Laptops with Stickers

One time when I left a job and had some really rare stickers I bought an identical ThinkPad and swapped the entire upper half of the machines with each other.

I basically never applied a sticker to any laptop I owned until I got a Framework. Just hoarded them like a dragon sitting on his pile of sticker-gold.

Finally figured hey, I might have this laptop more than a single upgrade cycle... it's worth burning a weird sticker or two.

I still try and buck the trend a little--instead of advertising technologies or something, my general goal is that, at first glance, nobody would question anything or think it looks unlike any other developer laptop, but that anyone paying attention will instead be met with a fractal of confusion. E.g., one on there is a "STOP, DROP, AND ROLL" fire safety sticker. In Quebecois French. From a small town volunteer fire department.

I consider it sort of a personal art project and have fun trying to collect up the most "wait, what?" stickers I can.

Leave the backing on the sticker, put it on the laptop with rubber cement.

Would love to see them!

I haven't tried putting any on my Framework 12 yet, because the ABS has this sort of rough texture that's very soft and pleasant to touch but seems like it wouldn't hold stickers well long-term. I've been putting mine on retro machines instead, like on my 900MHz HITACHI (actually Acer OEM) PⅢ: https://stickertop.art/content/images/2025/11/GWgVHXHaoAIPiB...

These days I also flatbed-scan any rare stickers before using them, to slake that FOMO “what if something better comes along and I regret using it now?” feeling.

You could also put a layer of vinyl on the laptop and then put the stickers on that. That way you can peel the whole thing off when you upgrade. I remembered reading about it on dev.to a few years back.

https://dev.to/graystevens/preserving-laptop-stickers-on-mac...

Framework is the only laptop regarding which I've had someone ask "what brand is this?".

There's genuine interest (well, at least until they hear about the price) and I guess people intuitively understand that laptops don't really have to be replaced every now and then, it's just that mainstream offerings are built this way.

The other day I wrote a lengthy essay about all the pros and cons of the device from my perspective for one 18yo son of a friend, who insisted this would be his college laptop, because he's seen some YouTuber present it. I think he's decided already, so I focused on managing expectations.

I really really like the feel of the textured ABS though :)

On the topic of stickers--bought an iPad for an elderly relative and it came with some Apple logo stickers. I snagged them, figured it was a fair price to charge.

One currently sits on my Framework over the Framework logo. The edge of the Framework gear sticks out in the bite in the apple and the sticker is thin enough the black framework logo shows clearly through the white of the apple.

On first glance, it looks like "trying to make a cheap laptop look expensive". On second it's looks like doing a really bad job of it. Anyone who actually knows the brand at all or asked about it will know the truth... it's making an expensive laptop look like a different expensive laptop.

So I guess it's not just the absurdity of the sticker, but how you use 'em.

On a previous HN (I think) discussion about stickers, one person scanned the lid of their old laptop, printed the whole thing as a sticker, applied it to their new laptop and then continued to put more stickers on top of that.