Framework Laptop 13 Pro review: Much better battery, much worse price - Ars Technica
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I’ve liked the Framework Laptop 13 since the first time I used it, partly because I just think the idea of a repairable and upgradeable laptop is cool and partly because it’s not Yet Another Ultraportable Trying To Be A MacBook Air Clone. But the design has always had real shortcomings—the most noticeable and serious being its mediocre battery life.
Enter the Framework Laptop 13 Pro. While all previous Laptop 13 refreshes have tinkered around the edges with the original design (a tweaked lid design here, new hinges or new speakers there), the Laptop 13 Pro is as close as we’ve gotten to a second-generation revision for the original design.
This means that it breaks backward compatibility for some (but not all) Laptop 13 components, most notably the bottom case, the keyboard and trackpad, and the original 55 WHr and 61 WHr battery designs. But by allowing itself to make larger changes to the design, Framework has made major strides in battery life and general fit and finish.
The result is Framework’s nicest-looking, nicest-feeling, most polished laptop design. It’s also possible for existing Laptop 13 users to get some or all of its benefits by retrofitting their laptops with new parts. That’s good because the Laptop 13 Pro is also quite expensive, even by 2026’s ridiculous standards for consumer tech—no model costs less than $1,500, and you’d spend nearly $3,000 to get the version I was sent for review.
Design changes
The Laptop 13 Pro looks a lot like the regular Framework Laptop 13, but with a new “Graphite” finish.
Andrew Cunningham
The Laptop 13 Pro looks a lot like the regular Framework Laptop 13, but with a new “Graphite” finish.
Andrew Cunningham
Old Laptop 13 on top, new Laptop 13 Pro on bottom. Expansion Card compatibility is maintained between the two.
Andrew Cunningham
Old Laptop 13 on top, new Laptop 13 Pro on bottom. Expansion Card compatibility is maintained between the two.
Andrew Cunningham
The Laptop 13 Pro’s keyboard is pretty much the same-old same-old, but the trackpad is a haptic version with no physical clicking mechanism. It feels similar to Apple’s MacBook Air and Pro trackpads, in a good way.
Andrew Cunningham
The Laptop 13 Pro’s keyboard is pretty much the same-old same-old, but the trackpad is a haptic version with no physical clicking mechanism. It feels similar to Apple’s MacBook Air and Pro trackpads, in a good way.
Andrew Cunningham
Old Laptop 13 on top, new Laptop 13 Pro on bottom. Expansion Card compatibility is maintained between the two.
Andrew Cunningham
The Laptop 13 Pro’s keyboard is pretty much the same-old same-old, but the trackpad is a haptic version with no physical clicking mechanism. It feels similar to Apple’s MacBook Air and Pro trackpads, in a good way.
Andrew Cunningham
The first thing you’ll notice about the Laptop 13 Pro is that it has traded in Framework’s traditional, more industrial-looking silver for an anodized dark gray “graphite” finish. On the “dark-finished aluminum” spectrum, it’s about as dark as Apple’s Midnight finish but without the same bluish tint; it does attract fingerprints in a similar way, though. Framework is offering Laptop 13 Pro parts in the original aluminum finish, but they are primarily intended for original Framework Laptop owners who are buying upgrades.
Framework says that the Laptop 13 Pro is its first to be “fully machined out of extruded blocks of 6063 aluminum,” and as a result, the device’s body feels slightly more solid and substantial than the original version.
The redesigned bottom case allowed Framework to fit in a bigger battery than older Laptop 13 models—74 WHr, up from 61 WHr in previous models and 55 WHr in the first couple generations. The release mechanism for the expansion modules has also been changed. The original Laptop 13 had buttons that had to be continually pressed as you pried the expansion modules out; the Laptop 13 Pro uses the same kind of on/off retention switches Framework uses in the Laptop 16 and Laptop 12.
The Expansion Card retention switch on the redesigned bottom case is easier to use than the buttons on the original design.
Credit:<br>Andrew Cunningham
The Expansion Card retention switch on the redesigned bottom case is easier to use than the buttons on the original design.
Credit:
Andrew Cunningham
The keyboard’s look and feel hasn’t changed much from previous generations, but it now comes in versions with either lavender or orange/gray...