I recently ordered and obtained a brand-new Framework Laptop 13 with AMD Ryzen™ AI 300 Series - Ryzen™ AI 7 350.

Assembly

Needless to say, I ordered the DIY edition. The official guide seems basically correct, though I was unable to identify a “white line” (Step 8).

Linux kernel

Linux 6.12.48 works very well. However, I took the liberty to add Backports and install Linux 6.16.3 (apt install linux-image-amd64/trixie-backports). The issues described below applied to both versions.

So, despite what others write on the Internet, it literally does not matter one bit. Linux 6.12.48, which comes with Debian trixie, is recent enough. Wi-Fi works perfectly well, and so does Bluetooth and everything else I can think of. I am writing these lines on kernel 6.12.48.

Always just use Debian. You'll never need to worry about anything. I recommend completely ignoring other Linux distros, especially Ubuntu and similar slop.

I also recommend using btrfs, but that too is not specific to a Framework laptop.

Graphics issue

I am a user of dwm and I encountered the following issue: after I had played a video, the screen essentially froze in place and refused to redraw those parts on the screen that had changed. Whenever I switched to another dwm “tag” (a workspace, if you will), the screen was redrawn, however.

In any case, that was fixed by putting amdgpu.dcdebugmask=0x12 into GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT in /etc/default/grub and running sudo update-grub.

By the way, screen brightness can be controlled by means of teeing to /sys/devices/pci0000*/*/*0/drm/card0/card0-eDP-1/amdgpu_bl0/brightness.

Bluetooth/audio issue

Regrettably Debian has decided to go full pipewire. Never go full pipewire. I like pulseaudio especially because it has always worked flawlessly (as has systemd, by the way—another irrelevant controversy to the detriment of users). One of the issues with pipewire is that I simply could not get it to work with Bluetooth devices. Blueman just showed No audio endpoints registered and refused to connect with my headphones. Audio did play, but pavucontrol (another excellent piece of software) was no help in getting it all to work.

That one was resolved with systemctl --user disable --now pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber pipewire.socket pipewire-pulse.socket && sudo systemctl --global mask pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber pipewire.socket pipewire-pulse.socket and then systemctl --user enable --now pulseaudio.service pulseaudio.socket Remember to install pulseaudio-module-bluetooth, which automatically pulls in pulseaudio.

UPDATE 2025-10-04: To get the builtin microphone (the “Internal Stereo Microphone”) to work, you need to use the “Play HiFi quality Music (Mic1, Mic2, Speaker)” profile of your Family 17h/19h/1ah HD Audio Controller. See Configuration in pavucontrol.

Overall assessment

I am impressed by the Framework Laptop 13. It's a high-performing laptop, aesthetically pleasing, and pretty compatible with Debian GNU/Linux. The keyboard is good, too (especially because it is very quiet).

The build quality in general is very good. I still have to get used to the touchpad and figure out how to right-click, though. UPDATE 2025-10-06: Right-clicking works through the bottom right corner of the touchpad. Compared to the keyboard, clicking in general is kind of noisy. So that’s a downside.

One issue that could limit my enjoyment is that it has only four slots for expansion cards, with one of the four taken up by the power supply. So far this has remained only a theoretical concern (as of 2025-10-06). Also, I would like to get a Mini-DisplayPort expansion card.

Benchmarks

Here is some further information about my previous laptop (a ThinkPad T440s) and my new Framework, including hardinfo2 benchmarks.