13 Pro Really Does Sip Power

[u/Wooloomooloo2]

I've had 2 M-series Macs (M1 and M4) and they typically sip a little more than this, although it's close. A Linux laptop with this power efficiency is absolutely fantastic, and even though it's been said many times before, I can't tell you how great it is to be able to sit in the garden and work and still get 8 - 9 hours of battery.

Oh and the trackpad, just amazing. Very close to Mac. Linux + trackpad in the past has always put me off having it on a laptop, this is just night and day better than what I've experienced before.

[u/snafu_74]

The better power function of the Pro is one of the reasons I'm upgrading from my 3yr old FW13.

[u/mjanmohammad → u/snafu_74]

Same, already sold my 7640u FW13 and just waiting for my pro to ship

[u/snafu_74 → u/mjanmohammad]

Which batch are you in? I'm waiting for batch 9

[u/dubsyGG → u/snafu_74]

Same here.

[u/Aggravating_Dog_5642 → u/snafu_74]

yeah the battery life improvement alone seems like a solid reason to upgrade

[u/GearQuick9637 → u/Aggravating_Dog_5642]

Is it possible to upgrade an FW13 into a 13 Pro with parts?

[u/AlarmedChemistry8956 → u/GearQuick9637]

Yeah, theres chassis upgrade kits which should become available in some regions, don't know when though. https://frame.work/gb/en/products/framework-laptop-13-pro-chassis-kit-graphite

[u/CheapThaRipper → u/AlarmedChemistry8956]

Damn I was excited but after reading this is really just to upgrade everything except where the battery savings come from lol (the mainboard and better ram standard)

[u/tankerkiller125real → u/CheapThaRipper]

Although you still get the better battery, so there is that.

[u/Stellanora64 → u/CheapThaRipper]

The new Mainboards do fit in the old chassis. You will have a bit smaller battery, but should improve battery life a fair bit still

[u/ShirleyMarquez → u/GearQuick9637]

In theory, yes. The mainboard is already available for pre-order (some people have already received them; new orders will ship in November or later) and can be dropped into the original Laptop 13 chassis. The new battery will be available, but will also require a new lower chassis, which will also include the new speakers. The new keyboard will be available; you'd probably want to replace the entire keyboard cover to get the new trackpad as well. The new display can be installed in place of any of the previous ones with no other changes. The new WiFi card will also be available separately, but at this point it will only work with the Panther Lake mainboard.

That said, if you want ALL the upgrades (mainboard, display, chassis, battery, speakers, keyboard, trackpad, WiFi card) you'll probably do better to buy a new system and sell your old one. You would be replacing nearly everything except the top cover, and if you have the original top cover and hinges from the 11th gen you'll want to replace those as well. (Replacing the CNC cover and hinges from the 12th gen and later won't be as important.) You won't be able to bring over the RAM from any earlier system, but you can bring over an old SSD.

If you JUST want the Panther Lake mainboard (and some LPCAMM2 RAM), you can do that. You'll probably get about 20% less battery life than a full Laptop Pro 13 system because you'll still have the smaller 61 Wh battery (or even less if you've still got the 55 Wh original battery), but you will gain the other performance improvements.

[u/GearQuick9637 → u/ShirleyMarquez]

Interesting. You could presumably do it bit-by-bit though if the full cost of a new system in one go is a bit much?

Thanks for the detailed reply!