**The Framework Laptop: A Premium Option with Some Caveats**

The Framework laptop is a premium option from a new company, and it's clear that they've put a lot of thought into its design and features. One of the standout aspects of this laptop is its display. The screen is bright and colorful, with good color saturation and a decent level of contrast. While it doesn't have touch capabilities, the display is still very impressive, especially when considering the price point.

However, there are two downsides to the screen. First, it's not precisely calibrated, relying on the basic calibration of the panel manufacturer. This means that the colors may not be as accurate as those found in more professional-grade displays. Additionally, the lack of touch capabilities is a disappointment, especially for users who rely heavily on touchscreen input.

Another area where the Framework laptop excels is in its keyboard and touchpad. The keyboard features 1.5 millimeters of travel, which is impressive considering the compact nature of this laptop. The keycaps are stable and responsive, making it a joy to type on. The touchpad is also large and responsive, with a smooth and snappy feel.

In terms of cameras, the Framework laptop includes a 1080p webcam that captures video at 60 frames per second. While this isn't as high-resolution as some other laptops, it's still a significant improvement over the standard 720p webcam found in many laptops. This is particularly notable for users who spend a lot of time on video conferencing calls.

However, there are two key areas where the Framework laptop falls short: battery life and thermals. In our light usage tests, we saw that the laptop's battery life was around seven hours, which is relatively low compared to other laptops in this class. This is particularly disappointing given the laptop's impressive performance.

The second area of concern is the laptop's thermal management system. During intense use, the laptop's temperature rose to over 100 degrees Celsius, which is a significant concern. While we didn't experience any severe throttling, it's clear that the laptop's cooling system needs improvement.

Despite these caveats, the Framework laptop remains an impressive option for users who want a premium laptop without breaking the bank. With its competitive pricing and DIY-friendly design, this laptop has a lot to offer. However, it's worth noting that the company's ambitious plans may not be realized in the long term, which could impact the laptop's durability and support.

**Pricing and Configuration**

The Framework laptop is available in several configurations, including a base model with an Intel Core i3 processor and 8GB of RAM. The top-of-the-line model features an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. While the higher-end configuration is certainly more expensive, it's still relatively affordable compared to other premium laptops.

One of the standout features of the Framework laptop is its DIY-friendly design. The company has designed the laptop with modularity in mind, making it easy for users to upgrade or replace components as needed. This is particularly notable given the high cost of replacing individual components in other laptops.

**Conclusion**

The Framework laptop is a premium option that offers a lot of value despite some caveats. While its battery life and thermal management system need improvement, the display, keyboard, and touchpad are all excellent features. With its competitive pricing and DIY-friendly design, this laptop has a lot to offer users who want a high-performance laptop without breaking the bank.

If you're considering purchasing the Framework laptop, be sure to weigh the pros and cons carefully. While it's an impressive option, there may be some compromises to consider. However, with careful planning and maintenance, this laptop could become a long-term solution for your computing needs.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthe framework laptop is unlike any laptop i've ever reviewed it's fully modular upgradable and customizable but after using the framework laptop as my daily driver for over a full week now i can say that this is way more than just a gimmick this is luke with digital trends and let me quickly explain why the concept of a fully upgradable laptop is so attractive because it's one of the primary questions we get on laptop reviews can you update the ram can you update the storage it's an issue that comes up a lot which is exactly what the framework laptop addresses but before we get there hey you're already here you're already watching this video let's get some engagement going down in the comments below because it's fun i want to know how important this topic really is to you is the ability to upgrade memory or storage or anything else in your laptop a must-have feature why or why not leave me a comment i'm really curious to see how you are all reacting to that topic and to this laptop in particular and while you're there as always leave us a like and make sure to subscribe if you haven't already now let's do this so on the surface the framework laptop is as ordinary a laptop as they come it's a basic silver clam shell that resembles a cheaper version of a macbook not unlike countless windows laptops and chromebooks and that's not exactly a compliment and i didn't really mean it to be but maybe blending in is kind of the point here after all the idea of the framework laptop is to look and function like any other laptop especially if it's trying to demonstrate how easy it would be for other laptops to take a similar approach to modularity that doesn't mean i wouldn't have appreciated a more original design of course but you can at least see what framework was aiming for now most laptop manufacturers claim that reduced upgradability is a necessary trade-off for things like portability build quality system integrity all things we want in our laptops that's true of apple's macbooks as it is of dell's xps 13. but for the most part the framework laptop proves those to be just excuses it's just .62 inches thick just 2.9 pounds not at all a chunky laptop no it's not quite as small as the xps 13 or surface laptop 4 and you may have laptops like the you know razer blade stealth 13 or the rog flex x13 that are similar size but push performance restraints with discrete gpus but that aside the framework laptop is very similar in size to the current 13-inch macbook pro that's not bad for a laptop that you can almost completely rip the guts out of the same is true in build quality the worry of course is that with all these moving pieces here it would introduce some weaknesses in the design and no the chassis isn't machined out of a single block of aluminum there are a couple spots that feel bendy such as in the lid but then again that's not unheard of for a laptop of this price in size but let's get to what really makes this laptop unique which is the upgradability and expandability so when you pull out the framework laptop right out of the box it's gonna look a little strange it has four exposed usb-c ports to on either side of the laptop framework allows you to then choose whatever ports you want to put in and my unit shipped with a bunch of options now you'll want to keep at least one of these a usbc port for charging purposes but from there it's entirely up to you maybe you want hdmi or even display port for your monitor connections maybe you want three usb ports for all your accessories and peripherals or maybe you just want to toss all these expansion cards into a bag and use them as adapters for when the needs arise it's the kind of thing gadget heads will love but it's more than just a novelty i think it makes for a pretty versatile setup that no other laptop can replicate without the use of dongles and adapters and usb hubs especially since swapping out expansion cards is just as easy as plugging in a dongle and can be done without powering the system down i was let down when i saw that a full-size sd card slot was not included as an expansion card instead framework went with a micro sd card slot which is a lot less useful but if frameworks plans unfold as stated many more options could be sold or included in the future but ports are really only the first step the entire system is built around the idea of easy access to the internal components most laptops offer access to a removable bottom lid but the framework laptop provides entry from the top right through the keyboard using the included screwdriver it's as simple as loosening the five fasteners on the bottom and then pulling the keyboard right off which is magnetized to stay in place once you have that keyboard off you'll see the internal layout which is all neatly labeled and obviously removable framework even went to the point of including scannable qr codes on each component that will tell you exactly what parts have been included and how to install them laptop manufacturers tend to downplay the specific memory storage and connectivity being used and would rather you just didn't dabble in tinkering with your laptop at all removing components on the framework laptop couldn't be simpler adding storage through the m.2 slot requires just loosening the fastener while ram snaps in place really easily the wi-fi module is a little trickier which requires you to correctly connect the antenna cables framework really has thought through all the smallest details and it adds up to an enjoyable upgrading experience both for newbies and pc veterans but there's more to it than that because we all know that adding storage or ram is a good way to extend the life of a laptop but eventually the processor and graphics will hold you up that's what makes the framework laptop even more special as long as framework comes through on its promise to update these in the future in theory it should be really easy to swap out the main board which is the motherboard and the cpu for future versions down the line should be noted though that while the storage ram battery and almost everything else plays nice with third-party parts that you can just buy off the shelf and install yourself the main board the cpu and the motherboard will need to be provided by framework these are proprietary designs that can't be easily separated on your own it's all soldered together since this is framework's first laptop that might make you a little worried you might be worried about the longevity of framework itself as a company and that's fair updates to the cpu in the future require framework to still be around in a decade or so and there are no guarantees about that now the version of the framework laptop that i got had all these parts already installed however the company does also sell a discounted diy edition which requires installing these modules yourself which is really easy for most people who are interested in the modularity and upgradability of the framework laptop the diy edition is a much cheaper way of getting the exact same laptop experience in all the same parts and while all of that is what makes the framework laptop really unique after spending over a week with the laptop i wasn't spending much of my time swapping out components you know i was using it as my primarily daily working device and through doing that i was really surprised by how many things the framework laptop gets right and sometimes even better than other laptops let's start with the display because this was the most surprising feature to me i kind of assumed that this would be an easy place for a framework to cut corners but instead they made some really good choices here first off i love this 13.5 inch 3x2 aspect ratio i talk about this all the time but this is my favorite aspect ratio especially as a 13 inch laptop coming from a 16 by 9 13 inch laptop to this will feel so much better and you'll feel like you can get so much more work done the screen is actually almost identical to the feel of the surface laptop that includes the resolution which is 2256x1504 it feels nice and sharp and it's a pretty nice upgrade over 1080p it's also a really bright screen i measured it at a max of 463 nits which is really bright and it makes for a really versatile laptop it's good while using it outside next to windows or even just some really bright fluorescent lights there are two small downsides to the screen though first there's no touch screen option which isn't a big deal for me but i know it's a deal killer for some second it's not a super precisely calibrated screen instead it's just relying on the basic calibration of the panel maker the colors still do look good of course and the color saturation is nice you're getting full 100 srgb but you may want to calibrate this if you're you know a professional color grader or something the keyboard and touchpad again a couple more elements that really surprised me by the quality especially the keyboard there's a full 1.5 millimeters of travel and it just feels so nice especially if you're one of those people who really doesn't like shallow keyboards in their laptops it actually reminds me a bit of a thinkpad keyboard in that it has a lot of travel but the keycaps still feel stable and the key presses are still really snappy it's kind of a dream to type on and the layout has everything exactly where you'd want it the touchpad is also great it's large responsive and the click isn't overly loud now you do get a fingerprint reader built into the power button that works really well but you are missing the ir camera for windows hello facial recognition which is too bad because something like that is usually included in this price of laptop it's hard for me to complain about the cameras here because what you do get on the framework laptop is a 1080p 60 frames per second webcam hey look at that maybe it's not that hard to put a decent webcam in a laptop if you're like me and you've been frustrated by the idea of buying a 2 000 laptop that still has a 720p webcam the framework laptop will make you very happy and you can tell right away the difference in image quality in all those video conferencing calls you've been doing lately now all of that sounds great right and for the most part it is but don't go off and buy this laptop just yet there are a couple of things that you'll need to keep in mind before you go any further the biggest disappointment of the framework laptop by far is the battery life in my light battery life tests whether that's video playback or web browsing i was only getting around seven hours with more happening like in my own daily workflow for example that was down to closer to five hours or so away from the wall something like the surface laptop for or even the xps 13 is going to do much better in this regard don't even think about including the macbook pro or macbook air in that comparison because those are not even in the same category the other slight downside here is the thermals my unit included an intel core i7 1165 g7 16 gigabytes of ram and a 512 gigabyte ssd in the m.2 slot this is the middle configuration and it's a fairly powerful laptop just as fast as other intel based 13-inch laptops such as surface laptop xps 13 razer book 13 and so on the internals did though get kind of hot during some of the testing some of it sitting in the high 90s celsius or even hitting that 100 degree maximum which is not something you like to see i didn't notice any severe throttling happening here but the kind of basic thermal system that the framework laptop uses is likely to blame here it's just a single fan over the cpu but really outside of battery life the framework laptop really is an impressive little laptop especially when you consider that this is a first generation product from a brand new company and yes you have to consider the very real possibility that framework may not support this laptop on into eternity which means the dream of holding on to this same laptop for as long as you would hold on to your desktop may not be fully realized but what's cool about the framework laptop is that they aren't asking you to sacrifice very much it's fairly affordable especially if you get that diy edition and other than that this is a very competitive premium laptop aside from the fact that you can get in there and replace or upgrade many of the components and if things do end up working out with frameworks ambitious plans man you have something very exciting on your hands at the very least we can hope that framework succeeds so that it influences the rest of the industry because if it's one thing that we all want it's tech that lasts longer and doesn't create landfills full of garbage for no reason hey thanks for checking out this video if you're interested in picking up the framework laptop make sure to use the link we've got for you in the description box below and again if you haven't already leave us a like on the video and subscribe to the channel for more videos from digital trends\n"