Last year Framework Computer launched the Framework Laptop 12 as a convertible, 2-in-1 laptop that was friendly with Linux and upgradeable inline with the beloved Framework Laptop 13 and 16 models. The initial Framework Laptop 12 was nice but the use of an Intel Raptor Lake U SoC in 2025 wasn't all that exciting. Now though Framework Laptop 12 is available with Intel Core 3 "Wildcat Lake" for offering better performance and power efficiency.

The review embargo lifts today on the Framework Laptop 12 powered by Intel Wildcat Lake. We've been testing it out the past few weeks and is a solid upgrade for this 2-in-1 laptop to enhance the performance and power efficiency. It's not necessarily too worthwhile for those currently on the original Raptor Lake U hardware but for those that wanted something a bit more performant and efficient than the original model, now there's the Intel 18A-based Wildcat Lake option.

Back in August is when Framework announced the new Wildcat Lake option with shipping beginning in October. We've now reached that milestone. With the new Framework Laptop 12 they also introduced Fedora Linux with KDE Plasma as a pre-load option.

The Wildcat Lake options for the Framework Laptop 12 include the Core 3 304 with 1P core and 4 LPE cores, Core 5 230 with 2P cores and 4 LPE cores, and the flagship Core 7 350 as offering 2 P cores and 4 LPE cores and clocking up to 4.8GHz. Fortunately our review unit was the Core 7 350 option for seeing the top-end Wildcat Lake experience. The Core 7 350 has a 15 Watt base power rating and 35W maximum turbo power rating.

Wildcat Lake only supports a single channel of DDR5 or LPDDR5X memory. Framework currently offers the laptop with a range of DDR5-5600 DIMMs, with our review unit coming with a single 32GB DDR5-5600 module.

So for testing the updated Framework Laptop 12 was the Core 7 350, 1 x 32GB DDR5-5600, WD_BLACK SN770M 500GB, and the integrated Intel Graphics.

For Linux use, Framework currently recommends Fedora 44 for the smoothest experience. Their main recommendation is using a Linux distribution with Linux 7.1 or newer due to the Intel BE213 WiFi. Due to Ubuntu 26.04 LTS using Linux 7.0, that puts the current Ubuntu release in a pickle unless manually upgrading your kernel. In any case Ubuntu 26.10 is out in the days ahead, Fedora 45 is also imminent, and rolling release distributions like CachyOS already meet this requirement.