Chrisoft::Blog(r#"Framework Laptop: The next thing in the laptop world?")

This review came at the very least 6 months too late.

Rationale for a new laptop

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 this one -(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.

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.

Why Framework?

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.

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.

Wait, don’t these two criteria alone restrict my choice to ThinkPads -and a few other business laptops?

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.

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).

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.

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!)

Important dates

Pre-order placed: 2021-09-16, Batch 4 (I swear this is totally -unrelated to Linus Sebastian’s Framework investment video)
Remaining balance charged: 2021-10-06
Shipped: 2021-10-11
Received: 2021-10-13 (probably leaks my rough geological location, -but whatever)

Configuration ordered

DIY edition
i7-1185G7
64 GB RAM (2x Crucial CT32G4SFD832A shipped)
No SSD (Bring your own). 1 TB Samsung 970 Pro installed.
Intel AX210 wireless
ANSI keyboard (US layout)
2x USB Type-A expansion modules, 4x USB Type-C expansion modules, -and 1x HDMI expansion module
With power adapter
Windows 10 Professional license
$2153 before tax + $230 for the SSD

Unboxing and setting up

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.

Despite being the DIY edition, the laptop comes almost completely -pre-assembled. There’s a -blog post 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).

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - The box - -	- - Unboxing - -
- - The box inside the -box - -	- - Paperwork - -
- - Internals - -	- - Components in -place - -

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.

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.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - -	- - - -
- - - -	- - - -
-1 hour of Windows failing -

Next step will be my daily driving operating system. Of course it’s -going to be Gentoo. What do you mean I’m insane?

I used the Arch Linux ISO to bootstrap the installation. Now I made -people from both distros hate me.

After roughly 10 hours of CPU stress testing, a basic KDE plasma -desktop was emerged. Not too bad for a slim laptop.

- - - - - -

Trigger -warning -

First neofetch -

Performance

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.

Processing power

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.

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 -[1]. Overall the performance is -a win for me.

Graphics

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.

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.

Thermal & Emissions

One word: bad.

Not intolerable, but pretty bad.

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.

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.

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.

Also there’s no manual undervolting on tigerlake-U platforms, likely -as a mitigation to the plundervolt vulnerability.

Others

One of the last consumer MLC SSDs, Samsung 970 Pro, performs well in -benchmarks.

Keyboard is not great (see below). Trackpad is … meh. I don’t use -that thing anyway.

- - - - - -

The best -consumer grade PCIe 3.0 SSD in the west (asterisk) -

Awkward -arrow key layout -

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.

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.

Speaker is at least 10 times better than any ThinkPads I’ve ever -used. Still not on par with an Apple laptop though.

Issues

Instabilities

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.

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.

Port interference? …

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.

Occasionally, the ports on the right side stop working altogether, -and the kernel message gets flooded with output like this:

[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?

On Windows, a notification “USB Device not recognized” is repeatedly -displayed.

This -knowledge base article is not relevant to my particular case, as my -unit doesn’t have the problematic EMI shield.

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.

… and a general lack of ports

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.

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.

Keyboard

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.

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.

Customer Service

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.

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.

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.

The full issue report on github is here.

Y no upgrade to 12th gen?

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.

Any buyer’s remorse?

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.

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.

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.