It is not your imagination, I have indeed published a new post… a whole uhh decade after the last one. It’s probably fine, it might in fact happen again! We’ll see, take it one ~~decade~~post at a time.

The need for mobility

I recently started being far more mobile again, to the point I needed a laptop with me in case I want to work while out or a work emergency happens that I need to deal with immediately(in a time critical manner). Initially I considered my trusty old ThinkPad X220, a wonderful laptop for its time and one of the last lenovo made with their older style keyboards and trackpoints. Mobility/Portability wise it used to be a treat, wonderful to work on and with, but with a dead battery it is not exactly all that portable anymore 😂.

Enter $title

Looking for a replacement, that was not an overly expensive ThinkPad with a subpar keyboard, and looking at the state of tech in 2026 and the crazy prices… I decided to look for a different laptop that I hoped I could invest in with the plan to survive another decade.

Here comes Framework. Their laptops are marketed as extremely repairable and upgradable. A statement that does sound worrying, but I in fact looked around, and for the most part it sounds like it actually is true. You will notice, I said “for the most part”, technically, every part can be switched and upgraded/repaired on the laptop since nothing is really soldered on the mainboard. However, in practice with different components and different costs, it might not really be all that practical. To swap components out, you might need enough of a budget that in the end buying an entire new laptop would be far cheaper as an overall cost. That said, to swap or upgrade, just your mainboard, or just your WiFi/Monitor module. The cost is pretty decent, and the entire process is so surprisingly easy you can just buy the part and slot it in yourself.

That brings us to my choice:

Configuration Details:
CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 5 7640U (up to 4.9GHz, 6-core/12-thread)
Display: 13.5" 2880x1920 120Hz 2.8K matte display
Memory: DDR5-5600 - 32GB (1 x 32GB)
Storage: WD_BLACK™ SN7100 NVMe™ - M.2 2280 - 500GB

The ThinkPad X220 was from 2012 and while it’s battery died during little before 2019, the laptop itself is still going strong (albeit with 8G ram and a far older i5 it is showing its age quite a bit).

The FW13 on the other hand, is much more modern, and crucially moves from Intel To AMD a choice I had in mind for a while now, when an upgrade presented itself. I wont get into the details of why i felt like that, you can talk to me in a better medium for discussion but the reasons are many and varied. I work remotely a lot, using SSH to connect to a server so the specs of the local machine are not the greatest concern in the world to me, but I still wanted to be able to run a few demanding things locally so I opted for a moderate option of a Ryzen 5.

The display now, that is a trickier part. 2.8K is a weird feeling display and it having rounded corners on a non rounded frame does give a feel of “this doesn’t fit” but you get used to it quickly and you start to not notice it. The extra vertical space though… oh that is such a delight, especially when having code or service logs open and looking through them.

The “trouble”

Naturally the one trouble with a purchase in current time…RAM & SSD. Well OK, SSD prices are rather stable currently but RAM is absolutely explosively pricey. My configuration of 32G costs a wooping 452€ not even sure I can recall the disk cost of the top of my head but the RAM alone cost 1/3rd of the entire laptop price.

The Keyboard & touchpad

The typey typey experience is decent overall, keys are responsive and well spaced, the feel is not overly plastic. I opted for a US keyboard for once, a departure from my UK thinkpads. The touchpad is also quite responsive, I haven’t gamed on it nor do I plan to but for the rare use of it I do as a pointer device it works. Not having physical left & right clicks is hurting me a bit but I have gotten used to it and to using gestures or the good old “two fingers for right click”.

Linux Compatibility

No complaints here, everything on the laptop works flawlessly on a modern Linux distro/kernel. Even the Fingerprint reader works. Suspend/sleep/wake up all happen flawlessly and The battery lasts for a good while. I get about 5-6 hours of light browsing or work. Haven’t used media on the go much, I also haven’t gamed on it, or used it outside at peak brightness but on 30% brightness, wi-fi and power saving mode, I get a days work without much fuss or need to plug to power until late. Metrics that cover my current traveling needs very well.

Build quality

OK Listen, this is not a thinkpad of old, it won’t break someone’s head. But it does feel sturdy enough to not make you fear picking it up or moving it around. The CNC body feels nice and quality but a bit shy of premium. The heating vents are a bit of an issue with their placement, as if you have your laptop…you know, on your lap, you can definitely feel the heat but most of the time it operates at decent temperatures and the fans are nearly silent.

Audio & Camera

I have not used the on board microphone to speak of its quality, the camera is good for what it is, a 1080p30 Camera. The speakers I have also not used cause I am not too fond of using speakers when in public, but i hear other reviews consider them weak and in need of tuning to get a decent sound, easyeffects is a wonderful app and your friend in that. I do however LOVE the fact that there is privacy switches for both the microphone and the camera that allow you to disable them at will, easily reachable on the screen bezel although sometimes it does feel that you might break it if you are not careful while moving the switch from “on” to “off”.

Thoughts overall

Too early to tell, I’ve only had this laptop for two months now but for these two months I have been very happy with it and how it performs for me. Would I fully suggest you get that instead of a comparable priced laptop? No those tend to offer a better deal at the same or lower price. Do I fully suggest you get it, if you want a laptop for Free & Open Source work and supporting a company that seems to support said work? Sure. Same goes for wanting a fully repairable and customizable laptop, at this current time, this one seems to be it.

Don’t take my opinion for more than what it is though, check more reports, more reviews, generally always form a full opinion. That’s all for now.