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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<!-- 2025-11-27 -->
<!-- 2025-11-28 -->
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=100%, initial-scale=0.7" />
<title>Framework Laptop Review</title>
@@ -214,13 +214,13 @@
</div>
</div>
<div id="content" class="content">
<div id="outline-container-org0c13ab8" class="outline-2">
<h2 id="org0c13ab8">My Experience with the Framework Laptop</h2>
<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-org0c13ab8">
<div id="outline-container-org9fefd24" class="outline-2">
<h2 id="org9fefd24">My Experience with the Framework Laptop</h2>
<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-org9fefd24">
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org3b3195b" class="outline-3">
<h3 id="org3b3195b">Ordering</h3>
<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-org3b3195b">
<div id="outline-container-org1035ea4" class="outline-3">
<h3 id="org1035ea4">Ordering</h3>
<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-org1035ea4">
<p>
I&rsquo;d been eyeing the <a href="https:frame.work">Framework laptop</a> since somewhere in October 2021, but the EU release got delayed and they were very hesitant to give time estimates. I only managed to get my hands on it in late February, and I ended up having to have it delivered to France. I understand the difficulty of setting up logistics especially these days, but I broke my previous laptop and being stuck in limbo like this was not fun.
</p>
@@ -231,13 +231,13 @@ I asked their customer service to make a small change to the delivery address, b
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-orgf66c976" class="outline-3">
<h3 id="orgf66c976">Set-up</h3>
<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-orgf66c976">
<div id="outline-container-org3ddd439" class="outline-3">
<h3 id="org3ddd439">Set-up</h3>
<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-org3ddd439">
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org8c0cf90" class="outline-4">
<h4 id="org8c0cf90">Hardware</h4>
<div class="outline-text-4" id="text-org8c0cf90">
<div id="outline-container-org5876850" class="outline-4">
<h4 id="org5876850">Hardware</h4>
<div class="outline-text-4" id="text-org5876850">
<p>
I got the DIY edition with the (lowest-end) i5-1135G7 CPU, 2x16GB RAM. I brought my own 1TB SSD. The higher spec CPUs didn&rsquo;t seem worth the money to me. The RAM is probably overkill.
</p>
@@ -264,9 +264,9 @@ The more you look at it, the nicer it gets!
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org7394b4a" class="outline-4">
<h4 id="org7394b4a">Software</h4>
<div class="outline-text-4" id="text-org7394b4a">
<div id="outline-container-org86a8d5d" class="outline-4">
<h4 id="org86a8d5d">Software</h4>
<div class="outline-text-4" id="text-org86a8d5d">
<p>
I installed Gentoo GNU+Linux on the laptop, just like I have on my desktop. I used an Ubuntu live CD as the install medium together with the Gentoo stage3 tarball, and it worked well. I didn&rsquo;t really have to jump through any laptop-specific hoops, it was a very nice experience. I did use the dist-kernel rather than configuring my own.
</p>
@@ -275,9 +275,9 @@ I installed Gentoo GNU+Linux on the laptop, just like I have on my desktop. I us
The laptop held up well during compiling. It&rsquo;s not as fast as a desktop of course, but compile times are not limiting. I&rsquo;ve put this thing through bootstrapping GCC for a cross-compilation toolchain, which is just about the biggest compile job I&rsquo;ve ran, and it wasn&rsquo;t <i>that</i> painful.
</p>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-orgf72676d" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="orgf72676d">Display scaling</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-orgf72676d">
<div id="outline-container-org75ab33a" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org75ab33a">Display scaling</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org75ab33a">
<p>
Simply setting <code>Xft.dpi: 192</code> in .Xresources was enough for the vast majority of applications to use 2x scaling, which looks very good on this display. This is on X11 obviously; I don&rsquo;t use Wayland.
</p>
@@ -287,33 +287,33 @@ The odd application requires its own scaling setting. Rofi requires setting <cod
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org0b89dcd" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org0b89dcd">Display manager</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org0b89dcd">
<div id="outline-container-org11e2528" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org11e2528">Display manager</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org11e2528">
<p>
I used SDDM which works very well. I wanted to go for something a bit fancier looking, and this delivers. I don&rsquo;t usually use things in the whole QT ecosystem, so it&rsquo;s refreshing.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org2419f5e" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org2419f5e">Hibernate/suspend-to-disk</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org2419f5e">
<div id="outline-container-orgfdf777e" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="orgfdf777e">Hibernate/suspend-to-disk</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-orgfdf777e">
<p>
This required setting up a swap file and setting a kernel command line parameter to refer to it, but it was easy to do. It works well. I&rsquo;ve observed the laptop auto-hibernating when the battery runs out, but it doesn&rsquo;t do this reliably, so I should probably configure it myself.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org5aba590" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org5aba590"><a href="http://guake-project.org/">Guake</a>-like transient terminal</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org5aba590">
<div id="outline-container-orge5bcf39" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="orge5bcf39"><a href="http://guake-project.org/">Guake</a>-like transient terminal</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-orge5bcf39">
<p>
Using some <code>fish</code> scripts, <code>bspwm</code>, <code>picom</code> and <code>xst</code> I rigged up a transient, transparent terminal to use for quick shell jobs. I used the scripts and config file in <a href="#org5b5a4fc">Appendix A</a> to do this. The implementation is a bit hacky, and it&rsquo;s not impossible to break, but it serves my purposes well (and more important, it was fun to make)!
Using some <code>fish</code> scripts, <code>bspwm</code>, <code>picom</code> and <code>xst</code> I rigged up a transient, transparent terminal to use for quick shell jobs. I used the scripts and config file in <a href="#org6a65193">Appendix A</a> to do this. The implementation is a bit hacky, and it&rsquo;s not impossible to break, but it serves my purposes well (and more important, it was fun to make)!
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-orga420fca" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="orga420fca">Wallpaper-setting script</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-orga420fca">
<div id="outline-container-org23f3f19" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org23f3f19">Wallpaper-setting script</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org23f3f19">
<p>
I wrote a script to set a random wallpaper.
</p>
@@ -324,11 +324,11 @@ I wrote a script to set a random wallpaper.
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org1a5c8fc" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org1a5c8fc">Lockscreen</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org1a5c8fc">
<div id="outline-container-orga266f8d" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="orga266f8d">Lockscreen</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-orga266f8d">
<p>
I hacked together some <a href="#orgfb276fa">pretty crappy code</a> to lock the screen using <code>i3lock</code>, with my wallpaper composed with a little lock icon as the background. Very overengineered.
I hacked together some <a href="#orga4c1e81">pretty crappy code</a> to lock the screen using <code>i3lock</code>, with my wallpaper composed with a little lock icon as the background. Very overengineered.
</p>
<p width="60%" class="center">
@@ -341,33 +341,33 @@ Is there a better lockscreen out there that will let me set my own image as the
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org4670f45" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org4670f45"><span class="todo TODO">TODO</span> </h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org4670f45">
<div id="outline-container-org65c597c" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org65c597c"><span class="todo TODO">TODO</span> </h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org65c597c">
</div>
<ul class="org-ul">
<li><a id="org20ac5c5"></a>Battery level notifications<br></li>
<li><a id="org3b7c4b8"></a>sleep-then-hibernate<br></li>
<li><a id="orge8f2e34"></a>Battery tuning<br></li>
<li><a id="org8ecaef8"></a>Battery level notifications<br></li>
<li><a id="org31d3be2"></a>sleep-then-hibernate<br></li>
<li><a id="orgfc92413"></a>Battery tuning<br></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org6afe924" class="outline-3">
<h3 id="org6afe924">Impressions</h3>
<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-org6afe924">
<div id="outline-container-org3300974" class="outline-3">
<h3 id="org3300974">Impressions</h3>
<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-org3300974">
</div>
<div id="outline-container-orga5496e8" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="orga5496e8">Build Quality</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-orga5496e8">
<div id="outline-container-org8775c36" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org8775c36">Build Quality</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org8775c36">
<p>
The laptop is made of aluminium and feels solid but light. The screen does seem pretty flimsy, though. I probably wouldn&rsquo;t want to drop this thing. It looks sleek and elegant, but pretty muted.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-orgf9ddf64" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="orgf9ddf64">Screen</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-orgf9ddf64">
<div id="outline-container-org264d4f7" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org264d4f7">Screen</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org264d4f7">
<p>
This is my first time ever using a high-DPI screen, and I&rsquo;m very impressed by it. Text looks unbelievably crisp and pleasant to read. I was somewhat worried about the linux high DPI situation, but I am having no issues whatsoever.
</p>
@@ -381,51 +381,51 @@ The brightness goes up quite high, but colours feel somewhat washed out at high
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org5432824" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org5432824">Keyboard</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org5432824">
<div id="outline-container-orgd7cf97a" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="orgd7cf97a">Keyboard</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-orgd7cf97a">
<p>
Framework seems to advertise their keyboard as having particularly deep travel, but it mostly just feels like any chiclet keyboard to me. Not a bad chiclet keyboard, but not that great, either. The layout is fine, but it makes me miss the thinkpad.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org1c1c8f0" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org1c1c8f0">Touchpad</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org1c1c8f0">
<div id="outline-container-orgf607e9a" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="orgf607e9a">Touchpad</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-orgf607e9a">
<p>
I&rsquo;ve never had a decent touchpad before, so I was pleasantly surprised. I expected to miss the trackpoint on the thinkpad a lot, but this is fine, though it&rsquo;s still a step down. Pinch to zoom doesn&rsquo;t work very well, but I don&rsquo;t use that functionality a lot. I miss having dedicated mouse buttons; the clicking functionality on this touchpad works fine for me, but it&rsquo;s hard not to mess up left/middle/right click. That&rsquo;s a good incentive for me to practice relying on the mouse less, though. There&rsquo;s plenty of <a href="https://linuxtouchpad.org/">work being done</a> on the Linux touchpad experience software-side, too. It&rsquo;s a nice time to be a linux laptop user!
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org56bd7c7" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org56bd7c7">Battery</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org56bd7c7">
<div id="outline-container-org225023b" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org225023b">Battery</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org225023b">
<p>
With the disclaimer that I haven&rsquo;t tested very intensely and I haven&rsquo;t tuned power settings very much. <br>
I seem to get about 6.5 hours of real-world use time when using Emacs and doing light web browsing. I don&rsquo;t have a good benchmark for more intensive tasks, but compiling does hit the battery pretty hard. All in all I&rsquo;m very happy with it, getting decent battery life on Linux is hard. It might be worth eventually buying a power bank for it though, for travel~
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org2edeee8" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org2edeee8">Expansion cards/ports</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org2edeee8">
<div id="outline-container-org47640cd" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org47640cd">Expansion cards/ports</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org47640cd">
<p>
The little expansion cards are one of Framework&rsquo;s big marketing things. I think they&rsquo;re pretty neat, though I don&rsquo;t always quite understand the way people talk about them, as &ldquo;dongle killers&rdquo;. I would find hotswapping these about equally obnoxious as carrying dongles. The idea of aftermarket expansion cards is interesting, though - these are low level, high bandwidth ports, with I think similar capabilities to the ExpressCard ports on old business laptops, but more modern with a USB-C port. I&rsquo;m looking forward to the USB4 era!
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org21f2f0f" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org21f2f0f">Performance</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org21f2f0f">
<div id="outline-container-org370d804" class="outline-5">
<h5 id="org370d804">Performance</h5>
<div class="outline-text-5" id="text-org370d804">
<p>
So far I haven&rsquo;t felt limited by performance at all, the experience has been really snappy. I haven&rsquo;t thrown particularly difficult things at it, though, but that&rsquo;s fine - most of what I do on a laptop is reading, web browsing, and text editing. I played some Factorio on it and that seemed fine, but using the touchpad felt limiting so I didn&rsquo;t play very much.
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org33ccab2" class="outline-3">
<h3 id="org33ccab2">Closing words</h3>
<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-org33ccab2">
<div id="outline-container-org7037f1f" class="outline-3">
<h3 id="org7037f1f">Closing words</h3>
<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-org7037f1f">
<p>
Getting this laptop set up has been really fun! It&rsquo;s a good opportunity to take stock of where we&rsquo;re at. On the hardware side, I am very impressed that it&rsquo;s now possible to make a laptop that&rsquo;s this user-servicable, this well-specced and still not <i>that</i> expensive. It&rsquo;s a reminder of how much better things could be.
</p>
@@ -440,9 +440,9 @@ Personally, I&rsquo;m getting a rare chance to critically examine all the little
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org5b5a4fc" class="outline-2">
<h2 id="org5b5a4fc">Appendix A: Transient Terminal Sources</h2>
<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-org5b5a4fc">
<div id="outline-container-org6a65193" class="outline-2">
<h2 id="org6a65193">Appendix A: Transient Terminal Sources</h2>
<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-org6a65193">
<p>
<code>togglescratch</code>
</p>
@@ -511,9 +511,9 @@ opacity-rule=["90:name = 'scratchterminal'"];
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-orgfb276fa" class="outline-2">
<h2 id="orgfb276fa">Appendix B: lock.py</h2>
<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-orgfb276fa">
<div id="outline-container-orga4c1e81" class="outline-2">
<h2 id="orga4c1e81">Appendix B: lock.py</h2>
<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-orga4c1e81">
<div class="org-src-container">
<pre class="src src-fish"><span class="org-comment-delimiter">#</span><span class="org-comment">!/usr/bin/python3</span>
<span class="org-builtin">import</span> os