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authorGravatar Chris Xiong <chirs241097@gmail.com> 2024-06-22 19:59:16 -0400
committerGravatar Chris Xiong <chirs241097@gmail.com> 2024-06-22 19:59:16 -0400
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- <div id="panel" class="TText">
- <ul id="panellist">
- <li><a href="/"><h1>Chrisoft</h1></a></li>
- <li><a href="/blog"><h2>Blog</h2></a></li>
- <li><a href="#"><h3 id="title">Framework Laptop: The next thing in the laptop world?</h3></a></li>
- <li><span>Tags</span>
- <ul id="tagslist">
- <li><a href="/blog/list/device-review/">device-review</a></li><li><a href="/blog/list/hands-on/">hands-on</a></li><li><a href="/blog/list/computer-repairing/">computer-repairing</a></li></ul>
- </li>
- <li id="tocouter">
- <span>Table of Contents</span>
- <ul id="tocroot">
- <li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch0">Rationale for a new laptop</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch1">Why Framework?</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch2">Important dates</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch3">Configuration ordered</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch4">Unboxing and setting up</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch5">Performance</a></li><li><ul class="tocnode"><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch6">Processing power</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch7">Graphics</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch8">Thermal &amp; Emissions</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch9">Others</a></li></ul></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch10">Issues</a></li><li><ul class="tocnode"><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch11">Instabilities</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch12">Port interference? …</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch13">… and a general lack of ports</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch14">Keyboard</a></li></ul></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch15">Customer Service</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch16">Y no upgrade to 12th gen?</a></li><li><a class="toctarg" href="#tocanch17">Any buyer’s remorse?</a></li></ul>
- </li>
- <li style="margin-left:-0.5em"><a id="prevp" href="2021-10-10.html">Prev post</a></li>
- <li style="margin-left:-0.5em"><a id="nextp" href="2022-11-27.html">Next post</a></li>
- </ul>
- </div>
- <div id="content">
- <h2 id="titleh" class="TText" style="font-wight:normal;">Framework Laptop: The next thing in the laptop world?</h2>
- <div id="datetags" class="TText" style="margin-bottom:1em;">2022-07-23<br>#device-review #hands-on #computer-repairing</div>
- <hr><div id="article" class="TText"><article>
-<p>This review came at the very least 6 months too late.</p>
-<h2 id="tocanch0" class="tvis">Rationale for a new laptop</h2>
-<p>My old trusty first gen ThinkPad X1 yoga is showing its age: its
-U-tier ultra-low voltage processor is having trouble keeping up with the
-“modern web” that is constantly putting increasing pressure on the
-browser. Its integrated GPU can barely handle Minecraft at 60 fps, not
-to mention hundreds of virtual instruments I mess with are struggling
-with the processing power of this machine which wasn’t anything to brag
-about even when it first came out. It also took a lot of beatings, which
-are mainly from my own abuse, like <a href="https://chrisoft.org/blog/post/2017-01-09.html">this one</a>
-(warning: post is in Chinese), and is nearly falling apart. Considering
-I’m not well settled in this land that is alien to me, a full fledged
-desktop is hard to justify. So a new laptop it is.</p>
-<p>Additionally, unlike their 11th gen desktop processors, Intel’s 11th
-gen ultrabook offerings looks extremely compelling due to the new Xe
-integrated graphics introduced in this generation. Its (theoretical)
-performance is finally catching up with previous generation entry-level
-gaming graphics and current generation dedicated graphics found in slim
-laptops (1050 Ti and MX 350/450). Of course this is Intel and
-theoretical performance doesn’t mean much when their driver kind of
-sucks (severe performance drops and incompatibilities in some games).
-But it’s been rock solid for daily desktop usage (and Minecraft gaming
-because that’s literally the only game I play now). So I decided I’m
-just going to roll with it.</p>
-<h2 id="tocanch1" class="tvis">Why Framework?</h2>
-<p>I’m not a fan of laptops in the desktop replacement category, even I
-often use mine as one (in terms of the workload I run on it). They are
-just too chunky for liking.</p>
-<p>Trackpoint is essential for my survival when using a laptop. Instead
-with torturing myself with a huge touchpad, I’d rather stick with an old
-ThinkPad with no touchpad.</p>
-<p>Wait, don’t these two criteria alone restrict my choice to ThinkPads
-and a few other business laptops?</p>
-<p>Well, true… but when I laid my hands on a 9th generation X1 Carbon,
-it feels so different that I wasn’t even convinced that I was
-interacting with a ThinkPad anymore: especially the new keyboard with
-further reduced travel and the trackpoint buttons with virtually no
-tactile response. I decided to extend my radar to include models that
-don’t have a trackpoint, and use an external trackpoint keyboard with it
-if I get one of such models instead. Of course I was not ruling out
-ThinkPads, I was just allowing myself to get something other than a
-ThinkPad.</p>
-<p>In Feburary 2021 I saw a few news articles about this new “Framework”
-thing popping up. I find it interesting, but the modular expansion thing
-is just a gimmick, and I had suspicion that they are trying to ride the
-hype around right to repair – not to say that is wrong. Of course the
-hardware configuration is all fine and dandy, but I’m no buying
-something with a single selling point of expansion modules (which at the
-time of writing offers nothing but ports and features found on almost
-every single laptop on the market).</p>
-<p>When further details on the laptop surfaced, it started to get
-interesting. It was suggested that motherboard of future revisions can
-act as drop-in upgrades, and that the motherboard can be easily
-transformed into a small form-factor PC. Also display and keyboard
-assembly would be available for consumers to purchase online in case a
-replacement is necessary. This immediately bring this laptop to a level
-higher in my tier list, as it was becoming apparent that they are doing
-actual work.</p>
-<p>And then just a few weeks after I got into the States, my X1 yoga
-started experiencing random system-wide freezes once again. It was a
-good excuse for a new laptop, I thought. I checked Lenovo’s website but
-found out (pretty shockingly) that there was no discount active during
-that time, and all X1s were ludicrously priced. And then I placed my
-pre-order of the Framework Laptop. (Of course I ordered the DIY edition,
-saved me a decent chunk of funds!)</p>
-<h2 id="tocanch2" class="tvis">Important dates</h2>
-<ul>
-<li>Pre-order placed: 2021-09-16, Batch 4 (I swear this is totally
-unrelated to Linus Sebastian’s Framework investment video)</li>
-<li>Remaining balance charged: 2021-10-06</li>
-<li>Shipped: 2021-10-11</li>
-<li>Received: 2021-10-13 (probably leaks my rough geological location,
-but whatever)</li>
-</ul>
-<h2 id="tocanch3" class="tvis">Configuration ordered</h2>
-<ul>
-<li>DIY edition</li>
-<li>i7-1185G7</li>
-<li>64 GB RAM (2x Crucial CT32G4SFD832A shipped)</li>
-<li>No SSD (Bring your own). 1 TB Samsung 970 Pro installed.</li>
-<li>Intel AX210 wireless</li>
-<li>ANSI keyboard (US layout)</li>
-<li>2x USB Type-A expansion modules, 4x USB Type-C expansion modules,
-and 1x HDMI expansion module</li>
-<li>With power adapter</li>
-<li>Windows 10 Professional license</li>
-<li>$2153 before tax + $230 for the SSD</li>
-</ul>
-<h2 id="tocanch4" class="tvis">Unboxing and setting up</h2>
-<p>The laptop arrived in an inconspicuous shipping box, with symbols on
-it suggesting it contains stuff that may explode. Inside is the actual
-box with intriguing designs. There was only minimal amount of paperwork
-in the package.</p>
-<p>Despite being the DIY edition, the laptop comes almost completely
-pre-assembled. There’s <a href="https://frame.work/blog/the-evolution-of-the-framework-laptop-diy-edition">a
-blog post</a> on the official website explaining why that is the case.
-For this reason putting the thing together is incredibly straight
-forward. Within minutes I got the thing up and running (while booting
-into nothing of course).</p>
-<table>
-<tbody><tr>
-<td>
-<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">
-<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fwbox.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fwbox.jpg"></a> <br>The box
-</div>
-</td>
-<td>
-<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">
-<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fwunbox.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fwunbox.jpg"></a> <br>Unboxing
-</div>
-</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td>
-<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">
-<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fwunbox2.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fwunbox2.jpg"></a> <br>The box inside the
-box
-</div>
-</td>
-<td>
-<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">
-<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fwpaperwork.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fwpaperwork.jpg"></a> <br>Paperwork
-</div>
-</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td>
-<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">
-<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fwinternals.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fwinternals.jpg"></a> <br>Internals
-</div>
-</td>
-<td>
-<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">
-<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fwassembled.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fwassembled.jpg"></a> <br>Components in
-place
-</div>
-</td>
-</tr>
-</tbody></table>
-<p>I decided to get Windows working first, even it hasn’t been my
-primary operating system for almost a decade. I prepared the first
-release of Windows 11 on a USB stick. But of course I decided to torture
-myself by not using the official installation media (it doesn’t matter
-anyway, as after the first attempt failed I tried the official
-installation media and it also failed for some reason, see the pictures
-below). Eventually I got the dism installation procedure working.</p>
-<p>Windows, being Windows, gave me a few silly errors when I was going
-through the OOBE. The official driver package is necessary to get all
-devices working.</p>
-<table>
-<tbody><tr>
-<td>
-<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">
-<p><a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fwwindowsfail1.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fwwindowsfail1.jpg"></a></p>
-</div>
-</td>
-<td>
-<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">
-<p><a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fwwindowsfail2.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fwwindowsfail2.jpg"></a></p>
-</div>
-</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td>
-<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">
-<p><a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fwwindowsfail3.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fwwindowsfail3.jpg"></a></p>
-</div>
-</td>
-<td>
-<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">
-<p><a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fwwindowsfail4.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fwwindowsfail4.jpg"></a></p>
-</div>
-</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td style="text-align:center;" colspan="2">
-1 hour of Windows failing
-</td>
-</tr>
-</tbody></table>
-<p>Next step will be my daily driving operating system. Of course it’s
-going to be Gentoo. What do you mean I’m insane?</p>
-<p>I used the Arch Linux ISO to bootstrap the installation. Now I made
-people from both distros hate me.</p>
-<p>After roughly 10 hours of CPU stress testing, a basic KDE plasma
-desktop was emerged. Not too bad for a slim laptop.</p>
-<table>
-<tbody><tr>
-<td>
-<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">
-<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fwarchtrigger.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fwarchtrigger.jpg"></a> <br>Trigger
-warning
-</div>
-</td>
-<td>
-<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">
-<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fwfirstfetch.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fwfirstfetch.jpg"></a> <br>First neofetch
-</div>
-</td>
-</tr>
-</tbody></table>
-<h2 id="tocanch5" class="tvis">Performance</h2>
-<p>For a comprehensive performance review of the Framework laptop, you
-should be reading a more professional review, not this article. This
-section will focus on my personal use cases instead.</p>
-<h3 id="tocanch6" class="tvis">Processing power</h3>
-<p>My daily work, when it comes to the processing power intense parts,
-mainly involves running tests, building small-to-moderate sized
-projects, and performance profiling. Of course there is also routine
-rebuilds of huge applications due to my choice of distro. Plus some
-music mixing when I have the time for it.</p>
-<p>Thanks to the two additional cores and drastically improved clocks
-and IPC, the 11th gen i7 is more than 3 times more powerful than my old
-6th gen i7 for code compilation workloads, while having similar
-sustained power consumption under such workload (RAPL reports ~28 watts
-for both machines). As an example, Chromium 98.0.4710.4 took 883 minutes
-to emerge on my old i7, while on the Framework it took 273 minutes. The
-new processor is also able to handle music projects with over 100
-tracks, even with a decent performance headroom. In some other cases
-where the load is less than “all-cores”, it even had more than 4 times
-the performance of its older counterpart. To achieve an even better
-result the only option is to go AMD, which they hadn’t yet offer
-<a id="n1" href="#note1" class="note">[1]</a>. Overall the performance is
-a win for me.</p>
-<h3 id="tocanch7" class="tvis">Graphics</h3>
-<p>As mentioned above, the performance of the integrated Xe graphics is
-finally catching up with entry-level gaming GPUs within the last 2
-generations. While the Linux Mesa driver has been rock solid for desktop
-usage for quite some time, a lot more could be expected for gaming as
-online benchmark results show wild variations among different titles.
-Not to mention the erroneous behavior with certain aspects of legacy
-rendering APIs. Modern APIs behave a lot better in general.</p>
-<p>On real-world performance, for the first time in history, Minecraft
-with ultra shaders (BSL) can run (correctly!) on one of my laptops with
-a stable 60 fps. They wouldn’t even apply correctly on any of the older
-Intel GPUs I’ve used. With compromises, Microsoft Flight Simulator runs
-(with Valve’s Proton) at a stable-ish 30 fps with acceptable
-visuals.</p>
-<h3 id="tocanch8" class="tvis">Thermal &amp; Emissions</h3>
-<p>One word: bad.</p>
-<p>Not intolerable, but pretty bad.</p>
-<p>Maybe this is just the inescapable curse of all ultrabooks. But under
-heavy load the upper region of the keyboard is almost too hot to touch.
-To make things worse, the unibody-inspired design (where the gaps
-between keys is part of the top cover of the machine’s lower half,
-rather than part of the keyboard assembly) means the metal part that is
-between keys are at a even higher temperature. It’s not exactly
-enjoyable to type on the built-in keyboard when the processor is under
-heavy load.</p>
-<p>Under constant max load, the processor temperature maintains steadily
-at around 100 degrees Celcius. This is considerably higher than my X1
-yoga, which peaks at 95 degrees and drops to 85 degrees if the load is
-sustained.</p>
-<p>The fan noise is also way worse on the Framework. The fan curve is
-quite aggressive, ramping up rapidly when the processor temperature
-reaches 60 degrees, and maxes out at 80 degrees and beyond. The noise is
-audible even in a moderately noisy room. In contrast the fan in my X1
-ramps up much slower with more steps.</p>
-<p>Also there’s no manual undervolting on tigerlake-U platforms, likely
-as a mitigation to the plundervolt vulnerability.</p>
-<h3 id="tocanch9" class="tvis">Others</h3>
-<p>One of the last consumer MLC SSDs, Samsung 970 Pro, performs well in
-benchmarks.</p>
-<p>Keyboard is not great (see below). Trackpad is … meh. I don’t use
-that thing anyway.</p>
-<table>
-<tbody><tr>
-<td>
-<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">
-<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fwssdspeeds.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fwssdspeeds.jpg"></a> <br>The best
-consumer grade PCIe 3.0 SSD in the west (asterisk)
-</div>
-</td>
-<td>
-<div style="text-align:center;max-width:98%;">
-<a href="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/fwbadarrowklayout.jpg"><img style="width: 50%;" src="//filestorage.chrisoft.org/blog/img/ssbsthumb_1024x1024_fwbadarrowklayout.jpg"></a> <br>Awkward
-arrow key layout
-</div>
-</td>
-</tr>
-</tbody></table>
-<p>ACPI reports a 8-hour estimate on battery. Running on battery for 90
-minutes with light-to-moderate usage usually uses 20% of the capacity
-(screen always on, wireless on, typing with browser running in
-background), give or take, consistent with the estimation. I’ve yet to
-run the battery until it’s flat.</p>
-<p>The screen is fabulous. Way more vibrant than that LCD on my first
-generation X1 yoga. Not a professional graphic designer or in any other
-job that depends on an accurate display, so that’s just my personal
-opinion.</p>
-<p>Speaker is at least 10 times better than any ThinkPads I’ve ever
-used. Still not on par with an Apple laptop though.</p>
-<h2 id="tocanch10" class="tvis">Issues</h2>
-<h3 id="tocanch11" class="tvis">Instabilities</h3>
-<p>The system sometimes goes into a complete lockup, unresponsive to any
-inputs (except a forceful power off), when it has been left idle for an
-extended period. This never happens if the system is loaded. I could not
-obtain any useful diagnostics.</p>
-<p>With the release of BIOS version 3.09, which claims to resolve an
-“issue where the system will sometimes abnormally shutdown
-unexpectedly”, hopefully this such freezes will be gone. However I
-haven’t been running 3.09/3.10 for long enough to come to such
-conclusion.</p>
-<h3 id="tocanch12" class="tvis">Port interference? …</h3>
-<p>My ThinkPad wireless mouse suffers from stuttery movement when used
-on the Framework laptop. I’ve never had similar issues with this mouse
-before. This affects both operating systems installed. It doesn’t happen
-all the time, the chance of it happening is higher when the system is
-more heavily loaded.</p>
-<p>Occasionally, the ports on the right side stop working altogether,
-and the kernel message gets flooded with output like this:</p>
-<pre><code>[75512.894957] usb usb2-port2: Cannot enable. Maybe the USB cable is bad?
-[75517.158969] usb usb2-port2: Cannot enable. Maybe the USB cable is bad?
-[75521.422973] usb usb2-port2: Cannot enable. Maybe the USB cable is bad?
-[75525.686857] usb usb2-port2: Cannot enable. Maybe the USB cable is bad?
-[75529.950973] usb usb2-port2: Cannot enable. Maybe the USB cable is bad?</code></pre>
-<p>On Windows, a notification “USB Device not recognized” is repeatedly
-displayed.</p>
-<p><a href="https://knowledgebase.frame.work/en_us/one-port-on-my-laptop-does-not-function-correctly-r1mqMnTet">This
-knowledge base article</a> is not relevant to my particular case, as my
-unit doesn’t have the problematic EMI shield.</p>
-<p>However I’ve noticed that this issue hasn’t reoccurred for a while.
-Perhaps It could be a BIOS issue that has been patched since.</p>
-<h3 id="tocanch13" class="tvis">… and a general lack of ports</h3>
-<p>But this one can’t be resolved by a BIOS patch. With the laptop
-plugged in, I have a whopping 3 USB ports for USB peripherals. It
-reduces to 2 when I use it with the trackpoint keyboard (which is pretty
-much all the time as I need a trackpoint to survive). This is nowhere
-close to enough – considering my old X1 also has 3 USB ports, not to
-mention it has dedicated ports for two external monitors.</p>
-<p>This is why I maintain my opinion that the expansion modules are
-currently a gimmick. There are no expansion cards that are unique enough
-to justify them – no WWAN card, no full size SD card reader, nor even an
-ethernet port (until very recently). Full size DisplayPort and storage
-expansion are cool, but they take up precious USB ports which means for
-my use case a dock is mandatory anyway if one of those cards is
-installed, nullifying the point of using these cards. I personally would
-favor a design with more fixed ports (which is already the case for the
-audio jack on the Framework), maybe 3 fixed USB Type-C ports on the left
-and 2 expansion card slots on the right. More useful expansion cards
-could also be a solution, like a mini hub with two USB Type-C ports.
-Even a proprietary port for connecting expansion cards to the computer
-(like two sets of USB 4 signals in a single port) is acceptable for me,
-to allow simpler designs of some dual function cards (e.g. storage card
-with a USB port); as these on board connectors aren’t meant to be used
-directly, users are always expected to plug an expansion card into
-them.</p>
-<h3 id="tocanch14" class="tvis">Keyboard</h3>
-<p>Like many people coming from a ThinkPad with 1.8 mm key travel, I
-find the keyboard of the Framework laptop lacking in tactile response.
-Even when compared to the keyboard on a 9th gen X1 Carbon which has the
-same 1.5 mm travel, Framework’s keyboard still loses by quite a large
-margin. Also the keyboard features the rather bad (in my opinion) layout
-of arrow keys.</p>
-<p>This is not to say the built-in keyboard is completely unusable as
-such. But I do still prefer using a ThinkPad keyboard, whenever it’s
-available to me.</p>
-<h2 id="tocanch15" class="tvis">Customer Service</h2>
-<p>This is where Framework really shines as a new player in the world of
-laptop manufacturers. I wouldn’t expect to get in touch directly with
-someone on their hardware team by simply reporting a firmware issue.</p>
-<p>So I decided to try out the latest development version of memtest86+.
-I built it myself, however it booted on all my machines but the
-Framework laptop. I reported the issue to memtest86+ developers, and
-came to the conclusion that it has something to do with the firmware. So
-I contacted support, and linked the github issue in the support request.
-The support team wrote back pretty fast (within 24 hours), and to my
-surprise, agreed to connect me with the hardware team directly. After a
-few back and forth between the hardware team and memtest86+ developers,
-it was determined that the cause is 8254 timer gating. Later I heard
-back from the person on the hardware team that the relevant setting will
-be added in BIOS version 3.09, which was released a few days ago. I
-installed the update and set 8254 timer gating to disabled, and
-memtest86+ worked as expected.</p>
-<p>That was my only, yet pretty bizarre experience of Framework’s
-customer service. I don’t think there could be any chance ever that I
-could get in touch with someone on the hardware team of any prominent
-laptop brands, but Framework can do it. Kudos to the Framework support
-team, and I hope they would be able to maintain this level of customer
-service when they get bigger.</p>
-<p>The full issue report on github is <a href="https://github.com/memtest86plus/memtest86plus/issues/40">here</a>.</p>
-<h2 id="tocanch16" class="tvis">Y no upgrade to 12th gen?</h2>
-<p>Intel’s 12th gen processors are winning grounds on the desktop front,
-but in the mobile sector they don’t look so hot. I’ve seen people with
-their shiny new 10th gen X1 Carbon complaining about poor battery life
-and even worse thermal performances. Also in order to upgrade without
-letting the original motherboard fall into disuse, I would either buy
-new RAM and SSD for it, or sell it somehow. Either option is hard to
-justify for me. That’s why I decided against upgrading for now. I may
-consider upgrading to 13th gen whenever that gets released.</p>
-<h2 id="tocanch17" class="tvis">Any buyer’s remorse?</h2>
-<p>Hate to break it for you, but I’m still not daily driving my
-Framework laptop – in fact, I’m typing this sentence on my old X1.</p>
-<p>But there’s no buyer’s remorse in general. Not being a daily driver
-doesn’t mean it has fallen out of favor. Instead, there are now clear
-roles assigned to these two laptops. I’ve moved all my music production
-setup and games to the Framework laptop. It also functions as a build
-server now (both for binary Gentoo packages, and as a networked build
-server). The X1 only functions as a typewriter and web browser
-nowadays.</p>
-<p>All current issues I had with this machine have either been resolved,
-or have existing workarounds. There is no trackpoint, no WWAN, no touch
-screen or digitizer, or connecting to 3 USB devices and an external
-monitor while charging compared to my old X1 – this is not a ThinkPad
-after all. But it does have third party board level repair with support
-from the company itself (they have started to provide full schematics to
-third party repair shops under NDA), easy access to parts, open source
-firmware, upgradable platform, and promise of a coreboot BIOS. These are
-the reasons I chose to support Framework as a company. So let my first
-purchase be a small contribution to them.</p>
-</article>
-</div><br><hr>
- <div class="TText" id="notediv" style="font-size:80%;"><span class="TText"><a id="note1" href="#n1">[1]</a>: and I’m not going to choose even if there is one, due to
-previous traumatic experience I had with AMD platforms. Unreasonable I
-know, but it’s hard to overcome.<br></span></div>
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