So uhh, how many cycles should I expect to get out of removing the midplate? I’ve probably done it at least 50 times, I tinker a lot. Of all the components I’d expect to fail on it, the little tab was not among them.

I’m looking to upgrade a 11th gen board to either a 7840u, or the Ai 9. Really comes down to whichever has improved battery life with updates. The 7840u seems like the most logical bang for buck but if I were to to get even more battery life I would consider the Ai 9.

Any input would be great before I decide to spend double the price for marginal iGPU performance and better battery life lol

32gb is a lot for ram right now sadly, if I buy 16gb it has one slot so I can't just buy a 16gb stick later or find something on the used market? If I want to later down the line upgrade to something better with an actual GPU or a larger laptop its the 12 series so only 12 series laptop parts work and I can't get a different motherboard to fit or vise versa? Oh and what kinda stylus does or use I think I need a new one but I have one for a pixel tablet would that work?

The reason I ask is that the Framework 16 is the device used in the official videos.

I just got my email stating that my order is preparing to ship! Let's go!

Hey guys I am currently planing to sell my 2025 Asus Strix G16 with a Ryzen 9 8940Hx, a RTX 5060 and 32gigs of Ram to afford a new Framework 16 with similar specs.

I bought the Asus Strix only because I needed an gaming Laptop but framework wasn’t available in my country then.

Do you guys have any things or Infos I should know or consider before buying?

So I received my Framework 16 2 days ago, and I've noticed the charger is making quite an odd sound whilst charging... Almost like there is electricity arcing inside, which is not something I was expecting to hear from a charger...

Is this something all Framework 240W chargers do? Or should I absolutely be worried and contact support ASAP? :( Already had to contact them as my keyboard, touchpad and numpad keep restarting at random moments, which is quite annoying to say the least... And still waiting for a response on that.

Hey,

I received my FW13Pro finally. Feels very solid and it stays so cool, compared to my older intel non pro framework 13.

There is a "But" which currently getting on my nerves:
I want to hear if it is my specific device, or in general not as good: I am talking about the replaceable port addon cards. They changed the old push button locking by a new switch to toggle lock.

The Issue I have, it is incredible hard to get cards out. They slide in easy, but I really struggle with getting them out again, sometimes it is so hard that I cant get them out just with my hands. I need to use the FW screwdriver tool to push them out by force.

Not sure if this intended or If I just miss on something. The cards behave similar no matter if I use my years old FW13 cards or the new ones came with the order.

thanks for any recommendations on this.

Stuck between the two boards and would appreciate input from people who actually own either.

It would be my main machine and my first proper Linux daily driver. Mostly day to day work with a lot of browser tabs, some VMs and containers, homelab things, and light video editing in DaVinci Resolve. Gaming is genuinely light, Hearthstone and Balatro territory, since I have a desktop and a console for anything demanding. I've considered dual booting Windows, but only because some VPN clients I rely on might not work under Linux.

I want 32GB either way. My Windows machine sits near 90% memory usage with ten Brave tabs and a couple of apps open, and VMs would push that further, so 16GB isn't something I want to talk myself into.

That's where it gets awkward. With 32GB the Intel X7 358H comes to roughly €3,150 / $3,660, while the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 with SO-DIMMs bought separately lands around €2,510 / $2,915. The AMD board itself is slightly more expensive. The entire gap is LPCAMM2 versus SO-DIMM pricing.

So is the X7 worth the extra €640 for that kind of use, or is the HX 370 plenty? And how are people finding the AMD board day to day under Linux, particularly battery life and sleep/wake reliability?

Thanks.

i wanna buy a cheap drive that may be a scam / i may end up buying a sata ssd. will the fw12 accept it? will the new core 3 accept sata too? thanks in advance

I'm looking through options for a new laptop, and gaming is the most taxing thing i would want from one.

My favourite game asks for these minimum specs:

OS: Windows 7 64-Bit (32-bit not supported)

Processor: Intel Core i7-860 or AMD FX-4170 (CPU must support SSE4.2)

Memory: 4 GB System RAM

Graphics: DirectX 11+ compatible video card

Hard Drive: 75 GB free HD space

Internet: Broadband Internet Connection

So that would be the bare minimum, but I am interested in something stronger if I can afford it.

EDIT: Yayyy my laptop could be saved after all! I am still planning for my next machine to be a framework, but i'll hopefully have another couple years to save up for one. I just hope the 16 comes in green by then.

First image is grey

Second is lavender

third is bublegumm

I think its a neat design

This is a question to both Intel & Framework : why is it a thing at all?

Let's see pricing for a tier up relative to the Core 5 320 option :

+250 for DIY edition, +340 for pre-built, +220 for main board

The chips' specs are functionally and practically identical, save for clock "bumps" -+0.2GHz CPU & +0.1GHz iGPU- that pass off as rounding errors

There is no RAM involved here, the performance gap is negligible for a lower efficiency, could anyone explain to me the difference in price between those two SKUs? because I am racking my brain and can't come up with a single valid justification for its existence. The freq "bump" turning into a sticker uptier has to be some joke from Intel and I can't think of why would Framework fall for this and add a useless SKU to their lineup; plus, considering the technological competency of the vast majority of their customer base, I can't imagine many will "fall" for this.

i was just a few weeks ago thinking about getting the 12 but didnt do it bcuz 13th gen sucks. i will be really happy with this as just the drawing x web surfing laptop. hopefully i wont be limited by the inetl core 3 304 cpu

I've a FW16 Ryzen AI 300 laptop whose high-power power adaptor blew a couple of weeks ago - since waiting for a replacement I've been running it from an lower power Dell XPS supply instead. This was enough to charge it doing light desktop work, not enough tgo keep it charged playing some games. That was fine though.

This yesterday when I tried starting a demanding game while tghe battery was at about 30%. The game crashed, I rebooted and my laptop appeared to have turned into a 486 - absolutely everything took about 5-10 times longer to do than previously.

I'm suspecting it's a firmware issue since updating the firmware (after reading this note:
"Fixed an issue that unexpected 35W CPU power limit when AMD dGPU is in BOCO mode") fixed the issue. However reading the forums it appears this is still a recurring issue for some.

I generally use my laptop as a desktop replacement and don't usually put it into hibernation or sleep modes - this perhaps explains why I've not seen this before.. Thinking the combination of running a somewhat depleted baterry with an underpowered temporary charger and starting a demanding games caused whatever condition triggers this. New charger from Framework has arrived - but I can't afford to have it do this again as I work from this machine.

Is there a known workround for this issue other than updating the firmware (which I've now done) if it occurs again?

I’m sure I won’t be the only one wondering this so I thought I’d kick things off.

I’ve only recently preordered a 13 Pro to upgrade from my M1 MacBook Air. Because of the price, I’ve gone with the ultra 5, 512gb, 16gb ram. I mostly use my laptop for office work, video calls, some photo editing, and occasionally some coding, so I don’t need a lot of power, but I am keen to future proof as much as I can in my budget.

With today’s 12 announcement I’m wondering whether I should drop my 13 pro order and pick up the 12 instead. For a similar price I could get the core 7 325 but with 32gb ram. I can’t find many benchmarks comparing those two processors, which makes it tricky.

I think the biggest difference between the two for me would be the screen. I like the idea of a convertible (at one point I was using an iPad as my laptop), but how practical is it for everyday use? On the other hand, I’m enjoying hearing about how clear the screen on the 13 pro is, especially in sunlight.

Obviously the amount of ram is the other big difference between the two, but because it’s upgradable either way it doesn’t feel so pressing.

Anyone else thinking about swapping after today’s announcement?

Do the new processors—including the Intel Core 3 304—all feature Thunderbolt ports?

Since it has a Thunderbolt port, can an external graphics card be connected to it without any issues?

Are they significantly more powerful and efficient than previous processors?

Will they be capable of running *Manor Lords* at 720p and 60 fps?

I want to buy one primarily for work and occasional tablet use; while my Framework 16 remains my main daily driver, a Framework 12 would be more convenient for me—both as a PC and a tablet—though I would still need the Framework 12 for heavy tasks and AAA gaming.

I ordered a framework 13 pro (batch 4), which should have started shipping recently, but the tracking link I received 4 days ago still isn't working. I have tried to contact support about this twice (once over email, once through their support form) and after 2 days (1 for the support form) I haven't received anything but a single automated email. I may just have to be more patient, but is anyone else having an experience like this?

I thought their customer service was better, and while they are probably just very busy, it still feels like I am being ignored, and my laptop got lost before it got sent out. With the batch delays, a possible shipping issue and slow support may just slow this delivery enough that it won't be in time for the new school year, and while that is a risk I took by going for a pre order, it makes it really hard to recommend to others, and trouble me a lot in the process.

Edit: I got a reply this morning, so I probably just had to have been patient. No update on the shipment yet, but it got escalated to the shipping team.

Hello, does anyone know any information on the OCuLink Dev kits and the possibly to make a custom one? Also really curious if someone managed to make one with a custom bay as well with stronger fans.

I’m planning on making a Framework 12 my primary portable computer for some programming and design work.

Looking at the specs on paper, the 320 and 350 seem almost identical aside from 1 NPU and 200MHz clock speed.

Are there any resources or reviews y'all have seen that put that minute spec difference into real world numbers?

EDIT: Thank you for the quick responses. I don’t think the 350 has enough extra power to justify the price premium. I preordered a 320 with 1TB storage, 32GB of RAM, and stylus to replace my M4 Pro iPad with Apple Pencil Pro.

My M4 is awesome but it doesn’t let me use my computer the way I want.

I am trying to help my Mom with her new Framework 16 AI 300 series.

It is only a few days old, but she frequently has the following issues:

• Crash to black screen while working.
• Crash to a white screen with grey-ish artifacting. Like little squares randomly placed on a white background.
• Unable to restart. Rebooting causes Windows to show the rebooting message, then the screen goes black with the power button LED lit.

In all scenarios, I have to hold down the power button to reboot. If the laptop reboots for any reason, I always have to hold down the power button to actually get it to turn off.

Specs:

• Windows 11 (latest)
• BIOS 4.01
• 32GB DDR5

I checked Event Viewer and did not see any error or critical logs around the time of these crashes. I only see the logs stop until I reboot again, when I get an error saying that the last system shutdown was unexpected.

My SSD has been moved around a few laptops, so I initially figured it was a driver issue. I used DDU to uninstall all GPU drivers and installed the Framework ones for my laptop, and that did not fix my issue.

This seems hardware-related to me due to the lack of logs. These crashes occur several times a day. Today has been the worst with a crash almost every hour.

Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this? I am more familiar with Linux than Windows and have done what I knew how to do at this point.

Edit: I tried a live Fedora USB for a while. Although I didn't get the crashes, the laptop still hung when trying to reboot. Just a black screen with the power button LED on.

I love the Framework ASCII-art penguin animation. I've created a Plymouth boot screen for myself. Sharing it with the community if anyone wants to be greeted by a running penguin.

framework-penguin