Anybody using a framework laptop?
I have been looking at them a lot recently and they have a premium price is it worth it?
What does it look like when you want to upgrade? Like can you just swap out all parts over time and essentially it’s like having a custom desktop, but in small form factor.
Can you buy a base model and upgrade components over time?
Would it suit my use cases for it? Which are to run Linux, I have to use Windows as a Software Dev and so can’t do it on my main. Can I run Minecraft on Linux? I know, but I like that game it makes me happy to unwind.
I want to get more into cyber security related tasks and most likely increase my Darknet activities using Tails.
You are viewing a single comment
I have one (FW 16 AMD), I don't have any complaints so far. It comes mostly assembled but you put your RAM, SSD, screen bezel, keyboard, touchpad and all the port modules yourself. The machine is well built and genuinely very easy to work with. You can swap the keyboard and touchpad without touching a screw.
For the most part it seems like they're holding up to their promise, you can buy a new motherboard for a CPU upgrade, remove the old one, put the new one in, and you're good to go with the rest of your existing stuff (as long as it's compatible, if the new board needs DDR5 instead of DDR4 then you need new RAM too but that's expected). So far everything I've disassembled as part of the firs assembly has been a breeze. It's a very nice laptop to work on and swap parts that's for sure. You get the assurance that you can swap the battery, input modules, IO modules for the foreseeable future.
Where I've been disappointed is the third-party ecosystem for it is not what I was hoping it would be, there's not a lot of third-party modules for it. But the designs are all open-sourced so you can 3D print parts for it. Maybe in the future we'll have more modules. Overall though, it's not like you could even think about that on any other laptop brands, you get the laptop and it's what it'll be for the rest of its life.
Runs great on Linux, most of the company actually uses Linux so support for Linux is very good. All of the models will run Minecraft very well, Minecraft in particular has been known to run significantly better on Linux to begin with, especially on Intel graphics where the OpenGL drivers on Windows are terrible.
One neat thing about swapping the motherboard is that you can easily just 3d print a case for it and use it as a server! I saw a post on the homelab community where FW was selling older model MBs for cheap, and people snapped them up for that. Someone sells a slim case for it, but they also have a printable model for it online
Yep and there's even a BIOS option for that use case! I really like they they go "oh, people use the parts for that, we'll add a feature for it!"
That's awesome. I don't have one of their products but generally feel a good vibe about the company
Thanks for the information. I think I’ve made up my mind and it will be my next laptop.
I particularly like the idea of 3D printing a case if I ever upgrade the mobo and using it as a server as the replies mentioned.