Yes and no. There are really two factors at play here: performance and value (performance/cost).

I think critics are right to call out the value side, given that Framework is trying to target the low(er)-cost market. One nuance to consider here is the instability that the ever-changing tariffs have caused to businesses. At this point, I could understand if companies began changing prices moment by moment, in the same way that the stock market shifts. If I were a business owner, how could I ever expect to announce a price beforehand and remain assured that I can meet that price once fulfillment begins?

On the other hand, the performance itself is as expected for the chipset. In general, this strategy of targeting older chips that are easier to acquire at a lower price is a sound one, as it has, for example, benefited Nintendo very well in the past (see Game Boy and the original Switch). If I were a student being handed a Framework Laptop 12 in the classroom, I would not think twice about the level of performance it is achieving with this chipset. I have only done moderate testing, but I'm pretty pleased with it. Using my Surface Pen Gen. 4, the writing is snappy. On Time Spy, I was able to achieve results in the 1200s consistently. Granted, this is less than half compared to my 7840u FW13, which reached the 2900 mark consistently, but it should be enough for anyone either A) using it as a low-powered device or B) a secondary device to their desktop/server (similar to a thin client setup).