I have a 12th Gen Intel Framework from work. I cannot recommend Framework as a brand.

Yes, they are repairable. That is where the list of Pros ends for me. Perhaps the only unique selling point is being able to upgrade the motherboard later, but...

The screen, keyboard, touchpad, and IO are all inferior to a ThinkPad.

You can only ever have 4 ports, which is considerably less than your average PC laptop of similar dimensions and weight will have.

ThinkPads and other corporate-tier machines are dirt cheap used after 3-4 years, and finding spare parts for them is usually a non-issue as long as you don't mind eBay. Lenovo will happily sell you parts for a few years after the laptop is released, although availability and pricing are not great.

Framework had a partnership to only sell Western Digital SSDs when I ordered mine, and it later came to light that WD had serious firmware issues with these models resulting in sudden data loss. [1]

Additionally, the 12th Gen model has received ONE firmware update in over a year since release. [2] While Framework have committed to delivering more frequent firmware updates, they don't have a good track record there. No LVFS support either, so you have to burn a USB stick to update.

Prior to the firmware update, I've had the laptop completely discharge the battery while powered off, refuse to power up until being connected to a charger for ~15 minutes, and then display a large error saying the screen and battery were not connected (they were).

Even after the firmware update, I still have issues with phantom battery drain when the laptop is completely powered off.

[1] https://community.frame.work/t/tracking-wd-black-sn850-sudde...

[2] https://knowledgebase.frame.work/en_us/framework-laptop-bios...

We use about 50 frameworks in our company. They are solid, and I would recommend them, assuming you dont want a MacBook. IMO they are the best laptops for engineers who want to use Windows or Linux. In fact, I find them to be the least repulsive Windows laptop. The keyboard in particular is very satisfying to use.

The AMD ones are fast and have good battery efficiency, but unfortunately we've measured higher failure rates on AMD mainboards and matte displays compared to the Intel frameworks. That said, I'd still recommend the AMD frameworks. Haven't tried the latest Intel Core Ultra Series yet. Another downside on the AMD laptops is the 4 USB ports aren't equal - 2 are USB4 and 3 can drive a display, and some use up higher power. On Intel, all 4 ports are TB4/USB4 and function the same.

Main advantage of framework is we end up doing more frequent upgrades that cost us less, since we just need to replace mainboard or RAM - most engineers in our company get upgraded yearly, and we recycle the older mainboards into desktops (by putting them into a 3D-printed chassis) for non-tech shift workers. Also if parts break out of warranty - displays, keyboards, etc, cheap enough to fix that it doesnt bother us.

Main complaint I have is with warranty replacements - they really make you jump through a lot of hoops (they ask for a lot of photos/videos multiple times which involves opening up the chassis multiple times) before they accept fault and ship a replacement. Basically they're getting you to do the debugging for them so they can send a replacement for just the affected part, instead of you needing to ship out the entire laptop to get it repaired. On the plus side, you dont need to ship the entire laptop to them if something small is busted.

I moved from an older ThinkPad to the first generation Framework. While the idea of the repairability, expansion cards etc sounded great, it simply just ran far too hot and the battery life sucked. I ended up going 180 to the other end and buying a reduced 14 inch MacBook Pro (base model) which has been the best computer I've ever owned, macOS being awful aside. It's what a laptop should be like, not worrying about chargers, it not cooking your lap, just overall a very enjoyable machine

I mostly loved mine... While it lasted. I owned a 12th gen, and it ran really well. The stories about running hot, draining battery while sleeping and the lack of firmware updates are all true. I could live with that. I live in Argentina, and had to travel to SF for work. I ordered the tougher hinges in advance (the ones that came were very flimsy, but they fixed that in newer models). I changed the hinges, and it was a breeze, so they delivered there. The thing is.. the laptop never booted up again! I called support, and they instructed me several things to try bring it back to life. Nothing worked. Last message was: you're out of warranty, sorry. Which I'm ok with. But then it got me thinking about repairability. I'm by no means a hardware expert. For sure I messed up when changing the hinges. But still, the whole situation just fell awful, and the promise if repairability just stopped selling for me. I still want framework to exist. I love their mission. But I needed to work, so I ran to an apple store and bought a MBP. After 20 years of using Linux, it breaks my heart a little bit, but the hardware is unbeatable. I'm kind of hating macos tbh, but I can live with it. And who knows, Asahi might get good enough at some point...

I use a Framework. I would advise looking up the parts you select prior to ordering. I didn't, and I accidentally selected an SSD that has known firmware issues (it unmounts itself randomly while in use). No fixes for this issue in 2 years has me skeptical of buying again, but I'm otherwise pretty happy with the device.