Framework Laptops - Anyone using them?

[ASA-Simon]

Curious to know if anyone is using the Framework laptops? (https://frame.work/gb/en)

 

They do come in more expensive than the normal amount we would spend on a teacher laptop. I do wonder if the higher cost is offset by the improved repairability and being able to upgrade it over time. I would say overall teacher laptops are treated far better than student laptops. 

 

The Framework 12 does look interesting for student use. My only reservation is the expansion cards. I can see them being removed and thrown all over the place. It would be great to have something so easily repairable. I've had such a mixed experience with different brands of laptops. We can't get replacement keyboards for some Chromebooks anymore, so they end up being e-waste if they get picked apart.

[PotNoodleTech]

UK arm formed literally a month ago with one employee.

 

Website looks good.

 

The USA wing looks decent.

 

Either way a bit risky when you can just buy a Tier 1  and know theat Tier 1 are gonna be there with drivers, spare parts and to help you in 5+ years time

Edited June 18, 2025 by PotNoodleTech

[synaesthesia]

They've been around for a little while and hoping to see them grow, fantastic products and ideas. However not sure a school is the right market for them, I think you'd be very brave to even consider them for students! (frankly the same for staff too with the costs!)

[machy]

I Want to see them succeeded, and I Would love to see them be more affordable in the future. 

 

 

But, last time I looked at them, they didn't seem like the type of company where you could order 60 of them and have them here by next week (which you can with Dell, HP Etc on a good week)

Dell: 14", U5, 16GB, 512GB + 5 Year Warranty £670

Framework: 12", I5, 16GB, 512GB, £790 With a significantly worse 2 year warranty 

 

And unlike dell etc, if a part fails, your not having a tech out from them tomorrow to replace the part for you.

 

 

I Would however consider buying one personally...

Maybe for a nerdy SLT

[Chris_Cook]

I've got one as my personal laptop and really like it. I think it would work well for staff, but probably not for students apart from maybe 6th form.

 

I really like the modules - they give a good amount of physical protection to the actual connector on the main board. This would be good if it became a more widespread for other manufacturers. I'm not sure how well it would cope if the module had a short on it and weather that would still cause issues with the MB. They don't fall out easily, you have a switch and a bit of work to pull them out.

 

The bezel around the screen is just held on with magnets which would be my biggest worry for kids. Its very tempting to just pick it off and it would probably break quite easily.

 

Repairability is amazing. I think the only thing that would come close is a thinkpad or dell, and even then framework is much better as you can get all the boards + screens + modules, and swap to a later board/processor if you want an upgrade without changing the case/screen etc. I think if you had a fleet of them and stocked the parts it could work well.

 

Purchase orders is still relatively new for them, so I think that would be a bit of an unknown compared to your tier 1 suppliers.

[ASA-Simon]

It looks like the embargo for the Framework 12 is today. iFixit have a teardown video: 

 

[synaesthesia]

Awesome devices, purely jealous that it's an approach no-one else is willing to take

It's worth noting that by "schools and colleges" they're very much referring to the US market where students will mostly be supplying their own; I'd only think they'd be workable as 1:1 devices in the UK but cost is likely prohibitive.

 

I mean look at this thing; anyone who's spent time trying to replace keyboards or LCD panels on anything recent will be salivating at the idea of. I love HP's youtube teardowns and the increased availability of schematics that have come about thanks to Right to Repair, but even that's limited help when you've got a trackpad & keyboard that's permanently part of the upper chassis, or you've spent seemingly hours picking bits of that ruddy pull-tape glue used on the screens

My favourite job outside of edu was easily working in a refurbishment & recycling facility; my job was to go through pallets of laptops and make as many good devices out of them as possible. I literally built thousands of laptops this way, and it wasn't just refurb kit, I built hundreds of brand new Dell laptops out of unused spare parts that Dell thought it easier & cheaper to recycle than put back into use. Couldn't do that any more with this current crop of crap

[mavhc]

https://www.ifixit.com/repairability/laptop-repairability-scores#Laptop-Scores

https://www.ifixit.com/News/109015/ifixit-and-hp-expand-partnership

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/surfaceitpro/watch-the-newly-released-surface-videos-for-device-repair/4012335

[dmj]

A friend has one and he swears by it. 

I was tempted but went for a steamdeck and a keyboard in the end. 

[Holly77]

Volume purchases mentioned ............. They look geared to students.  I guess you could glue modules in place to stop them being lost/thrown around 😂  I like the sound of 1.5mm key travel.

 

https://frame.work/gb/en/laptop12

 

[ASA-Simon]

I did attempt to buy one of their laptops for one of our staff just to test it out. Had to give up in the end and revert back to our usual Dell.

 

They don’t have a UK bank account to accept payments. It has to go to a bank account in the Netherlands. This threw our finance team as they don’t usually make payments to international accounts. 
 

They also don’t do Net payments terms. Our finance team are also not keen on pro forma invoices.

 

The amount was too big for credit cards which are normally hammered over the summer break for various things.

 

Will check again in the future.

[Roberto]

I think they're great for personal use but I think the concept is flawed for business/enterprise use, including schools.

 

Robustness and a good support network that can absolutely have a replacement unit on site tomorrow are much more valuable than some perceived value from "upgradability" - which I'm absolutely here for when it comes to my own use but I wouldn't countenance for an enterprise environment. 

[DalekSec]

18 minutes ago, Roberto said:

I think they're great for personal use but I think the concept is flawed for business/enterprise use, including schools.

 

Robustness and a good support network that can absolutely have a replacement unit on site tomorrow are much more valuable than some perceived value from "upgradability" - which I'm absolutely here for when it comes to my own use but I wouldn't countenance for an enterprise environment. 

 

 

Had to google what 'countenance' meant! I can even pronounce it.

 

Agree though, would have for personal, did look into for work but the premium on top you can easily get 2 laptops with NBD support for. We may get them for select people in future, the Desktops look decent but not out yet, tempted to get one for home use. 

[Roberto]

44 minutes ago, DalekSec said:

 

 

Had to google what 'countenance' meant! I can even pronounce it.

 

Agree though, would have for personal, did look into for work but the premium on top you can easily get 2 laptops with NBD support for. We may get them for select people in future, the Desktops look decent but not out yet, tempted to get one for home use. 

This is it. We need "200 on site in $random_country by the day after tomorrow at the latest" far more than we need to be able to tweak every aspect of the device. We do have one or two people who are running massive models that might benefit from this but even there I'd probably rather they had a standard laptop with a connection to the biggest Windows 365 desktop with all the salad that we could buy, because we could really do with not losing those models or worse having them leaked if someone left their laptop on the proverbial top deck of a bus.

[ASA-Simon]

Framework now accepts bank transfers to a UK account. Not had the need to order any more laptops for Teachers but will be a good one to test out next time.

[hailst0rm]

Big Framework event yesterday:

- Framework 13 Pro - Panther Lake, LPCAMM2, Haptic Trackpad, Bigger Battery

- Framework 16 - One Piece Haptic Trackpad, Transparent Bezel, OCuLink Dev Kit

- Framework Wireless Touchpad Keyboard

[hailst0rm]

 

[ovenchips]

Picked up a 13" second hand on ebay last week, swapping out my MacBook for work as although most of my work is remote these days, I find myself still missing an app or two quite a lot and have swapped over to Linux at some so nice to have a dual boot available. Build quality has been surprisingly nice so far, swapping from metal to plastic I thought it would have felt a lot worse than it actually does, and the keyboard feels fantastic as well, and has been extremely satisfying just ordering the few specific parts that I wanted to swap out, not the cheapest but criminally easy to do.

 

Tempting to get the pro chassis parts when they're available but depends on the price!