Framework Laptop 12 (Wildcat Lake) review: Growing up amid an unprecedented shortage

When Framework introduced the Laptop 12 early last year, it offered an affordable, repairable, and relatively capable laptop, especially aimed at students. Between a 2-in-1 convertible design, a touchscreen with an optional stylus, the slim frame, and a $699 starting price, it was an attractive option. The updated Framework Laptop 12 targets that same group, though it’s entering a very different market, with some of the biggest brands gunning to become frontrunners for the best college laptops. Framework still makes one of the best laptops on the market with the Laptop 13 Pro, but the entry-level market is a different beast, especially today.

Apple’s MacBook Neo has prompted a wave of more affordable Windows laptops, with Intel’s Wildcat Lake taking center stage in devices like Dell’s refreshed XPS 13. The Framework Laptop 12 provides competitive performance with these devices, though at a higher price point and with less premium amenities.

The 1080p, 60Hz display is a reminder that the otherwise-premium-feeling Laptop 12 is a budget device, and although the Laptop 12 starts at just $549 without memory or storage, it ends up around $200 to $300 more expensive than the competition when fully configured. The laptop begs a question: how much are you willing to pay for repairability?

Design

Like Framework’s previous Laptop 12 with 13th-Gen Intel CPUs, the updated version with Wildcat Lake comes in a variety of colors: Black, Gray, Lavender, Bubblegum, and Sage. Our review unit, as you can see, is the Lavender variation. At the time of writing, you need to purchase the DIY version to choose your color; the prebuilt version is currently only available in Sage.

Unlike Framework’s more expensive Laptop 13 Pro, you don’t have the option to customize the color of the bezels, and only Gray and Lavender keyboard options are available now (though, presumably, Framework will expand these options). USB-A and USB-C modules come in a wide array of colors, as well, though other expansion modules are limited to a standard silver color. Framework also offers an optional $59 stylus, matching the color options available for the Laptop 12.

The Framework Laptop 12 is a highly portable device, though perhaps not as thin and light as you’d expect out of a 12-inch laptop. It's 0.72 inches thick and clocks in at 2.8 pounds, which is thin enough and light enough, though not on the level of its enclosed competitors. The MacBook Neo weighs about the same at 2.7 pounds, but it’s covered in aluminum and it’s 0.5 inches thick. The XPS 13 with Wildcat Lake is much lighter at 2.2 pounds, thinner at 0.5 inches, and also finished with aluminum.

Considering the bulk of modularity, the fact that Framework managed to get the weight and thickness of the Laptop 12 close to closed-door competitors is remarkable. However, the fact remains that you’re often paying a premium with the Framework Laptop 12 compared to the Neo and XPS 13 and, in both cases, getting a laptop that feels less like a premium ultrabook out of the box.

Although the Framework Laptop 12 isn’t finished in aluminum, it still has a metal structure. On top is plastic, which is then coated with thermoplastic polyurethane to absorb impacts. That leads to a plastic feeling externally, though with a smooth, slightly grippy surface that feels good in the hands.

Framework offers an optional backlight on the keyboard (our review unit didn’t have one), as well as four module slots for expansion ports. The back two support Thunderbolt 4 and DisplayPort Alt mode, and all four support USB 3.2 Gen 2 speeds and USB-PD. A 3.5mm headphone jack is standard on the Framework Laptop 12, regardless of the additional modules you choose.

Specifications

Productivity Performance

This isn’t our first outing with Intel’s Wildcat Lake, so we went into this review with a good idea about what to expect from the Framework Laptop 12’s performance. Our test machine came with the highest-end chip Framework offers in this laptop, which is the Core 7 350. It’s a 6-core / 6-thread CPU with a maximum turbo clock of 4.8 GHz, and it can operate between 15W and 35W.

If you’re unfamiliar, Wildcat Lake is the younger, weaker sibling of Panther Lake. It uses Intel’s cutting-edge 18A node but with several cut corners. For starters, the 350 comes with just two faster P-cores (the remaining four are an LPE cluster). It also comes with just 6MB of last-level cache, half of what you get with Panther Lake.

The cores matter less here than the memory, however. Wildcat Lake exclusively uses single-channel DDR5 or LPDDR5X, regardless of capacity (support goes up to 64GB). In practice, that often means you need to overbudget your capacity, at least compared to something like the MacBook Neo with unified memory. Performance drops at 8GB with Wildcat Lake (see our Dell XPS 13 review).

The Core 7 350 comes in behind in single- and multi-core performance in Geekbench 6 compared to the A18 in the MacBook Neo (though multi-core to a much lesser extent). Compared to the 6-core Core 5 320 in the XPS 13, the Framework Laptop 12 is in lockstep with multi-core speed, and just shy of 5% ahead in single-core speed.

Compared to full-fat Panther Lake in the Framework 13 Pro, Wildcat Lake actually looks better than expected. The 13 Pro here is for context, not as a true comparison point; it costs a few thousand dollars. What’s interesting in Geekbench is how the X7 358H in the Framework 13 Pro scales, relative to the Core 7 350.

The X7 358H is a 16-core chip with a 4.8 GHz boost and access to up to 80W of total power (though much of that is allocated to the 12-Xe3-core GPU). Despite more than doubling total core count, and offering a doubling of P-cores, we’re not seeing twice the performance. And, even with access to less power, the Core 7 350 is within 5% of Panther Lake’s single-core performance.

With Geekbench, Apple silicon tends to perform especially well, particularly in single-core tasks, so keep that in mind.

Even with a bit of extra clock speed, however, the Framework Laptop 12 with the Core 7 350 came in behind the Core 5 320 in the XPS 13 in Handbrake. Here, the Geekbench swing toward Apple levels out; the A18 was 8% ahead in Geekbench 6 multi-core, but it’s less than 3% ahead here in Handbrake.

The Panther Lake-based 13 Pro gives some much-needed context, showing compounding factors between higher core counts, higher power limits, and true dual-channel memory. Again, it’s a far more expensive laptop, and the Framework Laptop 12 performs in line with our expectations for laptops in this class.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway is how similar the Core 5 320 is, at least in this laptop. You get an extra 200 MHz on the CPU and 100 MHz on the GPU with the Core 7 350, which isn’t moving the needle a ton here given how limited Wildcat Lake is as a platform. That’s good news, as the Core 5 320 will save you $220 in the Framework Laptop 12 compared to the Core 7 350.

Unfortunately, many of our gaming tests for laptops won’t run on Linux, and given that devices are often shipped back, we can’t go back and retest a dozen devices. That’s not too important here, though. The Core 7 350 has just two Xe3 cores, as do other Wildcat Lake chips, which doesn’t provide enough horsepower to power most titles.

We were able to achieve 30 FPS in Civilization VI at 1080p, which underscores the limitations of the integrated graphics. Intel’s dual-core Xe3 is plenty capable of running Balatro, Vampire Survivors, or whatever 2D sidescroller is currently popping off on Steam. Otherwise, it’s there to give you a display output.

Display

The display is what separates the Framework Laptop 12 from the various other Wildcat Lake-based devices we’ve seen in the wake of the MacBook Neo, and not for the better. Color performance, especially, is weak in our testing, and although peak brightness is in line with similar laptops, the 60Hz refresh rate is a severe downgrade compared to other devices, as is the 1080p resolution.

For metrics, you can see the display peaked at 451 nits, right in line with the MacBook Neo and Framework 13 (non-Pro). However, gamut coverage is poor, with just 64.9% of the sRGB gamut measured, compared to wide-gamut coverage on the competing machines. This is a “budget” laptop, but it’ll easily run over $1,000 with most configurations, and the display is not worthy of that price.

The XPS 13 provides some important context. It doesn’t get as bright — though, it’s hard to split hairs over 50 nits — but it comes with a 120Hz refresh, a higher 2.5K resolution, and it’s a touchscreen like the Framework Laptop 12. That gap in display performance would be understandable with a big gap in price, but that’s not the case. In fact, the Framework Laptop 12 clocks in at $1,271 with a Core 5 320, 16GB of memory, and 500GB of storage. The XPS 13, meanwhile, is $1,000 for that configuration.

Framework naturally needs to cut corners at this price, and it needs to engineer its devices to be repairable and upgradable. So, it’s hard holding the Framework Laptop 12 to the standard of a device like the XPS 13 that doesn’t come with those serviceability upsides. Still, the display is a consistent reminder that this is a budget laptop, whereas with the XPS 13 and MacBook Neo, it’s easy to forget that when doing day-to-day web and office task, due to the premium screens and build quality.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The Framework Laptop 12 comes with a standard keyboard/touchpad combo unit, which is available in several different layouts. There’s currently just a gray and lavender option for the keyboard unit, though presumably Framework will expand its offerings to cover the other colors available on the Framework Laptop 12 (at least with an American English layout).

I achieve 85 WPM with 99% accuracy in a MonkeyType test, compared to 92 WPM at 97% accuracy on my desktop (using the keyboard I type on every day). The keys have standard 19mm spacing and generous 1.5mm of key travel, which makes it comfortable to type on, even considering the small footprint of the Framework Laptop 12.

The touchpad is naturally small given the size of this device, and it’s mechanical, leading to sharp dips during presses on the bottom corners and no responsiveness near the top. It’s a serviceable touchpad, what you’d expect to see on this class of device. Just don’t go in expecting to be spoiled with a large glass surface or haptics.

Upgradeability

Framework built its brand on upgradability, so it’s no surprise that the Framework Laptop 12 earns near-perfect marks here. Like other devices, you can ship the Framework Laptop 12 pre-assembled, or as a barebones system that can accept your own M.2 2230 SSD, DDR5 SODIMM, and operating system. Even then, you can swap out the keyboard, display, mainboard, and ports if you choose (though only within the Framework Laptop 12 form factor).

However, the Framework Laptop 12 brings up the important distinction between serviceability and upgradability. The Framework Laptop 12 is the gold standard (among all Framework devices) for serviceability.But the Wildcat Lake chip brings up concerns about upgradability with its single-channel memory interface.

You can upgrade the memory up to a 64GB DDR5-6400 SODIMM, but there’s only one physical memory slot on the board. Wildcat Lake exclusively uses single-channel memory; it’s not simply a single-channel configuration for a budget price point. You can upgrade to more capacity down the line, but you can’t simply add in a second SODIMM to double your RAM.

You won’t find a more serviceable laptop on the market (outside of the other options from Framework) than the Framework 12, but you primarily have two narrow upgrade paths: more storage and more memory capacity, but not a true dual-channel configuration. Hopefully Framework will continue this line in the future, allowing you to swap the mainboard.

On the serviceable end, however, Framework makes things simple. You get a matching Torx screwdriver with the laptop that can detach the bottom cover. The cover has eight captive screws, so you don’t need to worry about losing them, and it’s primarily there to keep everything together; you actually service the laptop from the top, under the keyboard.

Considering you’re meant to go inside the laptop, Framework has everything clearly labeled, along with QR codes that link to repair guides for various components. With our barebones kit of modules, the laptop was powered on and assembled within five minutes, and this is my first time ever assembling a Framework device from scratch.

Battery Life

Our typical laptop battery tests are based on Windows, and we can’t replicate the testing process on Linux. Framework assured us that Fedora 44 offers the best experience out of the box, so that is what we tested. Instead of a direct comparison, we designed a basic web browsing test loop to see how long the 50WHr battery would hold up away from a charger.

About 9 hours is the answer, with a 9:16 average across three runs. We ran the laptop through a series of live websites with the screen set to 150 nits, Wi-Fi on, and Bluetooth disabled for the test. Again, we can’t make direct comparisons with Windows laptops, but getting around a full day of work is solid for the small 50Whr battery. And with USB-C charging, you can pretty easily top off with a portable GaN brick.

Audio

The stereo 2W speakers inside the Framework Laptop 12 are surprisingly powerful, considering the size of the machine, though the quality of the speakers and dual internal microphones is a clear cut corner to reach the more affordable price of the device. Thankfully, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack built in (it doesn’t take a module slot), along with Bluetooth 6.0 support for wireless headphones.

The microphone poses a larger issue than the speakers. It’s heavily compressed, which helps make your voice come through clearly, though at the cost of heavy background noise (including keyboard and trackpad noise). You’ll want to use something like EasyEffects in Linux to clean up the microphone audio.

As for the speakers, they’re not as bad as they could be. As mentioned, they’re loud considering the size of the device, and they didn’t distort at full volume. They’re tuned for this type of device, as well. Rather than overemphasizing the highs or pumping too much low-end and exposing distortion, the speakers in the Framework Laptop 12 have a heavy emphasis on the upper midrange.

This range, somewhere between 500Hz and 4kHz, is typically described as “boxy,” and that emphasis works well for the small drivers in the Framework Laptop 12. It implies a low end that the drivers aren’t actually capable of producing. Further, the higher-end of this range, around 1kHz to 2kHz, is where many human voices fall, with sharp consonants pushing higher-end harmonics that come off as harsh. Again, the emphasis helps, allowing voices to come through clearly, without sounding tinny.

Heat

The Framework Laptop 12 stays fairly cool, even under load. The hottest point we measured on the laptop was the underside, directly in the middle, which peaked at 101 degrees Fahrenheit (about 38 degrees Celsius). Under normal usage in a browser with a handful of tabs open, there’s very little noticeable heat, even at this hottest point.

Up where your hands are, we measured 94 degrees Fahrenheit (about 34 degrees Celsius) between the G and H keys on the keyboard, and 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) on the touchpad. That’s warm for your hands, but again, the heat only crops up during heavy load.

Webcam

It’s unsurprising for a laptop at the price of the Framework Laptop 12, but the webcam quality is poor. The camera oddly uses a 4:3 aspect ratio, and the 2MP sensor creates an image more reminiscent of a watercolor than a sharp, Full-HD picture. It struggles with low-light especially, with even moderate shadows in an otherwise brightly-lit room showing visible noise.

The image above was taken in my office in the middle of the day. A window behind me was fully open, about three and a half feet away, and I have a lamp serving somewhat as a key light about three feet off-screen to my left. I’m on the second floor of a two-story house, on a hill without any trees obstructing sunlight (and it was a sunny day). There was a generous amount of natural light in the room.

Yet, you’d think I was sitting in near darkness from the webcam image. The stark brightness from the window darkens my face, filling it with visible noise, as the camera struggles to handle the dynamic range. Sitting in front of an unobstructed window during the middle of the day is the time and place where you’re likely to have the webcam turned on, and it fails that test.

Software and Warranty

Framework offers a standard one-year limited warranty on the Framework Laptop 12, with an optional three-year warranty available for $89 extra. You can read over Framework’s limited warranty, but the limitations are fairly straightforward. Normal wear and tear, damage due to negligence or misuse, and use of third-party parts (or first-party parts from third-party sources) will void the warranty.

Broad warranty protection isn’t as important here as it is elsewhere, however. If, for example, your USB-C port stops working, you can just buy another one rather than going through the RMA process and potentially paying for a repair on the other side (even if you’re under warranty).

You’re free to bring your own OS, but Framework also offers the Framework Laptop 12 with either Windows 11 or Fedora 44 pre-installed. Framework normally uses Ubuntu; however, Fedora 44 has moved to the newer Linux 7.1 kernel, which has optimizations specifically for Wildcat Lake. Using a slower-moving distro like Ubuntu is fine, though you’ll want to make sure to manually upgrade your kernel (and packages) for the best performance if you’re not already using a distro with kernel 7.1 or newer.

Configurations

Framework offers three mainboard configurations: Core 3 204, Core 5 320, or Core 7 350. As we covered in the performance section, the Core 5 320 in the XPS 13 offered largely similar performance to the Core 7 350 in the Framework Laptop 12, so that seems like the sweet spot here. The Core 3 304 is effectively a single-core CPU, with just one P-core alongside a four-core LPE cluster, and it lacks a fingerprint reader, which is available with both other mainboards.

With the DIY edition, Framework ships the laptop without memory, storage, or expansion cards. There’s a single SODIMM slot for memory and a single M.2 2230 slot for the SSD. Framework offers up to 2TB of PCIe 4.0 storage at checkout, as well as up to 48GB DDR5-5600 (again, via a single SODIMM). Framework has USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, Ethernet, 10G Ethernet, DisplayPort, microSD, and SD card modules available, ranging from $10 to $99.

There aren’t any display options aside from the standard 60 Hz 1080p panel in our unit. For the keyboard and trackpad, Framework offers backlit and non-backlit options in various different native layouts.

Framework offers prebuilt versions of the Framework Laptop 12 at a discounted price. The Core 3 304 comes with 8GB of memory ($699), the Core 5 320 comes with 16GB (1,099), and the Core 7 350 comes with 32GB (1,399), and all three configurations use 512GB of storage. All of the configurations come with Framework’s standard expansion card bundle: two USB-C, a USB-A, and an HDMI module.

Dell starts higher with the XPS 13 at $799, but that’s with the Core 5 320 and 8GB of memory. Jumping up to 16GB, the XPS 13 is $999 with the Core 5 320, $100 less than the preconfigured Framework Laptop 12.

Bottom Line

The Framework Laptop 12 is caught between an unprecedented memory and storage shortage and a wave of budget-oriented Windows laptops that skip the repairability angle in favor of better trimmings out of the box. At the same price, it’d be a solid alternative with understandable downsides. The killer for the Laptop 12 is that you’ll likely spend more on it compared to other Wildcat Lake options.

With the Core 5 320, the Framework Laptop 12 is nearly $300 more expensive than the XPS 13, when both are configured with 8GB of memory and 500GB of storage. The Acer Swift Air 14 is $700, and a similarly configured Framework Laptop 12 is $1,074 before adding on the extra cost of a power adapter and modules. For many Wildcat Lake devices, we see prices top out around $1,000; with the Framework Laptop 12, you’ll often spend at least $1,000, assuming you push beyond the Core 3 304.

Modularity comes at a cost, which is more relevant in the case of the Framework Laptop 12 where $100 or $200 makes all the difference in value (it’s less relevant up at the Framework Pro 13, where you expect premium pricing). That extra cost is especially damaging here, when Framework’s competitors are offering better display performance (and more pixels) and all-aluminum bodies for less money.

There are situations where the Framework Laptop 12 is a great option, even compared to the other Wildcat Lake devices on the market. If you already have a SODIMM module you can harvest from other devices, along with an SSD, this is a cheap way to get some of Intel’s latest silicon. But for everyone else, unless you don’t mind paying significantly more for repairability, there are better options available that typically cost less, look better, and feel more premium.