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MagyarCore i7-1370P performance debut: Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel review
Framework is back this year with its third iteration of the 13.5-inch Framework laptop. As expected, the 2023 Framework 13.5 utilizes essentially the same chassis skeleton and materials as the previous 2022 and 2021 models to foster end-user sustainability, repairability, and recycling. Thus, we recommend checking out our existing review on the 2021 model to learn more about the physical features of the series since they have remained constant thus far.
The distinguishing factor of the 2023 model is its Intel 13th gen Core-P processor to replace the 12th gen and 11th gen options on older models. An AMD version of the model is expected later this year and a 16-inch version with discrete graphics is coming as well. The expanding portfolio suggests that the company is making strong progress with its unique approach to laptop design.
Our specific configuration is the highest-end SKU with the Core i7-1370P for approximately $2000 USD. Lesser SKUs with the Core i5-1340P and i7-1360P are available as well for lower starting prices.
Competitors to the Framework 13.5 include other prosumer subnotebooks like the Microsoft Surface Laptop, Dell XPS 13 Plus, HP Spectre x360 13.5, or Lenovo Yoga Pro 7 14. Of course, most alternatives aren't as easy to disassemble or service as the Framework.
More Framework reviews:
Potential Competitors in Comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Best Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 86.2 % | 05/2023 | Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel i7-1370P, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 1.3 kg | 15.85 mm | 13.50" | 2256x1504 | |
| 85.1 % | 07/2022 | Framework Laptop 13.5 12th Gen Intel i7-1260P, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 1.3 kg | 15.85 mm | 13.50" | 2256x1504 | |
| 90.3 % | 08/2022 | HP Spectre x360 13.5 14t-ef000 i7-1255U, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 1.4 kg | 17 mm | 13.50" | 3000x2000 | |
| 84.7 % | 05/2021 | Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 13 i7 i7-1185G7, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 1.3 kg | 14.5 mm | 13.50" | 2256x1504 | |
| 85.4 % | 05/2023 | Asus ZenBook S13 OLED UX5304 i7-1355U, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 1 kg | 11.8 mm | 13.30" | 2880x1800 | |
| 85.3 % | 07/2022 | HP ProBook 445 G8-3Z6Q8ES R5 5600U, Vega 7 | 1.4 kg | 19.8 mm | 14.00" | 1920x1080 | |
| 86.9 % | 02/2023 | Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X 14ARH7 R9 6900HS, GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU | 1.6 kg | 15.9 mm | 14.50" | 3072x1920 |
Case — Same As The Original 2021 Model
Communication
| Networking | |
| iperf3 transmit AX12 | |
| Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 13 Ryzen 5 | |
| Framework Laptop 13.5 | |
| iperf3 receive AX12 | |
| Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 13 Ryzen 5 | |
| Framework Laptop 13.5 | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
| Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
| Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 6GHz | |
| HP Spectre x360 13.5 14t-ef000 | |
| Framework Laptop 13.5 12th Gen Intel | |
| Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 6GHz | |
| Framework Laptop 13.5 12th Gen Intel | |
| Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
| HP Spectre x360 13.5 14t-ef000 | |
Webcam
Maintenance
End-user serviceability continues to be one of the best in the industry as it is the foundation of the Framework series. The model can be easily disassembled and Framework even sells components individually unlike most other manufacturers. The individual components are available in select markets with the Laptop 13.5 (US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Austria, and Australia) with four more coming (Belgium, Italy, Spain, Taiwan) this Summer.
To disassemble the device, simply loosen the five screws on the bottom and then flip the laptop right-side up again. Open the display the full 180-degrees and then use a sharp edge around the base to remove the magnetic keyboard deck and to expose the motherboard as shown by the images below. Be sure to detach the black ribbon cables connecting the keyboard deck to the motherboard and the battery to the motherboard before further disassembly.
The Framework design is different from most other laptops in that its motherboard is serviced from the top instead of from the bottom.
In addition to the pre-configured model in this review, Alex from our YouTube channel received a DIY set of the Framework notebook. In the following video, he shows the step-by-step assembly of the Framework 13.5 laptop:
The laptop can be fully disassembled with just the T5 screwdriver included in every retail box whereas most other laptops often require multiple tools. The downside is that you have to remember which screws go where as there are about two dozen of them to keep track of. If the manufacturer can find a way to both color code the screws and reduce the total number, then part replacement would be even easier.
To replace the display panel, first remove the magnetic bezel surrounding it as shown below to reveal the four screws along the four corners. Then, simply remove the four screws and the single ribbon cable along the bottom left. While we appreciate the straightforward steps, it's unfortunate that Framework offers no other panel options to choose from at the moment.
Note that the cooling solution here is relatively small when compared to laptops like the HP Spectre x360 13.5 or Asus Zenbook S 13 which have dual fans in symmetrical layouts. This has a direct impact on the temperature and fan noise of the Framework as our sections below will show.
Accessories and Warranty
The expansion cards for the ports are not included in the price and so they must be individually added at checkout. The cards range from $9 to $149 USD depending on the selection. New this year are the SSD cards to quickly add up to 1 TB per USB-C port.
Framework is also now shipping second generation HDMI and DisplayPort expansion cards that are the same in form and function as the first generation cards. The 2nd gen cards enable the laptop to remain in low-power states when external monitors are connected which should resolve certain sleep and power consumption issues that existing owners may have been experiencing. The manufacturer says existing first generation DisplayPort cards can be updated to second generation with just a simple firmware update, but the first generation HDMI cards will require hardware modding. Unfortunately, there is no trade-in program for existing owners of the first generation HDMI cards. Users can visually distinguish between the first and second generation cards by looking for a blue dot on the second generation cards.
All cards and individual components are compatible with all Laptop 13.5 models thus far regardless of model year or generation. Thus, the upgradeability of older machines is preserved. Even so, the entire motherboard must be replaced if you intend the upgrade the processor and you can't simply swap out the Intel motherboard for an AMD one, either.
A one-year limited manufacturer warranty applies whereas larger makers like Dell or Lenovo tend to offer three years as standard for their high-end business laptops.
Display — 60 Hz IPS Only
The 2023 model uses the same BOE CQ NE135FBM-N41 IPS panel as found on the 2022 and 2021 models with no other options to choose from. Meanwhile, competitors like the HP Spectre x360 13.5 or Asus Zenbook S 13 are shipping with OLED options for deeper and more vibrant colors. Though the BOE IPS panel isn't a bad panel, graphics designers or editors who demand AdobeRGB or P3 colors will have to look beyond the Framework series.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 87 %
Center on Battery: 503 cd/m²
Contrast: 1397:1 (Black: 0.36 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 3.38 | 0.55-29.43 Ø5.1, calibrated: 1.21
ΔE Greyscale 4.8 | 0.57-98 Ø5.4
71.1% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
97.5% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
68.9% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.13
| Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel BOE CQ NE135FBM-N41, IPS, 2256x1504, 13.50 | Framework Laptop 13.5 12th Gen Intel BOE CQ NE135FBM-N41, IPS, 2256x1504, 13.50 | Framework Laptop 13.5 BOE CQ NE135FBM-N41, IPS, 2256x1504, 13.50 | HP Spectre x360 13.5 14t-ef000 SDC4160, OLED, 3000x2000, 13.50 | Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K LQ134R1, IPS, 3840x2400, 13.40 | Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 13 i7 LQ135P1JX51, IPS, 2256x1504, 13.50 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display | 1% | 0% | 25% | 7% | -4% | |
| Display P3 Coverage | 68.9 | 69.9 1% | 69 0% | 99.9 45% | 76.5 11% | 64.7 -6% |
| sRGB Coverage | 97.5 | 99.4 2% | 99.3 2% | 100 3% | 100 3% | 97.2 0% |
| AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 71.1 | 71.1 0% | 70.3 -1% | 90.8 28% | 76 7% | 66.9 -6% |
| Response Times | 28% | -4% | 96% | 32% | -17% | |
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 54.9 ? | 34.7 ? 37% | 55.6 ? -1% | 1.9 ? 97% | 38.9 ? 29% | 62.8 ? -14% |
| Response Time Black / White * | 33.5 ? | 27.5 ? 18% | 36 ? -7% | 2.16 ? 94% | 21.9 ? 35% | 39.8 ? -19% |
| PWM Frequency | 60.2 ? | 21930 ? | ||||
| Screen | 6% | 2% | 9% | 12% | 12% | |
| Brightness middle | 503 | 449.6 -11% | 449 -11% | 351.7 -30% | 494 -2% | 413 -18% |
| Brightness | 472 | 431 -9% | 435 -8% | 351 -26% | 474 0% | 400 -15% |
| Brightness Distribution | 87 | 90 3% | 93 7% | 87 0% | 89 2% | 94 8% |
| Black Level * | 0.36 | 0.31 14% | 0.39 -8% | 0.28 22% | 0.29 19% | |
| Contrast | 1397 | 1450 4% | 1151 -18% | 1764 26% | 1424 2% | |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 3.38 | 2.76 18% | 2.34 31% | 1.78 47% | 3.1 8% | 2.8 17% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 7.08 | 7.96 -12% | 7.07 -0% | 6.14 13% | 4.2 41% | 7.2 -2% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 1.21 | 0.58 52% | 0.96 21% | 1.5 -24% | 0.8 34% | |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 4.8 | 5.2 -8% | 4.7 2% | 2.3 52% | 3.2 33% | 1.9 60% |
| Gamma | 2.13 103% | 2.23 99% | 2.29 96% | 2.11 104% | 2.41 91% | 2.12 104% |
| CCT | 6235 104% | 6475 100% | 6760 96% | 6683 97% | 6189 105% | 6510 100% |
| Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 61.6 | |||||
| Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 97.2 | |||||
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | 12% /
8% | -1% /
1% | 43% /
29% | 17% /
14% | -3% /
4% |
* ... smaller is better
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 33.5 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 18.2 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 15.3 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 88 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (22.2 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 54.9 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 24.2 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 30.7 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.25 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 90 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (35.1 ms). | ||
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM not detected |  | ||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 19210 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured. | |||
Performance — Raptor Lake Core i7-1370P
Testing Conditions
We set our unit to Performance mode via Windows prior to running the benchmarks below. Framework installs no specialized command center software or related bloatware on its machines unlike the major makers.
Processor
The Framework 13.5 with its 13th gen Core i7-1370P is one of the fastest subnotebooks in the market. Raw multi-thread performance is comparable to the more power-hungry Ryzen 9 6900HS while offering 25 to 30 percent faster single-thread performance in the process. It's a decent upgrade from last year's Core i7-1260P option as well by about 20 to 30 percent. The year-over-year performance boost is enough to rival the Core i7-12700H commonly found on many large gaming laptops like the MSI Pulse GL76.
Downgrading to the Core i7-1360P and Core i5-1340P configurations is expected to impact performance by about 10 to 15 percent and 20 to 25 based on our experiences with the Lenovo Yoga 9i 14IRP G8 and Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 16, respectively. All three options are significantly faster than the usual Core-U-powered Ultrabook.
Cinebench R15 Multi Loop
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R20: CPU (Multi Core) | CPU (Single Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 5.4: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R20: CPU (Multi Core) | CPU (Single Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 5.4: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
* ... smaller is better
AIDA64: FP32 Ray-Trace | FPU Julia | CPU SHA3 | CPU Queen | FPU SinJulia | FPU Mandel | CPU AES | CPU ZLib | FP64 Ray-Trace | CPU PhotoWorxx
System Performance
PCMark benchmarks edge out last year's model and most competing models because of the very fast Core i7-1370P. Nonetheless, the Framework still falls behind some top-end Ultrabooks like the Asus Zenbook S 13 powered by Ryzen 7 CPUs since Iris Xe is notably slower than the competing Radeon 680M.
CrossMark: Overall | Productivity | Creativity | Responsiveness
| PCMark 10 Score | 6418 points | |
Help | ||
* ... smaller is better
DPC Latency
LatencyMon shows no DPC issues when opening multiple browser tabs of our homepage or when running Prime95 stress for several seconds which is an improvement over previous models. 4K video playback at 60 FPS is also nearly flawless with just 2 dropped frames recorded.
| DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
| Framework Laptop 13.5 | |
| Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 13 i7 | |
| Framework Laptop 13.5 12th Gen Intel | |
| Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 4K | |
| HP Spectre x360 13.5 14t-ef000 | |
| Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
* ... smaller is better
Storage Devices
Our unit ships with the midrange WD PC SN740 PCIe4 x4 NVMe SSD which is slower than the SN850 on last year's test unit. Transfer rates would top out at 5200 MB/s compared to 7000 MB/s with the SN850. Performance is nonetheless excellent and more than sufficient for the target audience. The drive in our unit would exhibit no throttling issues when stressed, either.
