Ryzen 5 AI 340 Framework 13 laptop and Fedora

2025-08-02

tl;dr Got a Ryzen 5 Framework 13 laptop - it's great!

For the first time since ~2010, I decided to buy myself a new (actually new) laptop. I've had my previous laptop, a 2015 MacBook Air, since around 2020, and it was definitely beginning to feel like an older machine. It also lacked some quality of life features like a fingerprint scanner (which I am treated to during the week on my work M3 Pro MacBook Pro - I mention this so it can be used as a reference for something I am useful when givincomparisonsg opinions on the Framework). But let's start at the beginning - how did I choose it?

Requirements and shortlist

There were a few things I really wanted in a laptop. It needed to:

• be fairly quick. I don't need a powerhouse (I have a decent PC), but wanted it to be able to do any programming (or other) task I want to do without it feeling like a chore; also some light gaming if I'm away - this is far from its primary purpose however, so wasn't a major consideration.
• have some form of biometrics for login, not necessary, but a real nice to have.
• be small - I didn't want anything over 13" (why do we still do screen sizes in imperial units?). I don't travel a lot - this is a somewhat arbitrary preference - I like small computers.
• have a decent screen resolution, without being unnecessarily high (more for the graphics card to power, increased battery usage).
• have a decent touchpad.
• half decent battery life - a real-world 6+ hours.
• run Linux, ideally without any faff.
• ideally repairable and upgradable, at least SSD and RAM, and ideally battery too.
• not be too expensive.
• somewhat arbitrarily, I wanted an AMD machine.

After some initial poking around, it ultimately seemed to boil down to the following (which met at least some of the above list):

• Framework 13. Small, light, decent screen, repairable/upgradable.
• Used ThinkPad T- or X-series. Quite expensive new, but decently available when a few years old.
• Dell Latitude or XPS. Ditto ThinkPad.
• StarLabs Lite V. Didn't strictly fit the requirements, but I do like the idea of an actual Linux tablet. I also really liked the look of the previous Lite IV.

I've been aware of Framework for a while, but had never really looked into them too much since I wasn't looking to replace my laptop until recently. Initially I discounted it as too expensive, and many reviews suggested the battery life wasn't particularly good. But some of the components come in translucent plastic...

ThinkPad-wise I ended up deciding that I wanted something new. Last time I bought a new laptop was ~2012 (I think?) and that was a Dell XPS from their outlet. I decided I'd pay a little more this time to get current-generation hardware that can last me a bit longer. I don't mind buying second hand, but I'm really bad at selling things, so if I have something that lasts (me) not that long, it'll inevitably sit in a cupboard for a few years before I get round to selling it, cluttering my house (and mind!). I still have a ThinkPad X220T I used while I was at university lying around somewhere.

Dell-wise, there are just so many variations available in some fairly uninspired chassis, so I didn't really pursue this too much more. They're also expensive, like the ThinkPads.

The StarLabs tablet could have been a contender if it had some form of biometrics for log in. I figured for something that would at least sometimes be used as a tablet, having to type in a password whenever it locked would be really annoying, so I reluctantly ruled it out. Being a proper Linux tablet however makes it a bit of an oddball, so it was really hard to rule out (I do like an unusual machine).

That left the Framework. Once I started doing some proper research into this, and digging a bit more into the claims of poor battery life, it became clear that it depended considerably on a) the generation and b) the configuration. From my requirements above, I eventually decided that the base model would be good enough, and the AMD versions from this, and the previous generation, were typically reported as having decent battery life. We had a contender.

Framework

I can't just buy something. I decide I'm going to, then research it like a lunatic for a month or so, then finally end up buying what I first considered a month prior.

Initially I considered the previous generation 7040 as it was a bit cheaper and generally well-reviewed, but eventually decided that the newer, slightly more efficient "AI" series was worth the extra.

The hardest decision was whether to go for the base screen, or the upgraded higher-definition, higher refresh-rate screen. Just the battery life consideration was enough to keep me on the standard screen, so went for that.

So that's what I went for, the current, lowest spec. Framework 13 with a Ryzen 5 AI 340. Sort-of. Framework's pricing for memory and storage was ludicrous, so components I didn't need to buy from them, I didn't. I grabbed a 2TB WD Black SSD and 32GB of Corsair RAM (did you know you can get reasonably priced single 48GB sticks of laptop RAM now? Madness.).

I got the standard black bezel (cheapest and actually best-looking option; all the translucent ones were out of stock anyway), and the typical 2x USB-C, 1x USB A and 1x HDMI for the port options. I opted for no charger since I already have decently-powered USB-C bricks for other tech.

Assembly

So I bought it and it arrived. A brief note on assembly - the instructions are good, and assembly is easy. Installing the SSD and RAM is the same as any other computer. The only finicky bit, that I think could have better instructions and imagery was fitting the bezel. I probably took it off and on about 30x before it sat flush around the whole screen (especially on the lower-right corner). Some of the cables running from the main body to the display needed to be shuffled around a bit to get it to sit right, but eventually I got there. If you run into the same issue, be patient, it'll eventually go on. If I ever dare take it off again, I'll try to remember to take some pictures.

Set up

I use Fedora Workstation on my PC, so this was the obvious choice for the laptop too. Firstly, I installed Fedora's KDE edition - I try KDE every now and again as theoretically it is the DE I would prefer; it has lots of knobs to turn and levels to pull; I just never actually like using it. It did let me check all the hardware worked though - all fine and working with no bodges as expected. The next step was to grab Workstation and install that.

So I did. Now, onto the actual set up.

Set up the fingerprint scanner

This is easy - go to Settings -> System -> Users (or just search "fingerprint") and enrol one or more. This worked fine. The only thing I have noticed is that sometimes after the machine has been suspended, the fingerprint sensor doesn't always work. When this happens it is almost like the hardware has disappeared. I initially added a udev rule to prevent it going into power-saving mode which seemed to mostly work, but it also made the fingerprint sensor really hot, so I reverted that. Having reverted it however, it seems to much more reliably still work after sleep (though not perfectly still), so various updates must already be addressing this. I'd say 90% of the time it works after sleep now when it was closer to maybe 50% a month ago.

My preferences

• Caps lock as control. I tried to "get" this for ages but didn't, until I started using a HHKB where the caps lock position is control, and the control position is, well, not there. Having used that I now can't use a machine where caps lock isn't control. I end up doiNG A LOT OF THIS without making this change.

  For whatever reason, you can't change this with default GNOME settings, so install the "Tweaks" app, then configure "Control Position" -> "Caps lock as control" in the keyboard settings.

• Keyboard repeat rate. I like the delay for repeat to be low, and the repeat rate to be high. This is in Settings -> Accessibility -> Typing -> Typing Assist -> Repeat Keys -> Speed/Delay.

• Auto-dark theme. I prefer a light theme generally, but it is unpleasant when the light level drops. GNOME can't automatically switch themes yet, so I installed night theme switcher to fix that.

• Extensions. While we're here, install the "Extensions" app from the GNOME project so you can disable the "Background Logo" extension (removing the Fedora logo from the bottom-right). I also grabbed Tailscale QS for some tray support for Tailscale.

• For some reason Chrome is not set up out of the box for either Wayland or gestures for back/forward. (Scrolling is also horribly sensitive, but I've not fixed that yet.) I created a new ~/.local/share/applications/google-chrome.desktop by copying the default from /usr/share/applications and changed each Exec line to include the flags --ozone-platform-hint=auto (Wayland mode - I believe this is the default setting from 140 onwards) and --enable-features=TouchpadOverscrollHistoryNavigation (enables two-finger left/right gestures for back/forward). If you see suggestions of creating a ~/.config/chrome-flags.conf to add flags for launching Chrome, this is Arch Linux specific and won't work on other OS.

• I also create a "Code" folder in my home directory, but never like that it isn't styled like the other icons. I cloned Adwaita folder icons to ~/Code/._clones/, then opened Files, went to the folder properties and changed the icon to the "folder-code" icon. Much better.

Aside from the general set up I do on every machine (which will eventually be its own post), that's everything I did. Basically, Fedora 42 works out of the box on the new Framework 13.

Sort-of review

I've probably mentioned all of this above, so here is a handful of points I think are worth mentioning about the Framework 13:

• Battery life is plenty good enough for me. It isn't quite as good as a Mac, but it's perfectly good. The replaceable battery will be great. I tend to keep my machines for a long time, and it's really annoying to try to find a trustworthy source of batteries for computers that don't cost 3x the value of the laptop. Also we have USB-C, so any decent powerbank can also give it some more juice on the go, if needed.
• The standard screen is really good. I'm completely satisfied with my choice to not go for the upgraded version.
• Performance is really good too. I've not run into any issues. I did try to run Two Point Hospital, just to see what would happen. It did run, but my word that was a lot of fan noise (which incidentally was the first and only time I've heard the fans running).
• The keyboard is fantastic, possibly the best laptop keyboard I've used.
• The touchpad is the best I've used on Linux. It isn't as good as a MacBook, but it's plenty good enough. 2-, 3- and 4-finger gestures all work in GNOME (fairly sure they did in KDE as well).
• It's a really good-looking machine. I had some reservations about how the machine would look and feel given its repairability, but it's definitely a premium-looking machine (to my eyes). You could perhaps argue that the plastic bezel cheapens it a little, but I've never actually noticed - I was just looking for something to mention.

That's it. If you're in the market for a laptop and are considering a Framework 13 because it seems to fit your requirements, you could absolutely do worse. I'm personally very pleased with the purchase, and don't think I could have found anything else as good (whether in-budget, or more expensive).

Tagged with: framework, hardware, linux, fedora