret the purchase at all. In fact I like this device more and more.

Pretty much everything worked out of the box with ArchLinux, except for ASPM, which I was able to fix within a couple hours.

edit: Oh and the main motivation behind preferring the Elitebook over the Framework was the price. I mean really? Upgrade to 7840 almost 400 Euro? Lenovo charges like 80 Euro for that. For 1200 Euro I got the aforementioned CPU with a beautiful 120hz, 500nits, 2560x1600 screen, 2x16GB 5600 DDR5 SO-DIMM, 1TB NVME, etc. But it was a student offer.

Re: Framework 13 AMD 7040 Series: A Developer's First Impressions

#12
post #10

I've had my Framework 12 over a year now, so maybe I can give some perspective. I had a lot of similar issues (mostly with wifi) running Fedora when I first got it. I also felt like I wasted a lot of time getting it set up and fixing little bugs here and there. But I'm happy to say that after the first two weeks or so, it's been rock solid. The issues I had with wifi were patched pretty quickly, and everything else p…

[deleted]

Re: Framework 13 AMD 7040 Series: A Developer's First Impressions

#14
post #6

This all sounds exactly like what I imagined owning a Framework running Linux would be like. I’m sure y’all are having a ball editing all of your configs and doing firmware updates in Windows, but I’ll stick to my non-repairable MacBook and keep Linux on my servers.

The Intel Frameworks on Linux have been plug and play for about six months, especially on Fedora 38. Any laptop, and most hardware, is like this.

The mess here has been pretty AMD-specific.

Re: Framework 13 AMD 7040 Series: A Developer's First Impressions

#15
post #8

I’m looking forward to solutions with Linux that are vertically integrated. I know System76 is moving in this direction, but Apple will remain the king in this area in the near future. Without vertical integration it’s a mess, no party wants to control the end to end experience and take responsibility.

100% agree. At this price point who has the time to debug wifi?!

Re: Framework 13 AMD 7040 Series: A Developer's First Impressions

#16

How does the sound / speaker system compare to a MacBook Pro? In my experience Apple just blows every other manufacturer out of the water with sound quality.

It's not worth comparing. The Frameworks are functional but that's about it.

Re: Framework 13 AMD 7040 Series: A Developer's First Impressions

#17

If you only can buy this or a M2 MBP, which one would you get?

There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind which laptop is better value for money. People that buy framework laptops buy it out of principle.

Repairability, upgradability, openness, Linux support. Etc

Re: Framework 13 AMD 7040 Series: A Developer's First Impressions

#18
post #2

I just got this device on Monday, been waiting for over half a year for it. I love it, but also wow, so many random things I have had to do the past few days. I think this provides a good prospective compared to all the mainstream posts about it that aren't going in depth on linux and the usability on there at this current time. Overall, I love this device!

Thanks for the article, I thought it was very helpful! You mentioned it a little bit, but is the trackpad better on wayland? How does it compare to a MBP?

And finally, can you dock the framework laptop to a USB-C docking station for external monitor support? I haven’t seen a lot of reviews mention this and I’m curious what that looks like today.

Re: Framework 13 AMD 7040 Series: A Developer's First Impressions

#19

If you only can buy this or a M2 MBP, which one would you get?

There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind which laptop is better value for money. People that buy framework laptops buy it out of principle. Repairability, upgradability, openness, Linux support. Etc

Do repairability, upgradability, configurability have zero value?

Re: Framework 13 AMD 7040 Series: A Developer's First Impressions

#20
post #2

I just got this device on Monday, been waiting for over half a year for it. I love it, but also wow, so many random things I have had to do the past few days. I think this provides a good prospective compared to all the mainstream posts about it that aren't going in depth on linux and the usability on there at this current time. Overall, I love this device!

Thanks for the article, I thought it was very helpful! You mentioned it a little bit, but is the trackpad better on wayland? How does it compare to a MBP? And finally, can you dock the framework laptop to a USB-C docking station for external monitor support? I haven’t seen a lot of reviews mention this and I’m curious what that looks like today.

I just tried plugging into a caldigit dock, and it didn't work. I am not sure why.

The env in general uses wayland but certain apps don't. In those apps you don't have good gesture support.

I would say its 80-85% as good as a mac trackpad when wayland is on everything

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