Arch Linux, Beelinks and Framework laptops

It’s just over a week since my (re)dive into the world of Linux operating systems and this time it’s going swimmingly well. But what are the factors that have made it a more successful journey this time than all of those other attempts in years gone by, and will it last? or will something force me back towards Apple.

Apple - we’re breaking up, kind of

Apple make the most beautiful and well engineered hardware, the finest in the industry there’s no mistaking that. Historically the perfect pairing has been their software, elegant and functional out of the box and free of nagware and endless password mashing like the Windows shambles.

Sadly on that front something changed. Try using your Apple device without an iCloud account, without an App Store account - it’s not funny and it has become very naggy. Updates used to be unobtrusive and almost invisible on OSX, and they are now tending towards the pain or Windows in frequency and fanfare. In my mind this all started when Apple decided to turn their backs on the Pro users and focus on the consumer market. My first major frustration was the loss of Aperture, the once great RAW photo editor and library manager which was replaced with Photos. Photos has evolved into a decent photo library manager with some light editing tools which are perfectly serviceable but the complete lack of olive branch and approach to migration of massive (2TB in my case) photo libraries left a sour taste.

iTunes was a similar story, once you had a collection of owned high quality music ‘ripped’ onto your device and stored in a media library, but stored in a proprietary database which would gradually be phased into a cloud subscription.

So Linux…

We knew each other in the past

I have flirted wiht Linux as a desktop environment since it was first presented as a live-cd on the cover of a magazine in the 2000s - it was terrible, nothing worked.

Next, I revisited linux on raspberry pi computers (model 3+, 4, 400, 4, 500… tried many) but these are always underpowered and underwhelming and nothing works on them due to the strange ARM flavoured architecture. Raspberry pi continually claim they are desktop worthy - they are not.

Enter Framework Laptop 13

In 2023 I noticed Framework laptops, a company offering a fully upgradeable and serviceable laptop (like we used to have) running AMD processors and a chipset optimised for Linux. I was interested. Reviews were mixed, with some complaining about build quality and other the battery life and screen. So, I waited a couple of generations then pulled the plug on a Framework 13” AMD 7064 with the upgraded 2.8K matte screen.

Now bear in mind I am a Macbook Pro M1 Max user for my daily driver - I was pretty disappointed, but why?

So what’s wrong with Framework?

I went straight for Ubuntu as a well endorsed and supported Linux distro by the Framework team, offering the best power management features and that was important to me coming from M-chip Macs which have stellar battery performance.

Battery performance is dire the 61Wh battery should not perform super differently to an M1 Mac (69.9Wh) but it is not even in the same orbit. The Framework only manages 2hrs of video calls before it is crying for power (100 > 2%) whilst the Mac keeps going all day around the same 2 x 1hr video calls… and into the evening before needing a charge.

Sleep is another major issue, or the lack of it. When you close the lid on a Mac it goes into a deep power saving mode, such that I have left it like that for 3 weeks before and come back to still find it alive and usable. By contrast the Framework enters a tachycardic amphetamine hazed pseudo-sleep that consumes 1% battery / hour sitting doing nothing. It is invariable dead or desperate for power when you re-open.

Build Quality

Also terrible is the build quality, but it’s a shame because clearly they use some nice components. The screen is beautiful, the processor and motherboard great. The keyboard feels good and the trackpad on the better side for a PC. 4 x USBC ports which are infinitely configurable with swappable bays are great.

But the fundamental issue of the terrible quality chassis and lid cannot be overlooked and this thing is just asking for damage - trivial dings, dents and drops are a nightmare and I worry that the hardware and screen are not protected. I call it the Tinbook Pro, a far cry from the machined dense aluminium body of the Macbook.

Desktops… Beelinks

The story with desktop computing is a far happier one, the Beelink SER8 offers outstanding value with Mac M4 chip performance, 32GB RAM and 1TB NVME SSD for just £450 - a far better deal than a Max Mini. It is carved out of the same block of beautiful machined aluminium, has USBC, USB4, Displayport, HDMI, USBC Display and decent on board sound and GPU from the AMD 5000 series chip. An absolute bargain beast.

From Ubuntu to Arch

Pair this offering with Omarchy the new Arch based linux distro from @DHH and you get an ergonomic omakase exercise in good taste for a bargain price.

One week in and this setup is very nice… to be continued