Leaving Apple MacBook Pro for Framework Laptop 13 Pro: Over 1/3rd of Laptop 13 Pro buyers are reportedly ex-MacBook Pro

The Framework Laptop 13 Pro is the latest addition to Framework’s growing product portfolio. Like the Laptop 13, the Framework Laptop 13 Pro maintains the super-repairable design that is backward compatible with internals from the Laptop 13. Unlike the Laptop 13, however, the Framework Laptop 13 Pro brings a whole fleet of improvements, including a new chassis, a new display, PCIe Gen 5 storage, and a 74 Wh battery.

Framework explained in their launch video (linked below) that the Framework Laptop 13 Pro is meant to be an alternative to the Apple MacBook Pro. As such, the Laptop 13 Pro’s primary target audience is the one looking to buy or move away from the Apple MacBook Pro. Since the Framework Laptop 13 Pro can be had with Ubuntu out of the box, it is a prime Pro notebook candidate for people who don’t want to work on Windows.

Framework claims on X that more than 1/3rd of the pre-orders for the Laptop 13 Pro are from users who are switching from the MacBook Pro. More interestingly, the users who are apparently ditching the MacBook Pro in favor of the Framework Laptop 13 Pro are choosing to go with Linux and not Windows. These findings are reportedly based on the Framework’s optional post-purchase buyer survey.

The pre-built Framework Laptop 13 Pro is available with Linux (Ubuntu) and Windows. It starts at $1,499 with the Intel Core Ultra 5 325 Panther Lake chip, 16 GB of LPCAMM2 storage, and 512 GB of storage. The version with the AMD Ryzen AI 300 APUs starts at $2,099 with a Ryzen AI 7 350 APU and 32 GB DRR5-5600 memory.

For reference, the latest MacBook Pro 14 with the Apple M5 SoC, 16 GB of RAM, and 1 TB of storage costs $1,699. So, the Framework Laptop 13 Pro with the Intel Panther Lake processors starts out cheaper than the MacBook Pro 14 M5, albeit with half the storage.

Finally, this should concern Windows laptop OEMs who need to understand why people are switching from MacBook Pro to a Framework Laptop 13 Pro running Ubuntu. Dell may already be taking some action to curb Framework’s growth, but there needs to be a bigger effort on the part of OEMs to retain or bring back users to Windows from Apple.