Framework 13 Review (Intel Core Ultra Series 1)

The little Framework 13 laptop is one of my favorite notebooks. And I’ve owned, tested, and generally played with a ton of different gaming and office laptops over my nearly 20 years as a hardware journalist. So when I say that this latest version of the infinitely configurable, infinitely repairable laptop left me rather indifferent, I’m only saying that because of the up-to-date Intel technology inside, not because of any up-to-date flaws in the now classic design.

Everything else about this device is great, from the up-to-date higher-resolution, higher-refresh-rate screen to the improved cooling, but — and I hate to kick someone who’s down — the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor at its heart doesn’t do anything good for its quality as a device.

It may be a newer motherboard inside Frame 13 Intel Core Ultra Series 1 device, but it seems to lag behind AMD’s excellent Framework 13 Ryzen series that it launched last year on virtually all fronts. It has better raw processing, more reliable gaming performance, and AMD’s version is now cheaper, in the $150 range. It’s also a bit down in terms of processing power compared to Intel’s older 13th-generation motherboard.

None of this takes away from the feeling you get as a die-hard PC enthusiast when you open the DIY Framework 13 box. This is the first time I’ve ever had a DIY experience; previously, I’d either get a pre-built PC in one piece, ready to go out of the box, or I’d be sent motherboards so I could upgrade my existing PC.

And it’s a really nice experience. Everything is packed tightly, with the main unit already equipped with the motherboard, screen, and associated Wi-Fi and webcam modules, and you’ll need to install RAM, an SSD, I/O modules, a bezel, and a keyboard.

It’s plain stuff, and requires only the included Allen screwdriver you operate for all of the Framework’s tweaks. But it’s this level of intimate involvement with the device that I love, and it’s what’s fueled such a mighty attachment to the unit I’ve used as my work laptop ever since I first got my hands on Framework 13.

But that’s an experience you can have with any Framework laptop, not one constrained to the Intel Core Ultra Series 1 version. So what Down what do you get with this Meteor Lake-based setup? You get better cooling, and better battery life, and… that’s about it.

Picture 1 With 3

To be fair, cooling was an issue with Framework 13 machines. They’re relatively thin devices, and having to remove and upgrade their motherboards means they can’t be too tightly woven into the inside of the case. And that means the fans are pretty small and have to work extra hard to keep everything cool. In the case of Framework 13, that means they can get really loud, really fast.

This is not a big problem with the Core Ultra Series 1 motherboard, which can relatively discreet even at maximum performance and pushing the CPU and iGPU to their limits. Even running Football Manager on a Ryzen series board, by comparison, is too difficult for me to play in polite company.

But as you can see from the benchmark results, the Ryzen chip is still the king of gaming and production performance. And honestly, I’ll take the louder fans for the extra performance. It’s not even about the extra frames per second or faster rendering, it’s about the consistency of performance. In my long experience, I’ve rarely had an Intel device be more unstable than a comparable AMD device, but that’s where we are.

Gaming performance, as we know from experience with Intel’s GPU architecture, is sometimes better than others, and the 22-thread Core Ultra 155H in this motherboard isn’t capable of consistently beating the 16-thread Zen 4 in the Ryzen 7 7840U.

It’s also pretty depressing that gaming aside, the Core Ultra seems to be a definite step back from Intel’s 13th-gen motherboard when it comes to performance. Unless you really want to play games on your Framework, there’s no reason to move from the 13th-gen to the Core Ultra series, and if he did If you want to play some games, you will be better off buying a cheaper AMD motherboard.

Still, battery life and fan noise are moderately better, right?

Picture 1 With 3

Frustratingly, you still don’t have control over how your system is configured when it comes to anything more specific than Windows’ three power levels, and none of the Framework owners offer any hints about fan control. I miss software controls like Ayaneo’s AyaSpace app, which gives it near-limitless control over its mini PCs and portable gaming consoles.

This would allow you to squeeze a bit more battery life out of the device for gaming, just like you can do with up-to-date laptops. But to be fair to the Meteor Lake motherboard, it does have better battery life when using the same capacity power supply as AMD’s version. For gaming, that only means about 12 minutes of extra play time, but for standard office work, it would be a relatively significant extra chunk of usable runtime.

The only other complaint I have with this otherwise excellent AMD Framework 13-based display is the screen. The 2256 x 1504 panel is only a 60Hz display, and it has some pretty sedate ghosting issues when gaming. The up-to-date screen that came with this DIY laptop, however, is a 2880 x 1920 version, which also has a 120Hz refresh rate and higher peak luminance.

It’s definitely an improvement over the original, and a very welcome potential upgrade for anyone who’s already purchased Framework 13. For some reason, the company’s CEO felt obligated to share too much information about the panel’s rounded corners, and he deserves kudos for his commitment to transparency, but I didn’t notice it at all while using the device.

I will say that ghosting hasn’t gone away though. There’s still a bit of it on this panel and it can lead to a slightly blurry effect when things are moving across the screen at high speeds and you lose some detail in the image. It’s better than the previous panel, for sure, but not day and night.

Picture 1 With 4

One peculiarity, however, is that the up-to-date screen seems Just be available to the DIY community. If you buy a pre-made version of Framework 13, in any form, your only option will be the previous lower-resolution display, while you can spend another $130 and get a better display if you go the DIY route. It’s worth noting that you can also pick up the panel on the excellent Framework marketplace as standalone component for $269. And this is an improvement I would recommend to anyone who already has such a device.

And it literally takes less than five minutes to put into your laptop. Trust me, we’ve measured it.

I had really high hopes for the Core Ultra Series 1 version of the Framework 13 processor. The pros are longer battery life and quieter fans, but the cons are a higher price and slower CPU performance than AMD’s solution.

And it just seems a lot less reliable in terms of the level of performance you’ll get in terms of apps and games. The Ryzen 7 7840U is absolutely consistent, and you really know what to expect — namely, top-notch gaming performance and an incredibly productive eight-core Zen 4 processor.

Ultimately, this is the version of Framework I plan to return to. I might take a higher-resolution panel with me — I’m a goddamn sucker for high refresh rates, after all — but I’m not sold on Intel’s latest motherboard at all.