Framework Laptop 16 is an endlessly customizable laptop with upgradable graphics, powered by NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 5070 and AMD's latest Ryzen™ AI 300 Series processors.
Too lazy to dig for it myself but would love to see someone do a deep dive on what an “upgrade” actually would be.
How many of the gen 1 parts are just plug and play in a gen2 chassis/mobo? How much of the gen2 parts can be put into the old gen 1 case? The upgraded heatpipes already make that questionable.
I am obviously not the biggest fan of Framework Corp (and I genuinely think they are contributing to significantly more e-waste than traditional “upgrade” paths). But this also feels like a good use case to study for anyone who actually thinks they are going to meaningfully upgrade their laptop every 5-10 years without just buying a new laptop.
Because didn’t the 16 just get a pretty massive (possibly backwards compatibility breaking?) design upgrade like last year? I remember all the tech youtubers (except GN for whatever reason…) talking about the adjustable keyboard layout for people who hate their wrists.
Which is also one of the dark secrets of desktop PCs. Okay, AM4 was fucking insane and that STILL gets new CPUs? But, generally speaking, if you are the kind of person who “upgrades” your PC every 6-10 years (so roughly a console gen)? Your “upgrade” is a full rebuild more often than not but you re-use that nvme so it still counts.
The heatpipes are a nonissue, I mean maybe they’re going to do a surprise heel turn with this new mainboard but the laptop 13 previously got the same heatpipe upgrade and it’s completely contained to the mainboard, it’s just as modular as before and you can switch between the parts. All the same parts work, it just makes that particular mainboard more efficient at cooling. Plus the parts they added in the 13 that they’re now bringing to the 16 are backwards compatible. The new graphics cards were announced to be backwards compatible too.
Also, the laptop 16 launched with the adjustable keyboard, but it only came out a year ago so maybe you’re thinking of Youtubers comparing it to the 13.
So far Framework has a great track record of not breaking backwards compatibility.
EDIT: You can buy the new mainboard on its own to upgrade your old laptop. I was hedging my statement before, but it’s definitely backwards compatible.
Too lazy to dig for it myself but would love to see someone do a deep dive on what an “upgrade” actually would be.
How many of the gen 1 parts are just plug and play in a gen2 chassis/mobo? How much of the gen2 parts can be put into the old gen 1 case? The upgraded heatpipes already make that questionable.
I am obviously not the biggest fan of Framework Corp (and I genuinely think they are contributing to significantly more e-waste than traditional “upgrade” paths). But this also feels like a good use case to study for anyone who actually thinks they are going to meaningfully upgrade their laptop every 5-10 years without just buying a new laptop.
Because didn’t the 16 just get a pretty massive (possibly backwards compatibility breaking?) design upgrade like last year? I remember all the tech youtubers (except GN for whatever reason…) talking about the adjustable keyboard layout for people who hate their wrists.
Which is also one of the dark secrets of desktop PCs. Okay, AM4 was fucking insane and that STILL gets new CPUs? But, generally speaking, if you are the kind of person who “upgrades” your PC every 6-10 years (so roughly a console gen)? Your “upgrade” is a full rebuild more often than not but you re-use that nvme so it still counts.
The heatpipes are a nonissue, I mean maybe they’re going to do a surprise heel turn with this new mainboard but the laptop 13 previously got the same heatpipe upgrade and it’s completely contained to the mainboard, it’s just as modular as before and you can switch between the parts. All the same parts work, it just makes that particular mainboard more efficient at cooling. Plus the parts they added in the 13 that they’re now bringing to the 16 are backwards compatible. The new graphics cards were announced to be backwards compatible too.
Also, the laptop 16 launched with the adjustable keyboard, but it only came out a year ago so maybe you’re thinking of Youtubers comparing it to the 13.
So far Framework has a great track record of not breaking backwards compatibility.
EDIT: You can buy the new mainboard on its own to upgrade your old laptop. I was hedging my statement before, but it’s definitely backwards compatible.
Oh Danny boy, the heatpipes, the heatpipes are blowing, From bay to bay, across the motherboard.