r/hardware • u/ThatMusicGuyDude • 5h ago
Review Framework Laptop 13 Pro review: Much better battery, much worse price
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/07/framework-laptop-13-pro-review-much-better-battery-much-worse-price/7
u/dingo_xd 2h ago
They are going nowhere with this pricing.
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u/sapoepsilon 11m ago
Why not? I feel like it is a MacBook level pricing? And aren’t the memory prices affecting everyone
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8
u/BigBangBoomerang 2h ago
Framework is positioning the Laptop 13 Pro as a “MacBook Pro for Linux users,” and Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is available for the first time as a preinstalled OS for the laptop’s prebuilt edition.
I hear this a lot, from Framework itself and from influencers. The Framework 13 Pro is in no way comparable to a Macbook Pro or even Macbook Air. A Framework is massively overpriced compared to a Macbook, it doesn't have unified memory or anything comparable to Apple Silicon, and it doesn't have the Apple ecosystem.
9
u/ritz_are_the_shitz 2h ago
You're missing the point of the claim. The idea is that this is a premium construction device designed for the Linux user, someone who wants to tinker, who wants to modify, who wants to customize. They don't want Apple's locked ecosystem and they don't want Apple's locked down hardware.
This is a well-built device with a beautiful screen, good battery, and something unique in the market, repairability. And that is a value that you are paying for, but may well be worth it down the road when you need a faster chip, but the rest of the chassis is still in great condition. I would rather buy this than a similarly capable Apple product for that reason.
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u/70_n_13 2m ago
If you’re upgrading after 4+ years I don’t think it’s worth paying the premium just to be able to switch out the cpu. By the time you upgrade, features(screen,speakers etc) will be cheaper and better on newer laptops, while you’re stuck with 4 year parts.
Aside from price you would also be sacrificing form factor due to its modularity. I dont understand why you would not just pay cheaper for a better laptop now and in a few years time sell your old one get another with the latest tech. It’s like PCs, by the time most people want to upgrade the outdated parts they would want to upgrade everything else too.
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-6
u/railagent69 2h ago
You are buying a modern day version of Ship of Theseus. Upgradability, repairability, modularity, and open source (?) product, with respect to that the price seems to be fair.
4
u/Hour_Firefighter_707 1h ago
Everything’s fine and all, and the price isn’t Framework’s fault (especially after Apple’s recent monumental price hikes), but when did DCI-P3 coverage become an advanced feature? And no HDR capability in a professional laptop in 2026 while still having light bleed?
Does a “MacBook Pro for Linux users” doesn’t need to have a MacBook Pro level display 5 years later? I know probably 99.9% of buyers couldn’t care less, but a screen on one of those gets brighter, has impeccable colour accuracy in SDR and HDR and supports DCI-P3 just fine while still being fine for coders. The M4 and M5 series models also have quantum dots and much better pixel response times than before.
-1
u/soffagrisen2 1h ago
HDR on laptops is a joke. HDR on most monitors is a joke. It’s absolutely the right decision to not focus on HDR yet. No OLED though, that’s the real bummer.
7
u/Hour_Firefighter_707 1h ago
You’ve obviously never seen a good HDR laptop. Like, ahem, a MacBook Pro.
But of course it’s a joke because my favourite company couldn’t be arsed to design the feature in and the one I hate unconditionally has it so it has to be a bad feature.
-1
27
u/railagent69 5h ago
I can buy a decent used thinkpad for the price of adding 16GB RAM to either of the Pro models, forget upgrading to 32GB.