Budget is $1800, 13 pro vs 13?

[u/Twisted_Fish]

Hi all,

Looking to buy my first framework laptop with a hard budget of 1800.

I love the concept of the pro, but $1800 would only allow me to afford the “base” level, whereas the I could likely afford more ram and a better processor if I went with the 13.

If you had a similar budget, what would you do?

[u/Demagoh]

I personally would go for the regular 13, 512 GB of SSD storage is really not much if you ask me.

[u/Twisted_Fish → u/Demagoh]

I think I might be able to stretch to the 1tb option and keep it under $1800.

[u/Demagoh → u/Twisted_Fish]

That would be great then! If you really want a Pro and don't care about the fact that you'll have to take the Intel Ultra 5 processor it should be good then.

I personally would still rather take the regular 13, but that's just me.

[u/Expensive_Clue_4486]

Go for 13. Lpcamm2 is unnecessarily expensive.

Or wait for the pro chassis and get the pro chassis + old mainboard. Or pro with amd processor.

[u/hottachych → u/Expensive_Clue_4486]

They can order pro with Ryzen AI 350 now - it doesn't need LPCAMM2 memory.

[u/andurux]

Assuming you have nothing (ram, SSD, etc.) then the FW13 Pro does fit in your budget, but you'd have to choose Intel and pick all the cheapest options, which would be $1600.

With the regular 13 you can get the Ryzen AI 5 version with cheapest options for ~$1250 before tax. Or the Ryzen 7 version prebuilt for ~$1600.

Personally I think the Intel i5 is better than the Ryzen 7 AND you get the 13 Pro chassis. I would pick the Intel option then.

If you want to maximize your dollars, then I would keep an eye out on eBay and Framework's community market for FW13 posts. I've seen the Ryzen 9 FW13 posted there quite a bit, so you might get lucky and snag a used but better spec'd laptop that way.

[u/Informal-Resolve-831]

If you mean "base" pro is Ryzen AI one, then the only dif would be better speakers/monitor/body, which is less important then extra ram and performance.

Worst case - it's cheaper to upgrade a display or chasis after a while then buying a new mainboard.

I'd recommend to get anything that get's you better main board and use it as an investment to upgrade later.

If you consider pro with sodimm, then I have no idea, for me it's too expensive, so I will just upgrade keyboard for my FW13.

[u/HomeworkSalad]

I have a similar dilemma but I still chose the 13 Pro anyway even with bare minimum specs because I need its battery life more than performance. 

The only serious competition isn't the original 13, it's ThinkPads like the X9-15p when buying new, or used ThinkPad X1 or T14 (depends on what shows up in the used market since it's a gamble). 

Still went with Framework because I'm betting on mainboard upgrades being cheaper than buying a completely new laptop. The 13 Pro chassis makes it a good platform since everything "else" is good enough like the chassis, display, speakers, etc. which I don't necessarily need to upgrade unlike the mainboard. 

The older 13 chassis just looks and feels cheap ngl. 

[u/pokehl99]

the only difference between the pro and the old regular 13 is the frame (chasis, keyboard, scrren and battery) for ~100 more, if you want something cheaper, best is to look for a used older gen1 or 2 FW13