Framework 13 With AMD Ryzen 7040 Series Makes For A Great Linux Laptop

Those wishing to see all 130+ benchmarks I ran on these laptops with Ubuntu 23.10 can see this result page for all of the data in full as well as the individual power and performance-per-Watt graphs.

When taking the geometric mean of all the benchmark results, the Framework 13 came out to being 4% faster than the Lenovo ThinkPad P14s Gen 4 equipped with the Ryzen 7 PRO 7840U and 18% faster than the Acer Swift Edge 16 with the same Ryzen 7 7840U.

With this testing on Ubuntu 23.10, the Ryzen 7 7840U was pulling 25 Watts on average under load and a 51 Watt peak while having a 1.6 Watt power consumption at idle. The ThinkPad P14s Gen 4 with the Zen 4 PRO SoC had a 25 Watt average too but a peak of just 36 Watts. The Acer Swift Edge 16 meanwhile had the lowest power consumption with just a 15 Watt average and a 30 Watt peak. It ultimately comes down to each laptop's cooling capabilities and the platform design for its power/performance limits.

The Framework 13 AMD laptop on Linux proved to be very capable and had no issues running at full performance and delivering the best results of the tested laptops. For those wanting to lower the CPU power consumption to extend the battery life, it's possible to drop it into the power saver ACPI Platform Profile mode to lower the power threshold.

In any event for those wanting a laptop for creator workloads, code compilation, or other grueling tasks, the Framework 13 AMD laptop proved plenty capable. Aside from the initial system firmware issue needing a new BIOS release, since then this Framework 13 AMD laptop has been running great under Linux. Helping ensure a great Linux experience on the Framework 13 is the excellent documentation on their website, providing firmware updates via LVFS/Fwupd, and an open-source EC. On the hardware side the upgradeability of the Framework 13 AMD remains fantastic.

The laptop configuration being tested for review was with the AMD Ryzen 7 7840U laptop with integrated Radeon graphics although a Ryzen 5 7640U option also exists. The Framework 13 AMD model starts out at $849 USD for the base model while the Ryzen 7 7840U model begins at $1169 USD. As of writing the next batch of Framework Laptop 13 models will begin shipping in late Q4. That's about one of the lone letdowns with this laptop: not yet having immediate availability.

For those needing a new laptop right away or unable to wait until the end of the quarter at least, it's unfortunate production hasn't ramped up enough yet to provide a quicker turnaround time. But if you don't mind the wait the Framework 13 AMD laptop is a fantastic choice for Linux users now that the firmware kinks have been worked out. As I've shown as well in the other Zen 4 Linux laptop reviews, the Ryzen 7040 series is a great option for those planning to buy a new laptop in the near-term for having great power efficiency and performance.