Framework Laptop 13 review: Good laptop, brilliant concept

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I have a fraught relationship with the Apple Genius Bar. Between 2019 and 2021, I spent over $1,400 on repairs for my Intel-era MacBook Pro — thrice to replace a cracked display and once to fix five keycaps that kept falling out. (Before you ask, yes, they had butterfly switches.) I was on an early-career freelance writer’s budget at the time, so the bills hit like a truck, and the wait time for repairs left me scrambling.

It’s circumstances like mine that make Framework’s modular laptops so enticing. Rather than spend the equivalent of a brand-new machine on parts and labor, you can open up a Framework Laptop and repair or replace any component yourself. 

This design philosophy allows for ongoing customizability and effectively future-proofs your laptop for life. Next-generation upgrades constitute new motherboards, ports, memory, or batteries instead of entirely new PCs. It’s a more economically and environmentally sustainable way of owning a computer: You’re basically working your way toward a Laptop of Theseus.

Since the inaugural Framework Laptop launched in 2021, Apple has implemented a Self Repair Program for out-of-warranty devices that makes DIY fixes possible (if a hassle) for those with sufficient experience. Other laptop companies like Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Microsoft have similar programs. But Framework’s shtick is still distinct in its approachability, affordability, and the way it encourages true ownership over one’s tech, making the company a leader in the “Right to Repair” movement.

We reviewed the first Framework Laptop 13 upon release and gave it a Mashable Choice Award for its “ingenious design features,” good battery life, and “highly upgradable performance.” After spending several days with a newer model powered by an Intel Core Ultra Series 1 processor, I think it still ticks those key boxes to maintain that distinction.

Framework Laptop 13: Pricing and spec options

My review unit is an entry-level configuration of the Framework Laptop 13 (DIY Edition) that I customized and assembled from scratch. It starts at $799 but retails for $1,197 as tested with the following specs, operating system, and accessories:

• Intel Core Ultra 125H system — $799

• 13.5-inch 2256 x 1504 60Hz matte display (black bezel)

• 16GB RAM (2 x 8GB) — $80

• 500GB SSD storage — $69

• Windows 11 Home (download) — $139

• U.S. English keyboard

• 60W power adapter — $55

• Four port expansion cards — $11 to $22 apiece (Framework threw in six for me to try, including two USB-C, one USB-A, one HDMI, one DisplayPort, and one microSD. You can only use four expansion cards at once, and my usual setup cost $55 total.)

If you want more (or less) from your laptop, Framework’s DIY Edition configuration options are virtually infinite. You can kit it with up to an Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU, a 2.8K 120Hz display, 8GB to 96GB of RAM, 250GB to 8TB of storage, colorful bezels, keyboards in various languages and layouts, and seven different kinds of port expansion cards. These components are available for purchase as part of your initial order, but you can also buy them à la carte when you need to upgrade down the road.

There are a few ways to save a good chunk of money on a Framework Laptop 13. One is by purchasing a refurbished system or parts, which Framework sells at a discount. The other is by bringing your own memory, SSD, power adapter, and operating system. Besides Windows, Linux also works and is free.

Bear in mind that installing your operating system of choice requires a USB flash drive on which you create the installation media from another computer. With Windows, you’ll then need to install a separate driver bundle. (This is basically just a set of extra files that makes sure the laptop runs properly.) These extra steps are unique to the DIY Edition setup process and can be a bit confusing for newbies. If you don’t want to deal with them, opt for a pre-built Framework Laptop 13 that comes with Windows pre-installed.

The “Base” pre-built system will run you $999 for an Intel Core Ultra 125H CPU, the 13.5-inch 60Hz matte display, 8GB RAM, 256GB of storage, Windows 11 Home, and a one-year warranty. There are several upgraded “Performance” and “Productivity” tiers that include better Intel Core Series 1 processors, more RAM, more storage, and three-year warranties, which start at $1,229 to $1,899. Everything is included, save for your four expansion cards.

The Framework Laptop 13 is only available for purchase through the Framework website, not at major retailers like Amazon or Best Buy, though you can buy compatible storage and memory modules for it elsewhere.

Framework Laptop 13: What’s new (and coming soon)

The Framework Laptop 13’s Intel Core Ultra Series 1 update arrived in mid-2024 with an improved webcam and a new thermal system that helps it run cooler and quieter than previous iterations. The company also added a few new customization options at the time, including the 2.8K 120Hz display option ($269), an SD expansion card ($25), and four extra USB-C expansion card colors ($11 each).

More recently, Framework refreshed its 13.5-inch laptop for 2025 with AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series processors. This model has its own tweaked thermal system, a new keyboard with a Copilot key (or the Framework logo for Linux), and WiFi 7. It left its preorder phase in mid-June and is now in stock starting at $899 for the DIY Edition or $1,099 pre-built. I plan on trying it in the near future and will update this review with my findings.

The longevity of the Framework project has been a minor cause for concern since its inception in 2020. (It’s still technically a startup.) But the company’s track record thus far inspires confidence: It’s released new laptops and/or components every year since the original Framework Laptop launched in 2021, and recently expanded its lineup with a modular desktop and a convertible.

Framework Laptop 13: Assembly

Left:
The packaging for the Framework Laptop 13’s components.
Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Right:
Unwrapping the parts.
Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

I want to stress that I’m no Henry Cavill. For as long as I’ve been using laptops as my main computers (since 2011) and reviewing them for Mashable (since 2023), I’ve never actually cracked one open or put one together. When my Framework Laptop 13 DIY Edition arrived as a bunch of individually boxed parts, I was worried I’d be in over my head. 

Luckily, the assembly process is largely stupid-easy. Framework provides step-by-step instructions and helpful demo videos via QR code, and the only tool needed is the included Framework Screwdriver. Every component effortlessly and satisfyingly slides, snaps, or screws snug into place. Better yet, the screws that hold the two halves of the machine’s base together are physically attached to its underside — you couldn’t lose them if you tried.

I installed my laptop’s storage with a few twists of the Framework Screwdriver.
Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Putting my Framework Laptop 13 together for the first time took me no more than 15 minutes, and with enough practice, I think I could speedrun it in just one or two, like a one-woman PC pit crew. That Framework has refined its assembly process to be so foolproof and precise is an amazing feat of engineering. The trickiest part was wrangling a cheap USB-C flash drive and another PC so I could put Windows on it.

What’s also great is that taking the Framework Laptop 13 apart is just as painless as putting it together. I popped mine open and completely disassembled it into its fresh-out-of-the-box state so I could walk my curious husband through its construction. 

This looks scary. I promise it’s not.
Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Components like the SSD and memory module that you install at setup will detach with a gentle pull, but freeing others that come attached already — like the battery, touchpad, display, and speakers — requires more effort. I didn’t attempt to swap these out in my testing, but I think I could manage if needed: Small QR labels scattered throughout the laptop’s internals pull up thorough replacement guides for help in making upgrades and fixes.

All things considered, it totally tracks that the Framework Laptop 13 got a rare 10/10 repairability score from iFixit, a company that publishes electronic repair guides, teardowns, and ratings. I’ve built IKEA furniture that’s more convoluted.

Framework Laptop 13: Design and build quality

The matte finish on the Framework Laptop 13’s screen is great.
Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Let’s set aside the Framework Laptop 13’s consummate fix- and take-apart-ability for a minute to discuss its design at face value: What does it look and feel like to use as a daily driver? I’d say pretty good.

At a quick glance, the all-aluminum Framework Laptop 13 looks a lot like a sleek, silvery MacBook — specifically a 2019 or 2020 MacBook Air with an angled base. The two things that blow its cover are the gear-shaped logo in the center of its lid and the solidness of the lid itself: It has little give when you press down in the center of it, and the screen wobbles a hair when you open or adjust its position (though not when you type). I’m definitely not concerned about its overall build quality or long-term durability, but it does lack that sort of premium feel.

The Framework Laptop 13 measures 0.62 inches thin and weighs 2.87 pounds, making it decisively portable, if not quite as svelte as an M4 MacBook Air.

Display

The Framework Laptop 13’s standard display is fine, but I’d probably get the 2.8K one if you have the budget.
Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

As mentioned, my review unit shipped with a 2256 x 1504 display that has a 60Hz refresh rate. The 3:2 aspect ratio makes for a spacious-feeling screen on a relatively compact laptop. It’s rated at 400 nits, which, coupled with its matte finish, makes the picture fairly easy to see in bright sunlight. When I worked on it at my desk, which gets a moderate amount of sun throughout the day, I actually found it comfiest to use a few ticks below maximum brightness.

The actual picture quality could’ve been a bit better. While colors appeared decently vibrant, small text in news articles and Google Docs looked a tad fuzzier on the Framework Laptop 13 compared to my MacBook Pro, which has a 3024 x 1964 display. I don’t think the 2.8K option is a mandatory purchase, but I’d consider it if you have a little wiggle room in your budget. (It’s less than $100 more.)

Keyboard and touchpad

Left:
A peek into the Framework Laptop 13’s base.
Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Right:
And the laptop fully assembled with the keyboard and trackpad.
Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

The Framework Laptop 13’s keyboard has well-spaced, island-style keys with adjustable backlighting and a fingerprint sensor (located in the power button). It was clicky and super comfortable to type on, but a little less squishiness would’ve pushed it into “satisfying” territory. I prefer crisper keyboards.

The matte glass touchpad on the Framework Laptop 13 felt really nice: It’s smooth and soft to the touch — velvety, even. My fingers glided across it without awkwardly skidding, and it didn’t make any misclicks. I should mention that it doesn’t have haptics, if that’s your thing, but it didn’t feel like a downgrade after coming from a MacBook Pro. 

Webcam

A selfie I took on the Framework Laptop 13 featuring my parrot, Melon (the green blob on the right), and an annoying chin pimple that the camera accentuated.
Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

The Framework Laptop 13’s webcam module features a 1080p camera with a physical privacy shutter and an on/off slider for its mic. Its picture quality was grainy and oddly hued: On camera, my skin looked reddish and my surroundings seemed muted. I can’t ding it too much because it’s rare that we encounter a truly great laptop webcam, but just know that this definitely isn’t one of them.

Speakers

I apply a similar line of thinking to the two 2W speakers on the Framework Laptop 13. They’re located on either side of the bottom of the machine’s base (upturned at a slight angle) and are definitely my least favorite thing about it. They get very loud, but they sound very mid: muffled, tinny, and bass-deficient. Laptop speakers are also rarely good, but I really hope Framework introduces a new audio module the next time it refreshes its 13.5-incher.

Ports

People think I’m obsessed with this, but I’m OK with it. I am obsessed with it. And I think this is an obsession that doesn’t hurt anyone.
Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

I’ll end this section on a high note: The Framework Laptop 13’s connectivity is one of the coolest things about it. Along with a permanent 3.5mm audio jack, there are four slots underneath its base that are meant to hold the expansion cards of your choosing. These fit tight and flush when in place, but slide out easily with the press of a button. 

At least one of those cards needs to have a USB-C port for charging. Otherwise, you’re free to swap them in and out as needed. In other words, this laptop’s ports are whatever you want them to be. Need a microSD card slot to transfer photos from a camera? Want to move your charger to reach an outlet? The sky’s the limit. This is brilliant.

Framework Laptop 13: Performance

The Framework Laptop 13 might look a lot like a MacBook, but it sure doesn’t perform like one. (Not the entry-level model I tested, at least.)
Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

For reference, we assess laptops’ performance in real-world situations by running them through multi-tab and -app stress tests, gauging their fan noise and heat levels. We also benchmark them using Primate Labs’ Geekbench 6 CPU test, which produces scores we can use to quantify and compare different models’ processing power.

In the real-world stress test, I pulled up 20 tabs in a Google Chrome window along with two separate apps (Spotify and Clock, which had a timer running). My Framework Laptop 13’s fan kicked on once 10 of the tabs finished loading, then whirred quietly in the background until all 20 had loaded. After that, the fan turned off and I didn’t hear it again, even when I plugged in the laptop. (That usually makes PCs run a little harder.)

The fan vent on the underside of the laptop’s chassis got quite warm during this test, but never so hot that I couldn’t touch it. Conversely, the surface around its keyboard didn’t get warm at all.

The Framework Laptop 13 felt a little laggy when I was pulling up my tabs, but to be fair, I opened all 20 of them at once. Once they all loaded, I didn’t notice any performance issues — nothing stuttered or slowed down when I pulled up yet another page and typed in a Google Doc.

I’d call it a competent but overpriced low-end performer.

In the Geekbench 6 benchmark, my Framework Laptop 13 got a multi-core score of 8,231, ranking in the bottom 15 percent among the non-gaming Windows laptops we’ve tested. That’s not unexpected considering it has an entry-level processor, but it’s not a great score for the money: The other laptops we’ve tested in the $1,100 to $1,200 range scored 12,267 and above. (These had a Snapdragon X Elite or Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor.) Overall, I’d call it a competent but overpriced low-end performer.

One last thing before I move on: The Intel-based Framework Laptop 13 is not a Copilot+ PC, but it does support some of Microsoft’s AI-powered features for Windows. One of them is Live Captions, which was fast but a little iffy on accuracy in my testing. I recorded a video of myself saying, “Melon is a cute little bird” (Melon being my pet parrot); Live Captions got the transcription right initially, then changed it to “Melania’s a cute little bird” after a few seconds. Not quite!

The Restyle Image and Image Creator features in Microsoft Photos were also available on my Framework Laptop 13. I would personally never use them on a regular basis — I don’t like AI image generators for a variety of ethical, environmental, and artistic reasons — but they did work as intended in my testing.

Finally, there’s a Copilot shortcut pinned to the taskbar in Windows, which you can remove. There isn’t a physical Copilot key on the Framework Laptop 13’s keyboard. 

Some users might be drawn to the fact that the Intel-based Framework Laptop 13 isn’t decked out in AI, myself included. It feels less bloated than some of the other Windows laptops I’ve tried.

Framework Laptop 13: Battery life

We run every laptop we review through the exact same battery life benchmark, which involves looping a 1080p video at 50% volume and 50% brightness until the machine dies.

Framework doesn’t provide battery life estimates for its laptops, but it did note that Intel’s Core Ultra Series 1 processors boasted “major improvements in efficiency and battery life” compared to its older chips, “especially on use cases like video playback.” 

The original Framework Laptop we tried in 2021 had an 11th-generation Intel Core i7 CPU and lasted eight to nine hours. Knowing that, I thought I’d get nine, maybe 10 hours out of my newer but entry-level configuration. (For reference, nine hours was the current median runtime for the Windows laptops in our database at the time of testing.)

Suffice to say, the Framework Laptop 13 made me look like a doofus when it held out for 17 hours and 10 minutes. That’s an utterly excellent battery life — longer than some of the newer MacBooks we’ve tried. 

I was so shocked by these results that I texted the aforementioned husband just after the 17-hour mark to make sure he hadn’t messed with my test when I wasn’t looking. He assures me he’s innocent.

Is the Framework Laptop 13 worth it?

Once again, the Framework Laptop 13 earns a Mashable Choice Award.
Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Let’s be crystal clear that other premium laptops offer better performance and nicer specs than the Framework Laptop 13 for the same price or less. The M4 MacBook Air, for example, has the best on-paper value that we’ve seen in a long time, combining high-octane performance, a beautiful display, a legitimately good webcam, and 16GB of RAM for a starting price of only $999. Yet it’s costly to repair and a pain for most people to take apart.

The thing about a Framework Laptop 13 is that it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. You’re paying for its hardware, yes, but you’re also paying for the privilege of long-term fixability and future-proofing. Is that more important to you than having the snazziest specs of the moment?

For me, it’s worth the upfront investment. As someone who tests myriad computers for work, but isn’t a tinkerer by nature, I’m struck by the ease and empowerment of Framework’s concept. I feel like I got to know the Framework Laptop 13 better than any other PC I’ve ever tried or owned. It’s opened my eyes to the value of repairability and, frankly, made me rethink my relationship with all of the technology I own. Consider me Framework-pilled.