Buy me a hot chocolate! | About Me
date: Fri Sep 5 13:28:54 CEST 2025
There’s not much to say. I am typing this on it now. I really, really like it. I like it more than I thought I would.
I’ve written about it previously here and here
Unless I am running LLM Studio running local LLM models I never hear the fans. It just sits there and asks: “I’m bored; give me something worthwhile to do!”
The XDR Screen is amazing. Absolutely stunning. And this app BrightIntosh allows you to go above the stock brightness into the HDR range and ultimately up to the full 1600 nits (but don’t do that. I’ve found ~600-700 nits is perfect).
It’s so good that I have found myself finding reasons to use the built in screen rather than my desktop monitors that have far more screen real estate.
When in my Linux hey-day I was a huge proponent of the mechanical keyboard. In fact I bought a Moonlander Mark 1 and was featured here … but alas the QWERTY keyboard of the laptop is amazing and I find myself not needing or using layers or wanting a lot of clickety-clackety feedback from such keyboards.
My 2013 Macbook Pro 15? (I can’t remember the size) lasted nearly 10 years. I bought it in college and used it without fail until it was stolen from our storage unit.
While it makes zero sense to build out a machine to last more than a few years given how fast tech improves … I did build this one out thinking it’d last me 5-7+ years. I think it will.
With 128GB of ram and more cores than I need I think it might yet run Chrome for the next few years ;-) … maybe
The extra memory has allowed me to play with local LLMs and while awesome I’ve just given in and signed up for Github Copilot and pay them to host and run models.
I have it configured such that neovim can hook into OpenAI and I get really, really nice autocomplete (for the most part) from it. And VSCode’s integration is also really slick.
Firstly, DHH is a whiney baby and a horrible open source character. His foray into Linux is just a stunt I think. He claims his Framework laptop is somehow on par with a Macbook Pro of the same-ish price, and that the screen and window performance somehow is a better combination than his (albeit way too expensive) 6k XDR Apple monitor.
Whichever chip you choose, the rest of the Framework 13 package is as good as it ever was. This remains my favorite laptop of at least the last decade. I’ve been running one for over a year now, and combined with Omakub + Neovim, it’s the first machine in forever where I’ve actually enjoyed programming on a 13” screen. The 3:2 aspect ratio combined with Linux’s superb multiple desktops that switch with 0ms lag and no animations means I barely miss the trusted 6K Apple XDR screen when working away from the desk.
I have heard of Trump Derangement Syndrome (which isn’t a thing the man is insane and ruining the country and the world – but that’s a post for another day) but to claim that the above is just insane to me. There have been Linux podcasters who boost the framework that even claim it’s got it’s issues and they’ve all the incentive in teh world to boost what Framework is doing. And more power to them and Framework, competition is good, but they’re not at all in the same leauge as Apple at least not in my eyes. But then again, to each their own; use whatever works for you.
If I was going to go the Framework route I’d save a bunch of money and get an old Thinkpad which was the original, hackable, upgradable, servicable Linux laptop.
Magnet and others exist. I don’t miss i3/sway etc. I can tile to my hearts content in the terminal which is where I live 24/7 anyway.
When I lamented about there not being a perfect workstation in no-perfect-workstation on tiling and things I’ve actually come to not miss those things.
Nothing about how I work or used to work has been hindered by my use of the Macbook. Quite the contrary, actually. I just go to work and don’t think about things at all. Everything just workstm
Would I make the same decision again? Yes.
Copyright Alex Narayan - 2025