Seems like you haven't actually looked into it if that's the impression you got, because both Thinkpad (X1) and Framework (13) make a laptop that fit your requirements. The X1 carbon even offers a 4k OLED option if you want it.
Going from an X1 Carbon to a MBP felt like stepping 10 years into the future. The seamless lid close, battery life, operating temp, build quality and performance were all _huge_ upgrades.
I held out on Mac for 20 yrs, no idea what I was thinking.
I spent weeks last year trying to decide what to get to replace a MBP M2, and while Lenovo's offering was good for enterprise consumers, there was very few laptops with decent perfs and HiDPI screen in a practical form factor.
I think for anyone not caring about gaming perf, the Microsoft Surface line is way ahead of anything Lenovo has to offer.
For better perf Asus had a better lineup, and we get form factors like the X13 or Z13 which are just excelent in day to day use (now if only they made 32 or 64G a standard option for all their "gaming" machines I'd have no notes).
I kept a mac for backup, but am seriously waiting for Apple to make more drastic moves (finally a real iPad computer ?) before ever going back.
I've had countless Lenovo laptops over the years. They were amazing up until about 2012 or so. They used to be built like tanks, could survive anything, upgradeable in every way, repairable and affordable (especially used.) There was a span of over a decade where $250ish would buy you a fairly powerful used Thinkpad in decent shape, and it would last you forever because they were indestructible. My Thinkpads went diving with me into canals, oceans, piles of mud, bogs and other non-OEM-recommended-environments and they always survived. Worst case you might have to replace one component, which you could do with a swiss army knife in about thirty seconds. All of those things built tons of goodwill that carries on in people's minds today.
I say 2012 is the dividing line because that's when they released the Yoga, which was a big step in a new direction. I actually owned multiple Yogas, and didn't hate some of them, but they had nothing in common with Thinkpads. In 2012 they also released the X230, which was more locked down than the X220, which the enthusiast community hated. The decline after 2012 was sort of slow - I bought a T440p (released 2014) after my X230 got stolen and I found it was pretty decent, certainly pretty durable - but Lenovo's main focus had clearly shifted towards the new and shiny.
These days they're just another Windows laptop OEM, which is to say: built and engineered like crap, weirdly expensive for what you get, horribly ugly, software full of ads and spyware and AI bullshit, disposable after a few years. The M1 Air was released 5 years ago this year and I still use two on a daily basis for serious tasks; I'll probably be using them years into the future too. They're not really repairable, but they do last. Any five year old Windows laptop is slow as a dog, has small plastic parts breaking off of it, looks somehow even shittier than it did originally, and of course is full of adware and garbage.
Anyway, that's all to say: yes, in 2025 Lenovo is overhyped, but that's just reputational inertia from many years where they were genuinely good.
I have a framework 13” and a few MacBooks. The framework is a really mediocre laptop, even for PC laptops. I don’t even think it really has potential to be honest.
I've been considering a Framework laptop for some time, but your comment made me reconsider. What do you think are the biggest shortcomings of your Framework 13"? How long ago did you get it?
I got my FW 13 late Sept 2022 when pre-orders were available in Australia. I needed it for work.
Look the modularity and repairability is nice, and I like how it addresses e-waste. However regarding modularity, I would rather have more fixed ports than a choice of changeable ones.
My biggest gripe is battery life, in Linux I can only seem to get 4 hours of usage and that's if I'm lucky. More like 2.5 to 3 hours, and that's usually minimal usage.
My second biggest gripe is the hinges in the laptop. WHen I pick up the laptop with the screen erect at the 90 degree position, it usually falls flat 180 degrees. How this even got past QA annoys me, and the fix is to buy a new hinge kit, but that costs $30 AUD plus $40 AUD shipping, so basically a ripoff.
The keyboard is actually quite decent, but I would've preferred Macbook layout with the fn on the left and half-size inverted T arrow keys. I was hoping a 3rd party would make the keyboard, but the reality is not many 3rd parties are making FW stuff.
The modular ports can be erratic when powering on the laptop, sometimes a usb port doesn't register and I have to eject and reinsert the modular ports, which is annoying.
The display is fine, except mine developed a thin grey line that's noticeable when the pixels aren't lit up. I take care of my laptop carefully, but I feel like this display is weaker than most. Thankfully it's not noticeable when the screen is bright. I also find the screen overly glossy that I had to buy a matte screen protector and apply it, but I believe in newer models you can get a matte display.
The webcam is fine. The speakers are trash. The mic is okay. The trackpad is okayish (for what you can get out of Linux anyways).
Just bought a P14s gen5 AMD with a 16:10 OLED, reconditioned, for about a grand. Two SoDIMM slots and one m.2 NVMe slot. Now rocking 96GB RAM, for which I paid the princely sum of 200 pieces of silver. Loaded openSUSE on it - everything works.
It feels plasticky (magnesium chassis T/P-series belong to the ages) but it's a damn sight more computer than I could get from Apple for that money. Well, apart from the battery life, RAM bandwidth, OS-hardware integration, and build quality. It's more RAM than I could get from Apple for that money, for sure.
I'll have a Mac any day an employer offers to buy it for me. Lovely hardware, but it's just too glued-down for my current budget and growing frustration with lack of repairability.
I shall take a good lesson from your case and keep my ThinkPad in its Pelican case whenever I'm not using it. Can't afford to be laptopless for months!
Latest as in the last ~10 years worth of releases. They are on gen 12 or 13 (I had or still have gen 5, 6, 8, 11).
The worst problem is they are Intel-only so I moved to T14s which is not as polished (their premium AMD option is too MacBook-like with sharp edges and worse keyboard in Z13 or something), yet AMD is much closer to Macs on thermals, battery life and performance.
I’ve been browsing the Lenovo (and others’) website for weeks, and the only two laptops it shows with 2TB storage and 4k display are the ThinkPad P1 and P16s.
The ThinkPad X1 and Framework 13 have a much lower resolution display. Also, I appreciate Framework’s mission, but it’s not the build quality that I’m looking for.
If you use the product filter it only shows laptops that come pre-configured with 2TB of storage. If you choose a custom build you can configure the latest X1 Carbon with 32 GB RAM, 2 TB storage, and a 2.8k display.
If you choose the custom build route some even can ship with Fedora or Ubuntu, so presumably Linux support is reasonable.
There should be no questioning on matters of personal taste, but I will offer my experience with the 13 FW, which is that build quality is pretty great already, but also you get the option to maintain it longer term, such as changing hinges etc. which gives confidence on longevity. I also have a Macbook M1, and I have found myself reaching for the framework almost exclusively now. It feels great to work on a machine that you feel like you own a bit more than any other. Macbook is also great, I think one of the best machines I ever owned, but it gradually loses first place to Framework.
> It feels great to work on a machine that you feel like you own a bit more than any other.
This is a thing right? You come back to your computer, and it’s exactly as you left it. It didn’t try to magically reboot because of overnight updates, it didn’t prevent you from starting a program because it phoned home to the mothership and it told them that particular dev hasn’t forked over their $100 yet. It’ll tell you there are updates and ask if you want to install them.
It’s such a relief to work on something not windows or mac in so many ways.
I own a Framework 13, my biggest problem with it is the poor build quality. After only a few months of carrying it in a laptop bag (not in a backpack), it stopped being able to sit flat on a table. I have never had this problem before, including with laptops that cost way less than the Framework. I get that I could try to repeatedly buy case components from the site and replace them until it sits flat on a table again, but I don't want to have to do that and then have it start wobbling again in another few months. The fan on mine is also very loud and on a lot, and if you use it on anything besides a flat table (i.e. your lap or a bed), the vents get blocked, causing the fans to go super high and the computer to start thermal throttling. Overall it's nice that the Framework is upgradable long-term, but I don't think it's worth it when the benefit is that I'm just able to use a computer that I don't enjoy using for longer.
I have the opposite experience. First my FW 13 came with the dodgy hinges where picking up the FW the screen flops 180 degrees. The cost to upgrade the hinge is like $30 AUD but costs like $40 AUD in shipping which is bloody ridiculous. Battery life is awful, about 4 hours if I'm lucky in Linux. The speakers are trash. The display quality is bad, I have a grey line of pixels when the screen is dark (thankfully they're not an issue when the screen is lit). The trackpad is trash. Sometimes a modular usb port doesn't work after powering the laptop, you need to eject and reseat it. The fan is really noisy. I just can't stand using the FW over my M-series Macbooks, the difference is night and day.
