--- title: It's hard to justify buying a Framework 12 | daily.dev description: A hands-on comparison of the Framework 12 and Apple's MacBook Neo, prompted by choosing a laptop for a high school graduate. Benchmarks show the MacBook Neo is... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-hard-to-justify-buying-a-framework-12-cxwdg5bar twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: It's hard to justify buying a Framework 12 | daily.dev og:description: A hands-on comparison of the Framework 12 and Apple's MacBook Neo, prompted by choosing a laptop for a high school graduate. Benchmarks show the MacBook Neo is... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-hard-to-justify-buying-a-framework-12-cxwdg5bar og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/CXWDg5bAR.png og:image:alt: It's hard to justify buying a Framework 12 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # It's hard to justify buying a Framework 12 **[Jeff Geerling](https://daily.dev/sources/jeffgeerling)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A hands-on comparison of the Framework 12 and Apple's MacBook Neo, prompted by choosing a laptop for a high school graduate. Benchmarks show the MacBook Neo is faster, quieter, more power-efficient, has a better display, and costs significantly less ($499 vs $749+). The Framework 12 offers repairability, modular ports, a touchscreen, and 360° hinge, but these advantages don't justify a 20-40% price premium for most users. Build quality compromises on the Framework include a poor display, bad speakers, and outdated stylus tech. The Framework 13" lineup is recommended over the 12" for those prioritizing repairability and Linux support. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [I'm returning my Framework 16](https://daily.dev/posts/i-m-returning-my-framework-16-h58yv192i) · Lobsters · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [The MacBook Neo](https://daily.dev/posts/the-macbook-neo-0h2kqo2ct) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#apple](https://daily.dev/tags/apple) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-hard-to-justify-buying-a-framework-12-cxwdg5bar) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"It's hard to justify buying a Framework 12","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-hard-to-justify-buying-a-framework-12-cxwdg5bar","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-hard-to-justify-buying-a-framework-12-cxwdg5bar"},"datePublished":"2026-05-29T14:10:29.225Z","dateModified":"2026-05-29T15:17:32.240Z","description":"A hands-on comparison of the Framework 12 and Apple's MacBook Neo, prompted by choosing a laptop for a high school graduate. 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