this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2023
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Framework 13 With AMD Ryzen 7040 Makes For A Great Linux Laptop (Review) (www.phoronix.com)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 38 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Disclosure: I bought one because of the idea and dream. It's...okay-ish. I love the idea, but the execution is going to be a time-based thing. They need to fix a lot of issues with power consumption, and I get this will take time, but I just don't understand where their projections for performance and battery life came from on Linux. They have entire papers written on the subject, and a lot of documentation on specific kernel issues and distros, but this is like a Beta. I'm afraid for the 16" AMD version I'm also expecting soon, but got delayed. I REALLY want to love this project, but it's not there yet.

Would love to hear other's experiences.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I've been daily driving a first gen 13"/i7 model for 2 years now. It's not the best laptop I've ever owned, but it's my favorite.

Battery dies in sleep, sometimes it won't wake up... honestly things I can live with. In exchange, I've been able to increase ram, replace the screen, and upgrade the back panel myself. I've also switched up my port configuration twice over the 2 years and that's been super convenient.

It's like running a less mainstream desktop environment: It's got rough edges, but I picked it for reasons besides stability and consistency.

I'm going to grab an AMD mainboard next year instead of buying a new laptop, and will turn the old mobo into a server for my website.

Idk, it's got issues, but no more than any other laptop I've run Linux on. It's good enough and I smile every time I pull it out of my bag and see the gear logo (even when it turns out it died in my bag lol)

[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

I have the same feelings. I was in the market for a laptop after a long time of desktop use only. I went for it because I love the idea of owning my hardware without any corporate bullshit. But the whole laptop feels very beta, which can be OK, but the price is also quite high.

Pros:

  • formfactor, I love the screen
  • switches for camera and mic
  • open source & Linux
  • Firmware Updates are a breeze
  • easy access to hardware
  • you can use your own ram and disk
  • Magnets, everywhere

Cons:

  • They promised shipment early Q3 for batch 1, I got it early Q4
  • opening the laptop is quite hard, the groove is to small/finicky
  • I hate the expansion cards. They are too hard to pop out, you need so much power to get them out.
  • only four ports, that's if you don't count your power supply. Very weak
  • clicking with the TouchPad is very mid, borderline bad
  • restarting causes my power supply to stop working, I need to unplug and insert it again. And I mean I need to unplug the power supply, not the laptop.
  • graphics problems, constant noise artifacts
  • default sound is very bad, search for equalizer Configs, it makes the speakers bearable
  • black screens where I need to close the lid, wait for sleep and open again for me to be able to work again
  • Fingerprint reader does not work
  • General Linux Problems, Kubuntu has a few issues, other distros might have a better experience
  • no worldwide shipping. I'm waiting for my visa for Japan and won't be able to get any shipping of replacement parts over there.

On a sidenote, I probably broke my screen a few days ago while trying the fix/debug the graphics/noise problems. I don't know how I fucked up, but 5cm of the screen is permanently black now... On a positive note, replacing it supposedly is quite easy. I hope they ship it fast.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Some of those Cons sound pretty bad, especially the graphics problems. A lot of those I figure I could live with, but some, like the constant noise on the graphics or a low-quality touchpad would be just too much to tolerate.

I am currently awaiting my (pretty damn expensive) Framework 16 at this time, and I can only hope my experience will be a bit better than yours...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

I don't know if those are Amd, framework or Linux issues and who is to blame. The cpu is very new so there might be more driver issues than normal. Hopefully these issues get resolved with future updates. The first firmware update didn't help my issues.

Most of the time the noise is negligible, but with dark screens and resource intensive tasks it gets more noticeable and pronounced. But it's better than the screen tearing other users experience.

I'm wishing you luck that most of the issues are resolved when they ship the framework 16. I'm very tempted to get that one as well, just for a custom ortho keyboard if they ever make one...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

I've had mine for two years, haven't had op's problems (software problems don't apply since I don't actually run Linux on mine).

The problems I have had have all been fixed to my knowledge, except battery life, which has improved but can always be better.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Not all of that is true, you who seems to be from Framework. Did you fix the ACPI issues? How about the SLEEP modes? Anything being done about the crazy battery drain on AMD chips?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Those are my personal experiences, they might not be representative for all users, but those are my issues. I don't work for framework amd can't give you updates regarding support issues.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I've had mine since they launched and haven't had any major complaints, I'd my Linux experience so far has been about same as on previous laptops. Though I will say that it does get fairly toasty.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Wanted to buy framework laptop for the longest time, but they dont ship to Norway :(

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Ship it to Berlin and I'll bring it when I go home for xmas. No really, Im sure you know someone in EU

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

I've been testing out the Framework Laptop 13 the past month and after a BIOS update has been working out wonderfully on Linux.

Another pleasant change since looking at the original Framework laptop in 2021 has been the company providing even better Linux support.

The only notable Linux support caveat for the current hardware is possible fingerprint reader issues if not running on the latest firmware.

The embedded controller is based on the Google Chromebook EC and making use of Zephyr.

One step further it would be great if the Framework 13 AMD laptop made use of Coreboot, but alas that's not the case.

Hopefully though that will become more of a reality as AMD OpenSIL hits production in ~2026 and that we continue seeing more open-source firmware efforts invested by Framework.

The original article contains 638 words, the summary contains 132 words. Saved 79%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I love the idea of such a computer so I wish that project the best.

It should just ship with Linux preinstall as their ethos aren’t compatible with windows for me.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It certainly seems strange to me that it officially supports Ubuntu and Fedora, yet doesn't offer the option of having it preinstalled

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I think pretty much anyone buying one those laptops who wants Linux already knows how to install it and let's be honest if it ships with any given distro I think most would install their preference over it anyway