Please note that this is my experience and my opinion and mine only. Yours might differ and I'm glad about it because it means that this product reached its intended target
TL;DR: The FW16 is a better computer, but the FW13 is a better laptop
Long read:
I've had a FrameWork 16 for over a year and a half now. I've preordered it as soon as I was aware it existed. I lived it as a computer.
It's the most incredible laptop I've ever seen. Want a numpad? Want no numpad? Want a discrete GPU? Want 16 or 96Gb of RAM? Want one, two, four SSDs? Want six modular ports? First party Linux support? They got you covered.
However, I've grown dissatisfied of this laptop pretty quickly despite wanting to love it so much. I love the modular concept, I love the idea of it, but I ended up not using it, at all. I don't want a numpad, I don't need or want several SSDs or a dGPU. And most of all, I find it highly impractical.
It's so massive. I've never had a gaming laptop, only thin an light laptops (for their respective eras). It's too large to comfortably fit in most laptop backpacks, too heavy and pointy to comfortably lug around all day. Even if the modular plates around the keyboard and trackpad are well made and in reality as solid as you would reasonably expect for a touchable surface, slights imperfections can make it uncomfortable when used as a laptop and give a (false) impression of flimsiness. I ended up keeping it docked most of the time, which defeats the purpose of a laptop.
The raw CPU power is very nice, and the large case and multiple fans insure good thermals. But if I need massive raw power at my desk, I have my gaming PC.
The screen is huge and comfortable and super smooth, but as it's docked, it just becomes a larger than average secondary screen.
The 6 expansion ports are great because that's enough to have most ports basically permanently fixed on the laptop, without having to swap depending on use cases. Yet, being docked to a KVM, I have enough external ports already.
The battery is huge, but yet again, you guessed it, docked, no use, still the same pattern.
Therefore I decided that, as great as it is, the Framework 16 was not for me. It doesn't fit my use case.
And that's why I "downgraded" to the Laptop 13. After a few hours playing with it, I much prefer it as a laptop. It's almost half the weight, fits basically anywhere, its rounded edges and unibody top cover are much more comfortable. It feels more... refined. Like a MacBook Pro from 10-15 years ago (before they became shit with their super slim, uncomfortable and unrepairable keyboards). Being their fisrt and most developed platform, most hardware updates hit the 13 before anything else.
Of course, it's much more limited. The 4 expansion slots are nearly not enough for me but I would only need to swap on the go. Thermals are much more constrained and the CPU less powerful (I went with the 7x40u because the AI300 series don't seem Linux-ready yet). The screen is obviously much smaller. It's not nearly as modular. The battery is 20%-ish smaller.
And I don't care. This is the laptop I wanted all along. A slim, lightweight, repairable, upgradeable laptop I can throw in a bag, dock in my "home office", bring along on the couch, in bed, on vacation or on the weekends.
Anyway. Thanks FrameWork for the choice, for the opportunity and the amazing products you're making!
