5 ms·

I love what framework is doing but the fundamental choice of laptop for me is always battery life. If I can't pull the laptop off the dock in the morning and ri

I love what framework is doing but the fundamental choice of laptop for me is always battery life. If I can't pull the laptop off the dock in the morning and ride into the office without packing a charger, I'm not a buyer. MacBooks are the only laptops doing this reliably.

angoragoats 4y ago
This is demonstrably false — I have two 2018 Thinkpad T480 laptops, one running Windows and the other Linux. The windows one gets around 11 hours of moderate use per charge, and the Linux one about 10. And I bought these used with batteries that had quite a few cycles on them already. Laptops with long battery life are out there; Apple machines are not the only option!
- philliphaydon 4y ago
  [dead]
earhart 4y ago
FWIW, Framework also announced a new battery with the same form factor but another 10%-ish capacity. And because the system's amazingly easy to disassemble, if your battery starts to lose capacity, it's trivial to swap in a replacement. I do the "unplug and spend a couple of hours hacking without a charger" thing all the time with mine, and mine's using the previous-generation battery. Not running Windows seems to help a surprising amount.
- AndroidKitKat 4y ago
  I've noticed the exact opposite with my 11th gen i5 Framework (purchased in December 2021). For the life of me, I cannot figure out why my Framework laptop seems to massively drain battery life when I am using Linux. I've tried just about every distro under the sun (Fedora, Ubuntu, Arch, Debian, Gentoo, and even FreeBSD) and I consistently get a battery drain of like 7-10% every 20 minutes doing something simple like watching a YouTube video, reading things in Firefox reader mode, and having an IRC client open. When I said "screw it" and installed Windows, seemingly my battery woes went away. I used pretty much the same programs (Firefox and Weechat) on both operating systems and I'm pretty much completely stumped. I thought about asking out to Framework support but I don't know what good that would do. Another issue I've had is not being able to let the thing sit overnight not on the charger since it drains about 10% an hour with the lid closed in both Windows and Linux, so I'm having to remember to leave it plugged in or know that I'm going to be tethered to the wall in the morning. Regardless of those negatives, I think Framework as a company has done some pretty tremendous things in the laptop space and I hope they continue to do so in the future.
theshrike79 4y ago
This was true in the age before USB-C. Every single computer had a different proprietary connector or weirdly wonky barrel charger with nonstandard voltages. Now you can borrow an USB-C charger from anyone - I've used my Steam Deck charger to charge my laptop (it didn't really charge it as it just slowed down the battery drain, but still it got me through the day). Even a phone charger is better than anything, the extra 10-20W will give you a slight boost in runtime.
dspillett 4y ago
> MacBooks are the only laptops doing this reliably. My ZenBook happily did 16 hours or more a few times (it claimed 22 out of the box though I never needed to ask it to while I was monitoring), though it doesn't seem to do as well now (it has seen regular use for about three years). There are other designs on the market with similar claims too. Most people are looking for something that is just movable when getting a laptop though with power being available most of the time, so double a working day (or more) battery life isn't something that sells big (especially if there is the option to trade it for cost or weight) which is part of why you don't see many laptops even trying. (gaming marketed laptops and other high-power units are a different kettle of fish, you expect and get less life with that sort of use case even with a huge heavy battery or two)

angoragoats 4y ago

This is demonstrably false — I have two 2018 Thinkpad T480 laptops, one running Windows and the other Linux. The windows one gets around 11 hours of moderate use per charge, and the Linux one about 10. And I bought these used with batteries that had quite a few cycles on them already. Laptops with long battery life are out there; Apple machines are not the only option!

philliphaydon 4y ago
[dead]

earhart 4y ago

FWIW, Framework also announced a new battery with the same form factor but another 10%-ish capacity. And because the system's amazingly easy to disassemble, if your battery starts to lose capacity, it's trivial to swap in a replacement. I do the "unplug and spend a couple of hours hacking without a charger" thing all the time with mine, and mine's using the previous-generation battery. Not running Windows seems to help a surprising amount.

AndroidKitKat 4y ago
I've noticed the exact opposite with my 11th gen i5 Framework (purchased in December 2021). For the life of me, I cannot figure out why my Framework laptop seems to massively drain battery life when I am using Linux. I've tried just about every distro under the sun (Fedora, Ubuntu, Arch, Debian, Gentoo, and even FreeBSD) and I consistently get a battery drain of like 7-10% every 20 minutes doing something simple like watching a YouTube video, reading things in Firefox reader mode, and having an IRC client open. When I said "screw it" and installed Windows, seemingly my battery woes went away. I used pretty much the same programs (Firefox and Weechat) on both operating systems and I'm pretty much completely stumped. I thought about asking out to Framework support but I don't know what good that would do. Another issue I've had is not being able to let the thing sit overnight not on the charger since it drains about 10% an hour with the lid closed in both Windows and Linux, so I'm having to remember to leave it plugged in or know that I'm going to be tethered to the wall in the morning. Regardless of those negatives, I think Framework as a company has done some pretty tremendous things in the laptop space and I hope they continue to do so in the future.

theshrike79 4y ago

This was true in the age before USB-C. Every single computer had a different proprietary connector or weirdly wonky barrel charger with nonstandard voltages. Now you can borrow an USB-C charger from anyone - I've used my Steam Deck charger to charge my laptop (it didn't really charge it as it just slowed down the battery drain, but still it got me through the day). Even a phone charger is better than anything, the extra 10-20W will give you a slight boost in runtime.

dspillett 4y ago

> MacBooks are the only laptops doing this reliably. My ZenBook happily did 16 hours or more a few times (it claimed 22 out of the box though I never needed to ask it to while I was monitoring), though it doesn't seem to do as well now (it has seen regular use for about three years). There are other designs on the market with similar claims too. Most people are looking for something that is just movable when getting a laptop though with power being available most of the time, so double a working day (or more) battery life isn't something that sells big (especially if there is the option to trade it for cost or weight) which is part of why you don't see many laptops even trying. (gaming marketed laptops and other high-power units are a different kettle of fish, you expect and get less life with that sort of use case even with a huge heavy battery or two)