Until now I'd only heard of Framework laptops, but am blown away by the build-your-own process -- incredible, spec the machine just as you want it.

Going to dive into the details now, thanks...

Just purchased a 13" framework with the 'old' AMD 7840u, 2.8k screen, and speced as you desire - 64gb , 2 TB (with ram and storage coming from Amazon).

It's only been a week but thus far it has worked very nicely and I think ended up running me around $1,500.

We see what the future brings, but for now, seems a very solid purchase.

(Edit: as someone mentioned below, the speakers are not very good at all. This was not super important to me. If it is super important to you, you'll be let down)

I would strongly recommend you _don't_ get a Framework.

I bought one. It lasted less than a year. One day I pulled it out to use it and it just stopped booting. It had been barely used up to that point. No drops or anything like that.

Support was giving me the runaround, too -- by not using info I provided them, not answering direct questions, and asking me to provide info I had already provided.

Do some research on Framework support. You'll find it is atrocious.

The idea is absolutely amazing and I hope it succeeds. The expansion cards are an AMAZING feature. The problem is that the quality bar just isn't being met, yet.

I love the idea behind Framework, but my admittedly old one is nowhere near comparable to a MacBook. It's really unpleasant to use, feels cheap, and performance/battery life are shockingly poor on Kubuntu. It's not a patch on a ThinkPad even, much less a Mac. Have they gotten considerably better since I bought mine (end of 2022)?

Framework started selling larger batteries in 2023 (61 Whr vs the base 55 Whr), and from looking through older reviews it looks like battery life significantly improved (>25% better) with the 13th-gen Intel upgrade [1]. I've got their 13-inch AMD 7840U but can't speak to the battery life as it mostly sits docked.

[1]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/05/review-framework-lap...

Have the bigger battery, battery life is still bad.

It's just a bad laptop: has "hot bag" syndrome, speakers are terrible even with the upgraded kit, the hinge that turns the screen off is very temperamental.

Still no open BIOS, they've hired a “Linux guy” who is super condescending in their official forums and locks topics when he feels the heat.

Stay far away.

I love my Framework 14. I'm absolutely sticking with this company for all future PCs.

I’d love to try out their products, but as an European it could become a problem in the near future that they’re an US-based company.

Why? They operate via multiple subsidiaries (the EU one is registered in Eindhoven), most notably Singapore and Taiwan, and do their main manufacturing in Taiwan.

Many US companies operate via subsidiaries and manufacture their products in Asia. But that doesn’t matter if the main business is based in the US. The current US government, its seemingly random tariffs, and their plans to cut their country off the rest of the world make it hard for me to invest my money and energy into products from the US if I’m not sure if in a year from now I still will get support for them as a customer from Europe.