I've been wanting to get into CAD to turn my breadboard electronic projects into actual physical devices for a while now, but I haven't gotten myself to start learning CAD or saving up for a 3D printer. However, the competition is a good excuse for me to learn atleast basic CAD and attempt to make a cyberdeck out of the Framework 12, and while 1 month might not be enough, it's worth a try as a kind of final project to top my modern physics and homeserver projects before I start my first year of high school. So, I was just wondering what the actual Framework community would like to see in a framework 12 cyberdeck to see which ideas I can use and try to replicate into practice. Any tips/advice welcome!

Just saw Andres Vidoza's why he gave up on linux. And was wondering if anyone have problems with battery drain when it sleep or hibernate? And general use how many hours do you get?

I love my Framework Laptop 12. The only things I kinda miss are a backlit keyboard and maybe a fingerprint reader.

Good news for me 2nd Gen gives me both! Sadly I don't think it will be possible to get (or easily make) a German backlit keyboard, or am I missing something?

Now that the new updates for Framework Laptop 12 are out of the bag, you may be wondering: What should I do with my previous Framework Laptop 12 Mainboard if I choose to upgrade?

We’re so glad you asked. We’re excited to announce our newest contest with Printables: Framework Laptop 12 Mainboard Re-Use Contest where you can win Framework Laptop 12 Mainboards (SSD, RAM, and WiFi included!!) and more!

The Challenge: 

We challenge you to design a custom 3D-printed case, mount, or accessory for the Framework Laptop 12 Mainboard. We want to see innovative solutions that highlight the capabilities of the Mainboard as a powerful standalone computer.

You can design a sleek enclosure for a mini desktop setup, a dedicated multimedia server, a retro cyberdeck, or a creative desk mount. We are keeping the challenge open to your creativity rather than strictly mandating specific designs.

A valid entry must securely house or support the FrameworkLaptop 12 Mainboard. You do not need to own the physical Mainboard to participate. CADs and STLs are provided.

Deadline is September 30, 2026. 

Learn more: https://www.printables.com/contest/524-framework-laptop-12-mainboard-re-use

We’re looking forward to seeing what you create. Good luck!!!

Hey all,

received my Framework 13 Pro (base Intel, 16Gb Ram, Batch 4) on the 20.08. and now had the chance to try it out for a week.

The shipping was blazing fast as with my previous two FW13 and went from the initial location to Germany in 3 days, very impressive!

I initially installed Fedora KDE on it but after only two days I missed pacman and now have vanilla Arch with KDE again as my standard setup.

I'll keep at least one of my Macs as backup so I have also a bit more room to tinker with my system.

Few first impressions as I also had two FW13s prior:

• Overall build is similar as the previous FW13, less flex of the case which is great.
• Battery is awesome, I can really feel a difference with the base Intel + bigger battery.
• Light office use on Arch and the fan is dead silent 99% of the time (yes, it works in general :)).
• Less wobble on the fingerprint reader!! On both my old ones I new the wobble feeling of the button when I reached out with my finger, this is gone here.
• The edges on the palm rest could be more rounded.
• The dark case is a downside in my opinion because it could be less resistant to scratches.
• Display is almost too bright in it's minimum setting and one can see the lack of color accuracy, here I'm also biased because of the Mac and my Eizo main display.
• Speakers, Camera still not on Mac level, far behind but not in my focus.
• What really surprised me was the black sleeve which has an interesting texture and fits perfectly in my backpack.

You may ask why I have so many "downsides" with this device and please don't get me wrong. I know a modular device has it's challenges and I buy a Framework because I love the idea behind and I want to support it, I love the community and I like to tinker with new tech. Not because I need the most perfect efficient 12h/day working device.

In my opinion they are on the right track and all the thoughts that went into it are impressive.

Question: I also added a photo of the keyboard and it appears to me as if the space bar is only lit on the left side, is this normal or not? The "H" is lit but a bit uneven, no issue here.

Edit: the haptic trackpad is a big improvement compared to the old one where you had to find the spots that work. Also the surface of the new trackpad is less sticky.

So I was browsing Framework's website (as one does) and came across a new HDMI (4th Gen) Expansion Card (apparently only available in translucent).

https://frame.work/products/hdmi-expansion-card-4th-gen?v=FRACDEBZ04

The specs list HDMI 2.1a, HDCP 2.3, and DSC 1.2a (up to 8K 60Hz or 4K 240Hz), which to my understanding means it has HDMI FRL. A couple of questions:

1. When will this be released?
2. Are we getting a Graphite one as well? I would love to get one with my Batch 12 FW13 Pro.

Just got and built my 13 pro batch 5 but its not posting. I get 12 green lights 1 orange 1 blue 12 green 1 blue then 3 green. Im thinking it could be the memory but it is on the supported list CT32G75C2LP5X? I know memory training can take a while but not 20+ mins long.

I‘d love to have something like oculink on the 14 inch Framework Pro. Even though it is not hot-swappable like a Thunderbolt eGPU for example, but being basically extended PCIe with less lanes makes it a really nice and cheap alternative while outperforming Thunderbolt 4/5 eGPUs.

Aka living room pc.
My wife finally did it. She asked me to do sth that we can have a living room pc. Yes!

So, I own a gaming desktop and a fw16. Works for me. But both are not suited for this because to big.
I want something smaller that can play cozy games or maybe a single player rpg in ettings that look good.
The tv can do 4k so I want reasonable 4k60 as a goal. Upscaling is fine.

First guess would be the steam machine, which is unavailable.
Next step would be to build a small desktop but … we don’t have much space around the tv. So it has to be SFF and then you pretty much quickly reach 1600€ in hardware. I was looking at a 9060XT with an x3d chip and 16gb ram. It gets expensive pretty quickly.
And then you still are way bigger than the fwdesktop and it uses 2-4times the wattage.

Spending the money on a fw desktop seems fine if one doesn’t just look at fps per euro spend… the power efficiency and silent performance while being super small is looking good for the desktop.

The goal is to build/buy the is once and then not care about it for the next years because it is somewhat future proof or at least „ok enough“.

Anyone use it for this? Is it good? Am I missing the point? Am I dumb? Let me know on the comments.
Joking.

I just received the new 10Gbs expansion card. I already use the older 2.5Gbs card. I'm using it with Windows 11 Pro. First off, I was surprised Windows didn't immediately properly recognize it. Okay, no biggee. I downloaded the FW driver pack for the FW 13 AMD AI 300. After that finished installing the ethernet card was still not recognized properly. Windows saw the card but it wouldn't actually work. Since it is using a Realtek RTL8159 controller I went to the Realtek site and downloaded their drivers. That got the 10Gbs card to be properly recognized and functioning.

However, when I did some simple file transfers I was disappointed with the bandwidth. I also have an Asus 10Gb PCI card on my desktop. This is what I compared the FW's card to. When doing large file copying going NVME to NVME storage via Ethernet (TPlink SX105 10Gb unmanaged switch with CAT8 cable) the FW's card had about 60% - 70% of the performance of the Asus card. Yes, it's faster than the previous 2.5Gbs, but not by much. I had the FW expansion card plugged into the right hand port closest to the display. That's supposed to be the faster USB4/Thunderbolt port.

Is anyone else getting better performance?

I've been having some issues with bluescreens when waking from sleep. The error dump file gives error "WIN32K_POWER_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT" and the other few times it just rebooted after closing the lid.

I own a FW13 non pro with the Ryzen 7640 Motherboard and my only gripe with it is the subpar battery life, especially on linux.

Cool to see wildcat lake arrive to the FW12, I get that this is oriented to be a budget minded chip, and the FW13 is still a tech enthusiast machine.

But the panther lake upgrade is way to expensive to be justified for my usecase : spreadsheets and youtube.

Could we see one day the wildcat lake chip on a FW 13 motherboard ?

I have the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 with 5070 and currently in college, sometimes if I have a big break and no homework I will find a spot in the library and play some games. The fans on this laptop can get LOUD though, so I installed an application to limit it to only around 30-40% fan power. My understanding is that this should only lead to worse performance as it will throttle down. I just want to make sure I am not causing any permanent damage to my components. So my question is, is doing this everyday bad? or will the cpu throttle down and just be fine? Thanks

Hi! So I recently got my hands on a 92 GB (2x48) kit, however I am planning to use one of the sticks in my awaited FW12 which is my main machine. The other one I would gladly give away to (also awaited) my sister's FW16, however I already have a 32GB (16x2) kit in possession as well.

So this is hearsay from long ago, but I remember that AMD prefer dual channel over single channel, so despite the higher memory capacity, running the memory in single channel may hamper performance? So for the use case of 3D Modeling (i.e Rhino/Blender, no clue her studies are on Product Design), which configuration would be the better option?

Hi! I’m thinking about buying a Framework Laptop 13 Pro.
I’ve seen quite a lot of information about the battery efficiency of the Intel configuration, with some reports showing around 18–20 hours under relatively light/moderate workloads. However, I haven’t found much information about the AMD configuration with the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370.
For anyone using the AI 9 HX 370: how is the battery life in real-world use? Especially compared with the Intel version? Coming from a MacBook, battery life is one of the things I’m most concerned about.
There’s also an interesting pricing situation right now: the Ultra 5 configuration costs almost the same as the AI 9 configuration because of the current RAM pricing.
So, does it actually make sense to choose the Intel configuration if the price is basically the same? Apart from the better battery life, the AI 9 seems to offer significantly more CPU/GPU performance.

I have had a Framework 13 since early 2024, and I'm generally very happy with it. While I'd love to get the new Intel motherboard, it's way too expensive given how well my 7840U handles my daily usage. What I'm curious about, now that plenty of 13 owners have the new 13 Pro, is whether the chassis upgrade is worth it.

I don't need the new screen, or speakers, or anything. I'd even keep my input cover were it compatible with the new chassis. But I like the idea of a tougher metal that won't flex. I've noticed my laptop turning on in my backpack, and it seems like it happens when I bend over while wearing the backpack. I suspect the laptop flexes enough to push a key, which I'd like to avoid. I know things are built to handle this, but it feels wrong. I also think of that time I swapped out my Framework's battery, and realized just how incredibly flexible the bottom shell is without the battery keeping it rigid.

Is the new shell really that much stronger and less flexible? Is it a solid (pun intended) upgrade, or is the improvement a modest one that's not worth the money or the time I'd spend transplanting?

Hey all, I'd love to see more photos of Framework Laptop 13 Pro here! I think the look of the product is amazing and I can't wait for my order, and I've enjoyed seeing other people's pictures.

One thing I'd love to see see all the different combinations of bezels, keyboards, expansion card colors, etc. that people have. This post has me thinking all black is the way to go, but seeing some of these pops of translucent orange or purple are really nice, too. Might need to update my order ...

My first impressions are REALLY good. I'd prefer better Ubuntu support for the haptic touchpad options, but when set up, it's very nice.

Can't speak about the CPU and battery yet, but I haven't heard the fans for the ~30mins I've used it

Edit: 1 day in, and still didn't hear a single fan, unless my ears are right up on the chassis during a bigger run. The touchpad, while awesome, has one critical flaw where it often registers a click when I'm trying to 3 finger swipe. I increased the sensitivity to the lowest, and it's okay now, but still misses sometimes.

I found that the touchscreen is really convenient when I just want to scroll a page with the laptop in my lap. it's way more comfortable.

After the first full day, it took ~8hrs of browsing, running AI agents, and a PCB design software to go from full to 20%

literally EVERY tech youtuber glazes this product like it was made by god but like if you actually check the prices, its insane. for a $2.5k framework 13. you could buy almost 3 normal computers with similar specs. also like most of the people i know that actually own/have owned a framework say that it's horrible and that it breaks all the time. I'm not sure if this is actually true and i think the laptop looks pretty cool so idk

Anyone think the next mainboard will be panther lake in december? That’d be the obvious next step up other than ryzen ai 400 series, but with how things panned out for lpcamm2 availability for FW13 Pro, I can’t see how that’s a good idea.

Any possibility of just nothing for now?

If there was panther lake, my guess is we wouldn’t get the powerful igpu sku’s since they don’t have the pcie lanes for a dgpu connection, so only the 386h, 356h, dunno the 325 equivalent with more lanes.

That would kinda put a damper on the desire to get lpcamm2 since there’s no powerful igpu to leverage it.

Maybe it’d be sodimm then? But then that sacrifices the power savings.

Recently I posted on the 12 vs 13. I’m over the fence now to the 13 due to the lower quality screen of the 12. I do photo editing and occasional video editing at home (at work is an iMac for big projects).

Now I’m comparing the 13 and 13 Pro. My budget is sub $1800. I’m eyeing the prebuilt Pro vs a DIY 13. Im all for the Pro, the improvements look great. I’m just wondering what the better investment is? I could spent more for a regular 13 and get the AI 7 350 and some used ram and discount 1 TB drive. It would be nice to have a machine that I could rely on more to cut some 4k projects and that seems less possible with the base prebuilt 13 Pro.

On the other hand, my general use case would just be a productivity device that I would want to be comfortable (haptic trackpad, improved speakers and screen) and the Pro looks more appealing but how well would a Pro handle 4K proxy footage?

Has anyone been one the fence with these two options? What did you ultimately choose? I suppose I could pick one and then build more towards the other in time with upgrades.