The AMD processors rival Apple’s M1 & 2 processors so they can be expected to handle it fine. In addition, the microphone has been reviewed as being among the very best built-in on any laptop so it might (not certain) even be usable in place of a headset in a pinch.

I had a similar experience in the same batch on the Eastern side of the US. The order is set to arrive December 1st already.

I would ask support if there’s any steps you can take to troubleshoot this further instead of just getting another input cover and having the issue persist. The input cover might be the symptom while the source is another part being slightly off.

It’s standard. Framework monitors it.

Just to throw it out there, in the upper end of your price range (over it if you bought everything directly from Framework) would be the Framework laptop 13 inch DIY edition using AMD. That would provide you Windows functionality, high quality parts with the ability to replace (and upgrade!) anything that breaks yourself, and you would learn more about computers since you have a unique lego-building experience of putting the machine together in the first 30 minutes of ownership.

For light gaming the AMD 7640U processor with 16GB(2x8) of memory would likely be OK.

It would not have a touchscreen or 2 in 1 functionality though.

Just throwing it out there since Framework is the antithesis of Apple, you get to have full ownership over your computer and the ability to properly upgrade it with better parts that would enable more gaming functionality in the future.

Get the Framework and I will tell you why. From looking at your profile you are going to be an Economics major and thus will need access to Microsoft Excel for at least a fair portion of the work. The Apple version of Excel is downgraded without as many features and that means things that ‘just work’ on the Windows version never even shows up on the Apple version, resulting in limited functionality and limited access to information regarding the data that you’re working with.

Worth noting that this may vary from university to university regarding exactly how much Excel exposure you have. It is important to know going into the workforce though.