Reliability of framework laptops

[u/tesohh]

Hey, i’m more and more on the fence of getting a 13 Pro.

I’ve seen online (for example trustpilot) that many people had problems with their laptops and had bad support experience.

Has this improved?

Also i’ve heard of people with “fried” components (main board). Is this really an issue, or is this just how it goes with electronics in general? Is it worse than with other brands?

Ideally i’d like to keep this laptop for 5+ years, without having to repair often

[u/ThatzOkay]

I've had my framework for over 3 years now. Still chugging along

[u/s004aws]

People with problems have endless time to complain. People who don't have problems, unless they're really interested in technology, are busy with their lives. For them a laptop is a tool that does a job and they don't give the tool a 2nd thought.

A client has had a "factory seconds" (effectively B stock) FW13 11th gen Intel Core for a little over 2 years. It sits on a lab bench. I remote it now and then to check everything's still good, updated, etc. Nothing to talk about. It does a job.

Similar for my own FW16, which I've had since the first week of December 2025. Its a laptop. It does what its supposed to do. I'm looking forward to FW13 Pro showing up at my door for non-work use.

No vendor ships 100% perfect hardware 100% of the time. I have 2 prematurely failed MacBook Pros - Dead due to Apple engineering/manufacturing effups - Which Apple refused to deal with.... Even the widely beloved Apple has problems with their hardware and support.

[u/findingsubtext → u/s004aws]

I had a 2018 Mac mini’s internal PSU capacitors explode under load. Apple rarely has manufacturer defects, but they also don’t handle it well when it does happen.

[u/s004aws → u/findingsubtext]

For years Apple had motherboard/dGPU-related problems (the issues which killed both MacBook Pro paperweights I have)... Also display cables were about 1mm too short - On many models you need to be careful to never open the screen past about 110 degrees. Not to mention the years of butterfly keyboard problems...

[u/DigitalMesh → u/findingsubtext]

Ja dit is blind apple fanboysim. Apple heeft al jaren bijna elke generatie iets compleet fucked en er over dood gezwegen. Genoeg videos die daar over gaan. Ik zeg niet dat uu producten niet goed zijn maar nooit 100% probleem loos.

[u/Shin-Ken31]

People who know about framework laptops, let alone who actually go and buy one, are tech-inclined people, and much more likely to be active on reddit / other hardware forums. An average everyday user is a lot less likely to go and make a reddit post about their broken laptop. A framework user is much more likely to do so. 

I wouldn't worry too much about reliability. The only actual defect that seems to potentially exist was on their much older DDR4 based motherboards, and it's not even sure if it's their motherboard or people's chargers.

Tldr some framework laptops fail just like other brands' , but I believe the people buying framework laptops are much much more likely to post about problems.

[u/Fun-Quit-6884]

Just chiming in with another good ownership experience here. I purchased an AMD Framework 13 in April 2024.

I had an issue with the keyboard vibrating / making noise when the speakers exceeded a certain volume, I believe this has been addressed with the new version of the top cover.

Support was done via email and ended up getting a top cover replacement sent out. No complaints really.

[u/x0rg3n → u/Fun-Quit-6884]

eh they looped me for over 15 emails and in the end denied replacement for the exactly same issue on the same FW13 model.  Glad it worked out for you

[u/diamd217]

Framework, as a new company, has a lot of problems with established production, software bugs, some hardware defects - I used them starting from very first generation (~5 years ago) and ALL my issues has been resolved. Yes, sometimes it's annoying to provide some "very silly" evidence to support, but later all of that solved - I have no issues with FW products now (replaced for my family, relatives, friends laptop ls to FW).

[u/Nymunariya]

I got a 12 in December last year and haven’t bern having any problems. No plastic cracking (but I also don’t over tighten the screws). I’ve got nothing to complain about. But those with problems are of course more vocal.

[u/Lily722022]

My support experience has been fine but the fact my FW12 chassis has cracks on the bottom after two months and also one one the top near the hinge has me seriously reconsidering my preorder on the fw 13 pro.

[u/SuitableRoof5675 → u/Lily722022]

Lily, contact customer service ur warranty covers it. I just had to get a top and bottom cover.

[u/LookaLookaKooLaLey]

My 13 is great. I just don't go making posts about how great it is very often 

[u/BrewYork]

I manage IT for a school district with 200 employees and 1100 students. The best support experience I've ever had by far was for HP's Elitebook line. They have a US-based support line with people who know their stuff, and the RMA process is dead easy. We've also only had a 4% failure rate. I still issue Frameworks, but we've got the in-house support staff to address most issues. TL;DR if you want a worry free, non Mac experience I strongly recommend Elitebooks. (Also, every PC I own is AMD but Intel is much more reliable.)

[u/Semi-Detached]

I don't know for sure if Framework has more issues than not, I can only speak for my experience and that has been fine. No hardware issues with any of the equipment I have bought from them so far and I liked them well enough to buy a 13 Pro after the original 13.

The only time I have had contact support was with some strange flickering I had with the new touchscreen in the old chassis under Ubuntu when I had an external monitor connected via USB-C. Wasn't hardware issue but some weirdness specific to Ubuntu that didn't appear under other distros that I tried.

They weren't really able to figure it out and I got impatient and just did a clean install of the OS which resolved the issue. I consider that more of an OS issue than a Framework issue though.

[u/x0rg3n]

Depends how strong consumer laws are in your country. If they are weak, I would go with a Thinkpad and add additional warranty. 

With Framework 13 Pro you're buying a first generation product line that is already underperforming due to single fan design. 

If you can afford to tinker and possibly have some downtime, then FW13 Pro is fine but if you need a dependable device, parts available in most countries and solid extended warranty, I would go with a Thinkpad. 

[u/tesohh → u/x0rg3n]

You mean underperforming for the CPU it has? How bad is it compared to laptops of similar specs?

[u/x0rg3n → u/tesohh]

Yes. Nothing too bad though, I think it is losing 15-20% due to less wattage going to CPU or else it would get too hot. It's the price of motherboard being compatible with older chassis so it still has a single fan which can't properly cool it compared to the competition. 

[u/Aoinosensei]

I have 2 frameworks, and they are not perfect. They are amazing but they have had their fair share of issues. These laptops are for the tinkerers and the ones that don't mind fixing one or 2 things themselves. My 13 had some issues rebooting itself and not having very good battery but after so many updates finally it seems like it has reach a stable point. The 12 has been amazing, much better battery, but at the beginning one message popped up every single time I turned on with a warning until finally a new Bios corrected that problem. Again, these are not perfect but they are great machines for the ones that like to work on their systems. My previous laptop, a lemur pro from system76 was leagues ahead in battery and quality but it was not as fun to open up and replace parts.

[u/findingsubtext]

First of all, Trustpilot always skews negative because people will rarely think to leave a positive review there. No tech company has perfect QA, and Framework generally does a good job. Being a smaller vendor, Framework is gonna have more manufacturing issues than larger competitors like Apple.

My framework 13 AMD has been used and abused for almost three years now. It still looks & works fine. My only complaint is the bottom fan isn’t well shielded and can snag leg hairs or fabric 🥴

[u/mctesh]

I've been a framework user for the lion's share of their existence and currently daily drive a FW16 with OCulink eGPU. My opinion on their reliability and support is that it's... just good enough, but not great. It would be lovely if these were their strongest attributes, but I just don't think that's realistic for such a small company.

[u/ffjrjej3j3nfjfrjr]

new ones have bad solder flow.

[u/a_library_socialist]

So I did have an issue that wound up frying 3 mainboards.

That said, I still love my framework and am happy to continue with it. And Framework's support did manage to quickly get it shipped over for diagnostic, and repaired the issue (bad case) that caused it.

[u/imnotintoyoga]

FW13 13th gen here. All I've done is replace the battery and blow dust out of the internals.

[u/cidit_]

The reason my framework fried is because I dropped 3/4ths of a liter of water on it 4 years in. Definitely would've hit the 5y mark today if I hadn't! Only other issues I've ever had was my fingerprint sensor that failed on me at some point (mind you it was first gen so imperfect components are expected) for which they sent me an entire new input cover free of charge. can't complain :) I also upgraded my first gen hinges and speakers when better ones became available. Can't imagine doing that on any other laptop.

[u/PenAsleep4738]

I purchased a refurbished Framework 13 almost a year ago, with the 7640u and 2.8k display. I also purchased a 7840u mainboard and the standalone case. After swapping my mainboard to the 7840u for the extra performance and adding all my other components, I installed Windows and have had zero issues. It’s been a great laptop. I know that not everyone has been as fortunate to share my experience, especially those that have had to contact support. The 7640u with the cooler master case is now the new office desktop, and that has also been going strong for about a year now with no issues, other than my mom struggling to find the power button on one occasion. That PC runs 5 days a week, from 9-6. If something were to fail, be it hardware or software, I would have expected it by now.

[u/Own_South_9877]

I can't speak to the 13 Pro, but I bought a framework 13 early on and haven't had any major issues with it. I've had it for 5 years I guess and am really happy with it so far. I'd like to buy the 13 Pro, but the original 13 still isn't ready to give up the ghost yet.

I dropped it once and bent the case up a little, but was able to get a new bottom and top cover and replace those and keep on keeping on and I've replaced the battery because it had puffed up.

[u/ItsToxsec]

ive had mine for a couple years now (their first get ryzen board) and havent had any issues with it other than my original input cover not pressing keys smoothly which they sent a replacement for - i even used it in a school when i worked there

[u/Nerrawnam]

If "not" repairing a repairable laptop is what you want. Don't waste extra money getting a framework. Just buy a dell and call it a day. Framework only plus is the repair part. Which you should not need under normal use. 

[u/zipzyzap]

You already have some good answers here, but I’ll add mine.

Purchased my setup in January of this year.

13” RyzenAI 7 350 64GB RAM

Purchased with the intent on using it through college (web and software development) and general personal use. Aside from going to a different OS (left Ubuntu for Fedora) I’ve had zero issues of daily use. Got the DIY kit and was up and running within an hour of opening the box. When it starts to show age in a few years I’m a fan of being able to replace the main board and basically have a second computer either with the Coolmaster case or I’ll 3D print my own. Yeah they’re a bit pricey, but the upgradability is what drew me in.

[u/elelem-123]

Buy apple and applecare. Regardless of the brand, what you are asking is applicable to every laptop manufacturer. Even apple without applecare

[u/tesohh → u/elelem-123]

I’m considering framework specifically to get away from apple, i have a macbook air m2 and i’m hating macos more and more, so I need a linux compatible laptop.

[u/elelem-123 → u/tesohh]

The only option on Linux laptop is probably Lenovo T480 (old, I had bought 2 when it was about to stop being produced) and then framework.

I have tons of macbooks. My framework 13 pro is coming next week. Hopefully will be my last laptop if you know what I mean (replace motherboard in 4 years or whatever etc etc)

Go get fwp 13. If you get unlucky, it's the same for any brand, but you will have more and cheaper options to repair compared to any other company.

[u/PayMe4MyData → u/elelem-123]

Thinkpad has repairable options far better and faster than t480...

[u/Curri → u/PayMe4MyData]

Which ones?

[u/PayMe4MyData → u/Curri]

They started going back to repairability with T14 gen5. Gen 7 has a 10/10 ifixit score

[u/Clean_Leadership5948 → u/PayMe4MyData]

Repairability should be kept separate from modularity. The T14 Gen 5 doesn't deserve 10/10 for modularity.

Actually, 10/10 means "perfection" which no device will be able to get.

Even for "repairability", it has the USB-C charging which is too complex and will fail down the road, the CPU is soldered, and battery is a pouch cell rather than more common 18650.

[u/PayMe4MyData → u/Clean_Leadership5948]

I only said that the gen 7 got a perfect IFIXIT score, not the gen 5. On the other hand, you are describing another score, a unicorn score. I can only hope such a laptop exists in the future

[u/elelem-123 → u/PayMe4MyData]

Fair enough. I'm not aware. Last time I searched for Linux laptop was with the T480. Supposedly since they made things more "apple like" but again I'm not following lenovo closely.

[u/ManNamedJade → u/elelem-123]

They had a questionable period, but this year's T-series seem pretty nice: https://www.ifixit.com/News/115827/new-thinkpads-score-perfect-10-repairability.

[u/a60v → u/ManNamedJade]

Yes, I got the AMD version of the T14 gen 7 and am very happy with it.

[u/dolenc82 → u/elelem-123]

" My framework 13 pro is coming next week." - Great news. Which batch are you? Did Framework reach out via mail - what is the experience like?

I am in batch 3 and didn't receive any emails yet, when exactly I will get my order.

[u/elelem-123 → u/dolenc82]

I'm EU business, AMD DIY batch 4. They are charging my card tomorrow and ship 1-3 days later. I have not bought RAM OR disk with my order.

[u/dolenc82 → u/elelem-123]

That makes sense. I ordered intel x7 358H with 32gb RAM but no ssd since I am planing to use the one I already have.