The Framework 13 is my new, all-time, favorite laptop that I believe was made specifically for me and I wanted to give it just a bit of protection with a fancy dbrand vinyl wrap. It wasn’t cheap but it is worth the cost of having some abrasion protection. The instructions are great but it didn’t go as smoothly for me either by my lack of experience with vinyl wrap or a manufacturing miscalculation. Regardless, the final result is great and my Framework 13 looks good and has provided just a little bit more peace of mind now than before.
Rather than drone on about how great I think this laptop is, I can point you to where there is some 25 minutes of blathering about it here:
Framework 13 | Best Laptop Yet
One of my criticisms of the Framework 13 is the lack of cases for it, something that can give it just a bit of protection from the stresses of traveling. Since there isn’t any case option yet, I had to go with the next best thing, a vinyl skin. Mostly I wanted to protect the laptop from abrasions and scuffs and so forth. So a vinyl skin makes sense. I’ve been putting vinyl on my laptop since 2007 to give it some level of protection. With the framework, I believe it’s more important since I do intend on keeping this longer than previous machines due to its ability to be easily repaired and upgraded. I suppose, if I do a real number on it, I can just replace the part but I would like to avoid that for as long as I can.
The number of choices that dbrand has is almost daunting. It took me quite a while to figure out that I am going with the tried and true carbon fiber so I went for that. I made some customizations including not having the logo show and also to wrap the whole machine. I wanted to protect every bit of the machine that was possible.
https://dbrand.com/shop/skins/framework-laptop-13-skins
The installation video is quite entertaining and it is worth watching, just to watch. Truly, the whole site is incredibly entertaining. All of their marketing material, and product descriptions are just funny. I highly recommend visiting the site, just for the laughs.
Wrapping the top of the Framework 13 was about as easy as the video instructions made it appear to be. The expansion cards were also quite easy to accomplish. The rest of it, not so much.
Palm rest installation did not go as planned, neither the bottom. The keyboard cut out did not stay attached to the rest of the cover as per the instructions. As a consequence, I had to struggle through but the final result was satisfactory. lining up around the power button and getting the wrap to be consistent around the touchpad was challenging and did take me a while to get it just right.
I’m not sure about the touchpad portion yet. I think it’ll stay in place for now. The glass surface certainly feels better but I like the idea of protecting this area of the computer as well. The more shielding from the wear of life, the better.
Bottom skin did require some extra effort to align the screw holes. It wasn’t as fiddly as the palm rest / input cover portion of the Framework. Like the palm rest, the instructions advised you didn’t remove the vent cutout until the rest of the wrap is in place. That didn’t work for me. Try as I might, I couldn’t get that cutout to stay connected. Perhaps I should have used some painters tape or something, in retrospect.
Final result of vinyl installation is exactly what I wanted. I am absolutely pleased with the the look and the quality of the whole thing. I have already noticed that the vinyl has already protected me from some abrasions so I am quite happy about. The material quality is about as good as it gets as dbrand uses 3M’s air release vinyl which I happen to know is not the cheap stuff.
Final Thoughts
My Framework 13 doesn’t have a case, yet, but I am getting just a bit of abrasions projection as I travel with this machine. It’s not as much as I would like but it is better than nothing. I do hope that there will be some sort of case available at some point though, the computer is simply fantastic and I want to use and preserve it all at the same time. It’s a tall order, I know. Thankfully, it is VERY repairable, should the unfortunate happen.
dbrand has won me as a customer because they not only have great customer service but they inject humor in everything they do. They may not be the least expensive of vendors but they have earned my repeat business.
References
dbrand Installation video on YouTube
https://dbrand.com/shop/skins/framework-laptop-13-skins
https://dbrand.com/shop/skins/framework-laptop-13-skins#/customizer/details
Framework 13 | Best Laptop Yet
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