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System76 or Framework laptop?

Look, we know System76 laptops are based as fuck. I mean, Coreboot, Open source firmware, PopOS, and a fucking open source mobo in the works, just so fucking based.

But man, these framework laptops look cool too. Completely modular and easy to work on. Looks like the company has proved it isn't going to go under anytime soon.

I'm debating what to get once I feel like upgrading from the trusty ol ThinkPad. What would you buy?

203 comments
  • I got a System76 laptop in 2018, and it was a huge disappointment. Had to return it after a couple days because it stopped working, and they wanted my credit card info again before they'd ship me a replacement. The screen is awful and has a purple tint to it, and not all the features worked on Linux for the first year I had it.

    If I wanted that level of frustration, a Windows laptop with similar specs would have been half the price.

  • I bought a System76 Lemur a few years ago. It has a pretty standard ultra-book form factor, but is pretty light, and the battery life was phenomonal. I regularly got 20+ hours on a single charge when doing light development work. The IPS screen was good, the trackpad was nice, the keyboard was ok, and the speakers are... well, completely terrible. I never really had any software issues on it running Pop. Maybe it would get stuck coming out of suspend every few months or so? I liked it a lot as an upgrade from my 2013 MacBook Air.

    BUT....

    Support was pretty awful, and I'm not sure I'd recommend getting one because of it unfortunately. :( Out of the box, the ctrl key was bad and would unclip with a nasty "crunch" noise. I had to send it in to get that fixed, though it was pretty painless. Then a few months later the wifi card died, and I had to send it in again. There was a lot of back and forth to get it fixed that time. Then as it was about to got out of warranty it died again. This time was like pulling teeth. I had to triple check things and send them logs multiple times, each time with a turnaround of several days. It took weeks for them to finally say "sounds like a hardware issue, what would you like us to do?". I was flabergasted. It was still in warranty, why would you even ask that?! I spent several weeks trying to convince them my in warranty device needed repairs and they wanted to know if I wanted it fixed?! It took 6 weeks in total to get it fixed, and it turned out that it was a bad connector on the motherboard causing the issues the whole time. When I got it back it was missing a couple screws and the power supply. They basically called me a liar. -_- A couple weeks ago it died completely and won't power on anymore. I chatted with support again, but they just started giving me the same run-around. I gave up.

    I pre-ordered an AMD Framework back in March. Now I'm kinda grumpy because I have no laptop and I bought one that might not ship for another month or two. I wasn't too worried if the AMD Framework had some early adopter issues as the Lemur still worked when I put in the pre-order. Grrr. -_- My old 2013 MacBook Air is still in pristine condition though... Considering just putting Linux on that to use for a few months.

  • I've only owned a System76 laptop and they are alright. Framework would be my next choice for sure.

  • I wish they had 10 inch option. Something like GPD Win Max 2, but without gaming features

    • There's not enough thin 10 inch laptops on the market. I'd love to have a simple affordable one without 2010 bezels...

  • besides choosing between the 2 great options, I'm like... : C'MON JUST PICK ONE AND SEND IT TO ME XD because they do not make shipments in my country 😥

  • As someone who is a die-hard linux user who would never even consider using windows, I would never even consider a system76 over a framework, honestly.

  • I don't get the hype of paying a premium for these laptops over just doing the research required to make sure you get one that will work fine with Linux instead, for much less.

    A modularized laptop is cool but how often are you really going to want to mess with a laptop once it's working anyway?

203 comments