Framework 13 Laptop Review | More Battery Life & Best Performance Laptop

The new framework laptops for 2023. if you haven't heard about framework they are a new company that burst onto the scene about two years ago their unique focus is on delivering a fully upgradable and repairable laptop which is exactly what we want this takes a lot of stress out of the buying process as you no longer have to decide up front.

What configuration you should get you can relax knowing you can upgrade it later on this also increases the longevity of the laptop and is of course better for the environment.

What's New in Framework 13

The good news is that they have updated their framework 13.5 with Intel's latest 13th gen and AMD ryzen zen4 processors I have one of them here today which I'm going to put through the paces and tell you all about they also have an upcoming larger 16 inch version

Which has upgradable graphics and a cool swappable keyboard design that allows you to switch between a centered keyboard or one with a number pad all laptops can be purchased as a full laptop or if like me you have an older framework you can just purchase the upgrade kit

Which is substantially cheaper than buying a completely new laptop so that's what I went with with the 13th gen i7 1360p motherboard upgrade by the way I would have chosen the ryzen Zen 4 version but it wasn't shipping till Q3 of this year

I also have the new larger capacity battery it's a 61 watt hour up from 57 and it is the same physical size as the older one according to framework its capacity increase due to improvements in the lithium-ion chemistry I also have the new hinge which Promises to Keep the screen stable while making it easier to open with one hand

Which is welcome I did struggle to open the older one with one hand there is a new matte display option this will make the screen easier to read in bright lighting conditions that would have otherwise caused a lot of Reflections other than that it's the same panel same resolution colors and brightness

I also have the new louder speakers and the new HDMI DisplayPort cards that will allow the laptop to stay in a low power state for better battery life while while you have them in the laptop framework has also released a bunch of other upgrades over the last two years

Such as a 2.5 gigabit Ethernet card and there is a Cooler Master case coming this case is super cool excuse the pun it will convert your framework motherboard into a small desktop again further increasing the longevity and reuse of these parts.

Performance

The performance difference was immediately apparent with all drivers and software up to date and running in best performance mode in geekbench 6 single core was up 25 and multi-core a whopping 59 geekbench 6 by the way tests a variety of common performance tasks in cinebench

which tests how the laptop performs Under full load single core was up 30 and multi-core literally 119 which is more than twice as fast wow if you are wondering what's happening behind the scene my older 11th gen version of the laptop Drew 50 watts of power at Max.

This new version draws 60 that being said the older version averaged around 28 watts of power over a 10 minute torture test that is Running Center bench on a loop. The new version Drew 31 Watts clock speeds hit the advertised 5 gigahertz but then averaged at 2.4 and CPU temperatures hit the max of 100 degrees

So you can really see the efficiency that's on display of Intel's 13th gen over the 11th under performance tasks the keyboard deck felt very comfortable at a Max of 42 degrees Celsius that Max by the way was around the top of the keyboard deck which you rarely use.

Speaker's Improvement

The speaker upgrade I definitely noticed an improvement the speakers were louder and clearer for the music tracks I measured I would say somewhere around 5 to 10 decibels.

The new speakers also had a better Sound Stage that being said they absolutely do not come close to the speakers in my MacBook Pro 14. these speakers lack the fullness of those there is literally no base on these at all.

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