Hi,
I’m looking to switch from my M1 MBP 14inch to a Framework 13 Ryzen 5 7640U. I’m contemplating about switching because I really like the options of not having to worry about paying a fortune if I break something, and the idea of being able to upgrade the laptop later on is really cool.
I’m a second year student in college studying software engineering, so my usage of the Framework wouldn’t be that heavy, just web-browsing, coding & compiling.
How long would the battery last for my usage if anyone has a similar workflow with the Framework?
For anyone that has switched from a Macbook to Framework, is there anything you regret or miss?
The only things that are still holding me back from fully pulling the trigger is the battery life, quality of keyboard and laptop, and 60Hz display, but otherwise I really like the product.
Thanks.
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I’m also switching from M1 MBA.
Waiting for my FW 13 7840U.
Apple silicon Mac will win on battery life / touchpad / screen / speakers any day.
But that’s not why ppl choose FW…
I switched from a M1 Mac to Ryzen 7. I like the framework a lot, and there are less annoying things than I thought. But I mainly switched because I want to use a fully working linux again. If you actually are happy with macOS I would not recommend you to switch.
Pros:
- Keyboard is wonderful, coming from the mac keyboard I can instantly type error free and the soft touch feeling is so premium!
- Screen: The 60Hz framerate is visible and a little bit annoying, but honestly after a while you just adapt to it again. Otherwise the Display is better than I thought, the blacks are a little worse than on the mac but it is totally fine.
- Speakers: I was very much afraid of the speakers as I got so used to watch movies on the macbook an really enjoy it. Maybe because of the expectation, it’s less bad than I thought. I can still watch movies on it, the speakers get super loud, but they are distorting a bit in the louder half. Sure it is not an audiophile pleasure but you can understand everything more than fine.
- Performance: Nothing yet to complain compared to the M1 Pro…
Cons:
- the trackpad mostly because of the very loud click and it is too hard to press. I just don’t like when you are in an office or other quiet places in public and you feel that everyone hears your wild clicking :D
- The most annoying thing by far is the fan noise and the heat. Because the fan vents are on the bottom of the laptop as soon as you place it in your bed or on your lap, the fans get loud even when just watching youtube… Now I just place it on a kitchen board, then it is fine. But that your lap gets warm again when sitting on the couch or so is something I really didn’t miss. I don’t think this will be much better with the Ryzen 5, as if you can easily block the whole airflow with those bottom vent design it is nearly impossible to cool the cpu down for the fans…
- Battery Life: It is not comparable to my Pro at all. With the Pro I can even do super heavy tasks on battery and it still lasts the full day.
An M1 macbook is still a very capable machine. The reasons you give for upgrading don’t really make sense imo.
Yeah I really like my macbook and I know it will last for a long time. However, in my situation, my brother wants to upgrade his laptop, and I offered him the deal of giving him my macbook and he’d buy the framework for me. I know that I would be downgrading in term of specs, but being able to not worry about spending a decent amount of money if it gets damaged is really nice, even though it probably won’t happen. Regardless, if I decide to get the framework, I think I’ll be able to decide whether I want to keep it or not within the return window.
Your M1 Macbook 14 is going to be better for your workflow IMHO. You will give up battery life, if you are coding, depending on what tools you use, the mac might be better, for example iOS apps or anything non microsoft. Visual Studio (Not VSCode) for example is not as developed for Mac, but if web dev or neutral langauges, JS, Java, C, Go, Rust etc then Mac/Linux would be a better experiance.
Apple battery life is going to be unbeatable. But I do share your concern about the cost of repairs, I was quoted £700 for a screen repair before, absurd.
Thanks for your reply! I code primarily in C++ atm & really like my current workflow because I got used to it. I haven’t had any sort of issues developing on macOS, aside from one class requiring software only designed for windows, but I still have a decent amount of time to decide whether I want to keep my mac or not.
Sort of goes against framework ideology but the ryzen 5 ships with the smaller battery, if battery life is a deal breaker you could order the bigger battery. You could then use the smaller battery as a battery bank once that module gets released.
In terms of the outright hardware, it won’t be as nice, hands down. If you care about long-term reliability and not selling a kidney to fix it, Framework all the way. I have an M1 MBP 13 and I’m debating the same thing, have had it for 3.5 years now and would like more RAM, also afraid of what’s going to happen when the SSD dies eventually, but might be more of an artificial rather than genuine concern. I did get to briefly check out a friends’ FW 13 with the 7840U and it is a much nicer machine than it looks on the website. All aluminum except for the bezel, trackpad is usable, keyboard is better than the MBP in my opinion. I wouldn’t hesitate to switch.
Former Mac user and IT slave (Mac/Win/some Linux) here (since '91). I have a M1 MacBook Air on the same desk as my FW13 Ryzen 5. Keyboard quality is at least comparable, Apple KBs are notoriously finicky and break easily. LAptop quality overall is good enough, it feels a little inferior to the Macbook but that’s because it’s not glued together.
Battery life of the Macbook is unparalleled, you will not have as good battery life. Tons of battery tests here in this subreddit, scroll around, I have not done reliable testing yet.
OTOH I just did a Handbrake (Ubuntu on the framework) conversion test (1080p from x264 to x265) and the FW13 was 37% faster, graphics performance is great for small games, too. 64GB of RAM and 2TB SSD for literally pennies compared to Apple’s prices are nice, too.
What I miss most: 1. my online banking software, 2. iMovie / just installing Davinci Resolve and having it work. Did not dive into video editing yet, but I need it from time to time.
Jump in both feet first. You wont regret ditching apple! The first thing you accidently break, you can probably replace yourself for around £10 (if you break a port). I have a HP EliteBook 840 G9 for my business and a Framework 13 Ryzen 7 for my personal device. Broke a port on my HP, £250 repair.
Wife has a MacBook, wifi failed, cant be replaced. That was over £2,300 just over 22 months ago. I just dont know why people choose Macs anymore - apart from the speakers which people keep telling me ;)
Not really the same usage as you. But I went from an M1 Air to FW13 7840U. For work, it’s mostly Edge with 10-15 tabs open, excel (10k+ rows), and 8+ Citrix environments all open at the same time. As far as battery life goes, I get like 12-14 hours on the MBA @ 50% brightness. On the FW13 I get 7-9 hrs (Win 11 pro, balanced power, 50% brightness). Definitely less than the Mac but it’s still very good. It beats all of my intel machines doing the same thing (<6 hrs). I think the performance matches or even beats my M1 Air. The SSD is certainly faster, so it feels quicker overall.
I think the fingerprint sensor on the FW13 is a tad slower. But it’s still useable. And the Wi-Fi card that comes with it is worst. It drops the connection more whenever you’re like on the edge of range. Luckily, that is upgradeable, so I’ll probably swap that out at some point. Speakers are ok. It’s actually really good in the mids (voices) but lacks bass and treble.
The keyboard is fine. I don’t think it’s any worse than the MBA. Build quality is surprisingly good for how repairable it is. The bezel being plastic, and the mushiness of the power button (fingerprint sensor) is the only thing I think makes it seem cheap. I think the touchpad is fine. I think it’s because most people click and I’m a tapper so it’s fine to me. Does gestures well, is sensitive enough. I wish it was the haptic one like on the Mac only because I don’t click, so the touchpad won’t move lol
I also have a M1 MBP 14"
MPB wins for touchpad and battery life, hands down. I really wish a bigger touchpad was available (space would be an issue).Keyboard is really, really close. MBP by a slim margin. but this is the nicest kb on a win laptop I’ve used.
Screen quality is a draw.FW wins for upgrade/support, flexibility of ports, running Win/Linux. And weight, it weights a lot less.
I don’t worry about fixing a Mac. My 2012 Retina is still going. Battery needs replaced, but everything else works. Wish I could get a newer OS on it, but otherwise its still a great machine.