7 comments

[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 23.9 ms ] thread
Framework Founder here, and happy to answer any questions on the product!
Thanks for showing up, nrp!

My question is about how compatible the laptop is with Linux distros?

Any parts in there without Linux drivers? Do you have a recommended distro? What about when you plug things in and out?

We've been testing with Ubuntu 21.04 and Fedora 34. We'll be releasing guides around both of these soon and other distros in the future. On Fedora 34 respins that are going live soon, everything works out of the box, including the fingerprint reader. On Ubuntu 21.04, everything works out of the box except the fingerprint reader, which requires manually upgrading libfprint.
Excellent, thanks. I bought a laptop recently so not yet ready for an upgrade but this is starting to look like my next one.

Wishing you guys great success!

Thanks for the info! I'll be placing an order soon. This seems amazing!
Thanks for dropping in! Few questions:

1) First thing I noticed was a bunch of custom labels inside. Can you confirm that aside from the four swappable external "port modules", the laptop is compatible with standard parts (e.g. 2x M.2 SSD's, 2x DDR4 SODIMM's, Wifi, etc)

2) Is the CPU soldered and will upgrading it entail replacing the motherboard?

3) Is it possible to disable vPro on the fastest CPU option? (I thought all modern Intel CPU's came with it but the site implies it's absent on the i7-1165G7?)

4) Any info on battery life? Any option for higher-capacity batteries?

5) I see a Canadian flag at the top of the site, but are prices still always in USD?

6) Any options / price to extend the warranty beyond 1 year?

7) How is Iris Xe Graphics? Is it still unable to run VR? Roughly what kind of GPU is it comparable to? (Any plans for a bigger, "gaming" edition that has a real GPU?)

1) Yep, the M.2 SSD, M.2 Wifi, and 2x SO-DIMMs are all off the shelf modules, and you can use standard parts. You can actually order the Framework Laptop DIY Edition with those sockets empty and bring your own.

2) The CPU is soldered, as unfortunately socketed mobile CPUs are long gone. By making the rest of the high value parts of the mainboard socketed though, the remaining value is largely in the CPU. We've designed for making the mainboard easy to replace.

3) i7-1165G7 has no vPro. You can also turn off AMT on the i7-1185G7 which does have vPro

4) We've tested to around 10.5 hours on MobileMark 2018, but battery life will always depend on workload.

5) When set to Canada, the prices are in CAD.

6) We don't currently have extended warranty options, but because we make repair easy and replacement parts available, it should be cost effective to maintain the laptop over a long period of time.

7) Xe is short of VR-level power, but you can play things like Overwatch or League of Legends at 60FPS.