Framework Laptop 13 (2023) Laptop Review

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD looks identical to its predecessors. It has a simple design with a silver-color aluminum chassis, relatively thin bezels, an island keyboard with black keycaps, and two 'expansion' slots on each side. There are air vents on the bottom and the back of the laptop. You can also find the speakers on the bottom, near the front. The bezel color is customizable; you can choose from the following colors: black, gray, orange, green, lavender, and red.

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD's build quality is excellent. Its aluminum and plastic construction feels sturdy, exhibiting very little flex on the lid, keyboard deck, and display. That said, due to its modular design, it has more seams and doesn't feel quite as solid as premium laptops with a unibody design. The finish doesn't scratch easily or pick up many fingerprints and smudges. The expansion cards also feel solid and fit the cutouts well.

The hinge is outstanding. It has a wide range, so you can easily share the screen with someone opposite you. It feels smooth when opening and closing the lid, and it's very stable, with almost no play at all. The screen only wobbles slightly when typing aggressively.

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD and its power adapter are compact and lightweight.

Everything is replaceable in the Framework Laptop 13 AMD, even the motherboard, display, fan, and speakers. Accessing the internals is very easy; you only need to remove a few torque screws and remove the keyboard. Just ensure you disconnect the keyboard cable. The screws are captive, meaning they remain attached to the panel to facilitate reassembly. While most parts are proprietary, meaning you must get them from Framework, the RAM and storage slots accept off-the-shelf parts.

See the repair guides here.

• 60W GaN charger and cord
• USB-C to USB-C (right-angle) cord
• Documentation
• Framework screwdriver
• Stickers
• Iron On graphic patch

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD's display looks very sharp and provides just enough room for some light multitasking. Its 3:2 aspect ratio is more squarish than the popular 16:9 and 16:10 aspect ratios. The increased vertical space is great for productivity because you don't need to scroll as much when reading documents and websites; however, you get less space to place two windows side by side. Also, you'll almost always have black bars at the top and bottom when viewing videos.

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD is only available with a 60Hz display. Its response time is very slow, resulting in visible ghosting behind fast-moving objects. If you want a laptop from this company with a better display, consider the Framework Laptop 16 (2023) featuring a QHD+ 165Hz IPS panel.

The display's contrast ratio is within the typical range of most IPS panels. However, it's still relatively low compared to other display technologies like VA and OLED. This contrast level makes blacks look gray in dim settings.

The display gets bright enough for use in most indoor settings. As for outdoor use, it's doable, but you may have trouble seeing some content in direct sunlight. It gets very dim at the lowest brightness setting, which helps reduce eye strain when viewing content in a dark environment.

The display's matte display works well against direct, mirror-like reflections. Bright light sources, like a lamp or open window during the day, are only distracting when viewing dark-color content. The matte coating is new to this generation of the Framework Laptop 13. You can get the matte display from Framework if you want to swap out the glossy screen on an older model.

The display's black uniformity is good. Other than some minor backlight bleed along the top and bottom edges, the rest of the screen is pretty uniform.

The display's horizontal viewing angle is okay. The image dims and washes out fairly quickly when moving to the side. It's best to be close or directly in front of the screen if you need perfect accuracy for color-critical work.

The display's vertical viewing angle is okay. Like the horizontal viewing angle, the image looks dimmer and more washed out from above or below. You need to look at the screen more or less straight on to see an accurate image.

The display's out-of-the-box accuracy is outstanding. The white balance and color inaccuracies are extremely minor and hard to spot with the naked eye. The gamma sticks to an almost flat 2.2, making dark scenes too dark and bright scenes too bright.

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD has an sRGB display, meaning it only has full or near-full coverage of the sRGB color space. Its coverage of the wider Adobe RGB and DCI P3 is too low for print photography and HDR video production.

The backlight is entirely flicker-free, which helps reduce eye strain.

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD has a good keyboard. Its layout feels spacious and is easy to get used to. The keys are relatively stable, have a good amount of travel, and provide satisfying tactile feedback. Their high operating force can help reduce typos, as you need to press purposefully to actuate a key, but it can also cause fatigue if you aren't used to it. You can adjust between three backlight brightness levels or turn it off completely. The backlighting is white, leaning on the cooler side.

The touchpad is relatively large and feels smooth. It tracks movements and gestures well, but the edges seem less responsive than the center. There are no issues with palm rejection. You can only click in the bottom half of the touchpad; the left click on our unit behaves oddly, as there are two clicks, one shallower and one deeper. The shallow click doesn't trigger anything, which can be annoying, as it feels like you've pressed the button, but the system isn't responding. This behavior is likely an issue that's only present in our unit, so your experience may vary. The good thing is that, like everything else, the touchpad is replaceable.

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD's speakers sound crude, boxy, and unnatural, with almost no bass. They get very loud but distort and rattle at high volume levels. The speakers are also out of phase, causing noticeable artifacts in some content. Like the touchpad, this is likely an issue with our unit. Let us know in the discussions if you've experienced the same thing.

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD has a good webcam. The image looks detailed but a tad noisy and underexposed, with slightly oversaturated colors. Voices sound relatively clear over the microphone, with almost no static background noise. There are individual privacy covers for the camera and microphone; they act as a physical barrier and disable the webcam and microphone at the software level.

Like its predecessors, the Framework Laptop 13 AMD has a modular port system that lets you change the ports as needed. Each port is a small cartridge called an 'expansion card', and there are also expansion cards with a built-in SSD to increase storage. You can buy as many expansion cards as you want from the following options:

• USB-A (USB 3.2 Gen 2)
• USB-C (USB 4, charging, DisplayPort Alt Mode)
• DisplayPort (1.4)
• MicroSD (UHS-I)
• HDMI (2.0b)
• Ethernet
• 250GB (USB 3.2 Gen 2) Storage drive
• 1TB (USB 3.2 Gen 2) Storage drive

The AMD version of the Framework Laptop 13 has a slightly different port configuration than the Intel version. On the AMD model, only the two slots closest to the back support USB 4 (up to 40Gbps data transfer speed), while the two front ones support USB 3.2 Gen 2 (up to 10Gbps). The two back slots also pull more power when using a USB-A expansion card. All slots support video output except the front left slot. See Framework's diagram here.

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD's wireless adapter is an AMD RZ616, also known as the MediaTek MT922A22M. Wi-Fi 6E has faster speeds, lower latency, and less signal interference than previous Wi-Fi standards. However, you need a router that supports Wi-Fi 6E to benefit from these features.

The Framework Laptop 13 is available with the following CPUs:

• AMD Ryzen 5 7640U (6 cores/12 threads, up to 4.9GHz)
• AMD Ryzen 7 7840U (8 cores/16 threads, up to 5.1GHz)

Both are low-power CPUs typically found in thin and light laptops. They're designed for general productivity tasks, like text processing, spreadsheets, web browsing, and video playback. They can handle some demanding workloads like programming; just don't expect to get as smooth an experience or complete tasks as quickly as on laptops with a more powerful H-series CPU. The Ryzen 5 is likely fast enough for most people with a business-oriented, general productivity type of workload. If you're a heavy multitasker, it's best to go with the Ryzen 7, as its increased core count will give you more headroom.

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD is only available with integrated graphics. The AMD Ryzen 5 7640U has the AMD Radeon 760M iGPU, while the Ryzen 7 7840U has the AMD Radeon 780M iGPU. Both are designed for light productivity tasks like web browsing and video playback. They can handle some graphically intensive games; however, you'll have to play with low settings to get playable frame rates. If you plan on gaming, getting the Ryzen 7 7840U is best, as its Radeon 780M iGPU is faster and will provide a better experience.

The pre-configured models have a fixed amount of RAM; the Base model has 8GB, the Performance model has 16GB, and the Professional model has 32GB. The DIY edition lets you choose from 8GB to 64GB. Some of the DIY memory configurations are in single-channel mode. If you don't plan on adding a second module, getting a model with dual-channel memory is best. The RAM is user-replaceable; the laptop uses regular SO-DIMM memory modules. You can skip the memory configuration (DIY edition) if you want to use your own modules.

The pre-configured models have a fixed amount of storage; the Base model has 256GB, the Performance model has 512GB, and the Professional model has 1TB. Like previous Framework Laptops, the pre-configured models use a different SSD than the DIY options. For the DIY edition, you can choose from the following storage configurations:

• 250GB WD_Black SN770
• 500GB WD_Black SN770
• 1TB WD_Black SN770
• 1TB WD_Black SN850X
• 2TB WD_Black SN770
• 2TB WD_Black SN850X
• 4TB WD_Black SN850X
• None (bring your own)

All of the storage options are M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4 SSDs. The SN850X drives are faster; see the SN770's specifications and the SN850X's specifications.

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD's overall score in Geekbench 5 is outstanding. The AMD Ryzen 7 7840U's performance is among the best compared to other current-generation x86 U-series CPUs. It can easily handle general productivity tasks and moderately heavy workloads. You're still better off getting a laptop with an H-series CPU or an Apple MacBook Pro with Apple silicon for highly demanding tasks. The Ryzen 5 7640U has fewer cores and threads and is best suited for light workloads like text processing and web browsing.

The AMD Radeon 780M iGPU's performance is impressive for integrated graphics but still falls behind even entry-level discrete GPUs like the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650.

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD's overall Cinebench R23 score is outstanding. The AMD Ryzen 7 7840U performs remarkably well for a low-power U-series CPU. It can certainly handle heavily multi-threaded workloads, but know that there are significantly faster CPUs on the market, like the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX in the Dell Alienware m18 (2023). The Ryzen 5 7640U has fewer cores and threads and is better suited for light workloads only.

The AMD Ryzen 7 7840U renders images in Blender reasonably quickly for a low-power U-series CPU, matching the completion time of the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M2, 2023) with an M2 Pro SoC. That said, if you render images professionally, you're better off getting a laptop with a dedicated GPU. Even an entry-level GPU like an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 can render images faster. GPU rendering isn't available for the AMD Radeon 780M iGPU.

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD's score is disappointing in the Basemark GPU benchmark. However, the score doesn't fully represent real-world performance, as shown in the game benchmarks. In actual gameplay, the AMD Radeon 780M is roughly equivalent to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (Max-Q) in performance. It can handle some graphically intensive games, but only at the lowest settings. The AMD Ryzen 5 7640U's iGPU is slower and will have more difficulty reaching 60 fps, even with low settings.

The Western Digital PC SN740 SSD (pre-configured model) has very fast read and write speeds, which help make the system feel snappy and responsive. For the DIY edition, all of the storage options are fast SSDs, though the performance will vary depending on the model and size. The WD_Black SN850X is the fastest, followed by the SN770.

Framework advertises that the 250GB expansion card SSD has up to 1000 MB/s read and 375 MB/s write speeds, while the 1TB drive has 1000 MB/s read and 1000 MB/s write speeds.

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD's battery life is great. You can easily get through a typical 8-hour workday on a full charge. However, it takes a while to charge to full. Models with an AMD Ryzen 5 CPU have a smaller 55Wh battery.

Borderlands 3 runs poorly at 1080p with high settings. The gameplay is choppy due to low, inconsistent frame rates. You can get over 60 fps with low settings, which is a significant improvement over the Intel-based Framework Laptop 13 (2022). However, you'll likely still experience some stutters.

We've also run the benchmarks in Red Dead Redemption 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 to give you a better idea of the overall performance of a Ryzen 7 7840U model. Here are the results:

Red Dead Redemption 2

• Avg FPS (1080p, high settings): 17 fps
• Avg FPS On Very Low: 63 fps
• Avg FPS (High settings + FSR 2): 30 fps
• AVG FPS (Low settings + FSR 2): 67 fps

Cyberpunk 2077

• Avg FPS (1080p, high settings): 22 fps
• Avg FPS On Very Low: 45 fps
• Avg FPS (High settings + FSR 2.1): 32 fps
• Avg FPS (Low settings + FSR 2.1): 50 fps

Civilization VI runs reasonably well on the Framework Laptop 13 AMD with an AMD Ryzen 7 7840U. You only need to turn down a few settings to get over 60 fps. The gameplay is smooth, with only the occasional stutter. The Ryzen 5 7640U can also push over 60 fps with a few tweaks in the settings.

Counter-Strike 2 runs pretty smoothly despite what the graph and results show. You only need to lower a few settings to get over 60 fps consistently. The Ryzen 5 7640U can also push over 60 fps easily.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider runs poorly at 1080p with high settings; however, you can get close to 60 fps with low settings. The game is playable even with frame rates in the 40s and 50s. The large frametime spikes are scene changes and aren't representative of the performance.

The keyboard is mildly warm when idle. It gets a bit toasty under load, especially on the right-hand side between the letters U and P. The fan is audible at full speed but isn't distracting.

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD's performance over time is superb. The CPU's throttling is very minimal and isn't noticeable in most uses.

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD has no pre-installed software applications other than those that typically come with Windows 11. The DIY edition lets you choose between Windows 11 Home or Pro, and you can also skip the OS configuration if you want to install a custom operating system like Ubuntu or Pop! OS. Framework provides instructions on how to install a custom operating system.

The Framework Laptop 13 AMD has a fingerprint sensor built into the power button. You can use it to log into Windows, authorize purchases in the Windows Store, or auto-fill saved passwords on supported websites.