Framework sells a gaming laptop computer that allows you to simply improve its GPU

Framework CEO Nirav Patel stated he would ship “the holy grail for gamers” with the Framework Laptop 16. In 2023, he prompt it’d be the primary client pocket book to fulfil the promise of modular, upgradable graphics playing cards like a desktop PC. We at The Verge had been skeptical, as a result of the final time we heard somebody inform that story, it resulted in lawsuits and compelled arbitration.

But immediately, some eighteen months after delivery the Framework Laptop 16, the corporate has accomplished what no laptop computer maker has accomplished in modern memory, if ever: it’s created a more moderen, sooner discrete graphics card you’ll be able to simply swap into its present laptop computer.

In 2024, that laptop computer initially shipped with a non-compulsory AMD Radeon RX 7700S, with AMD’s help, utilizing a intelligent enlargement bay system designed to be futureproof. (More particulars right here on the way it works.) Now, Nvidia is on board too, letting you buy a cellular Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 8GB you can bodily swap in as little as two minutes.

That’s proper: you’ll be able to even swap between AMD and Nvidia. Framework says it doesn’t have closing benchmarks, however says you’ll see a 30 to 40 p.c uplift from AMD’s 7700S to Nvidia’s 5070, and it’ll include a revised cooling answer that options followers with a brand new blade design and Honeywell PTM7950 thermal interface materials.

Like the 7700S, the brand new 5070 may have 100 watts of sustained energy and cooling to work with; not as a lot as beefier gaming laptops, however greater than thinner machines sometimes get.

In the top, it wasn’t that arduous to persuade Nvidia to signal on, Framework CEO Nirav Patel tells The Verge. “They saw the success of the company, and it was clear we were an up and coming startup worth working with,” he says. Framework started working with Nvidia in early 2024, he remembers, not lengthy after the Framework 16 started to ship. “We were able to clear that hurdle just through the success of the product,” he says, although he received’t share any gross sales numbers with me.

Then why did he dodge my questions for therefore lengthy about whether or not there’d really be GPU upgrades ready for the primary era of Laptop 16 consumers? “If we find some massive roadblock and just can’t get it to work […] we want to make sure it’s done and it’s working,” he tells me.

But he says they didn’t really hit any huge roadblocks — despite the fact that the Nvidia RTX 5070 isn’t the one improve awaiting consumers immediately.

In addition to the brand new GPU choice, the second-generation Framework Laptop 16 will ship with a brand new mainboard that includes AMD’s AI 300 / Strix Point processors, providing as much as a 12-core/24-thread Ryzen HX 370 with Radeon 890M graphics in a chip that may comfortably run at a “sustained” 45W TDP. The new mainboard additionally now helps show outputs on 4 of its six enlargement card slots, up from three, so that you received’t must suppose as onerous about which ports support which capabilities, and a brand new mux lets the laptop computer drive its inside show extra straight from the discrete GPU for decrease latency.

It’ll additionally include the higher second-gen webcam that got here to the Framework Laptop 13 final 12 months, a extra inflexible prime cowl, AMD’s newer RZ717 Wi-Fi 7 module, and Framework could turn out to be the very first laptop computer maker to ship a 240W USB-C PD energy adapter so a completely loaded Framework Laptop 16 will not slowly drain its battery as you play, one thing that might often occur with the earlier 180W charger.

Four of the laptop computer’s USB-C ports help 240W energy enter, or 5 when you rely the brand new and improved USB-C port on the again of the RTX 5070 GPU, which not solely helps DisplayPort output but in addition 240W enter and USB 2.0 for a mouse or keyboard. Just word the Laptop 16 maxes out at 4 simultaneous shows, together with the interior display, so you’ll be able to’t get 5 – 6 screens at a time. (Were you really hoping?)

And just like the Framework Laptop 13, you received’t want to purchase these upgrades as an entire bundle: Framework will promote most if not all of them individually for the present Framework Laptop 16. For now, Framework is opening preorders for the brand new laptop computer beginning at $1,499 (reminiscence, storage, and OS price additional), the 240W energy adapter for $109, the brand new cellular RTX 5070 for an expensive $699, and the brand new Ryzen AI 300 mainboards beginning at $749. A full pre-built laptop computer with the brand new GPU, 16GB/512GB and 6 USB-C ports prices $2,499 and goes up from there.

Like earlier merchandise, Framework will ship them in batches, with the primary set arriving in November. It’s taking preorders now.

Framework will even promote additionally a revamped model of the Radeon RX 7700S graphics module for $449 with the identical new followers and Honeywell thermal interface too, and it’ll scale back the worth of the unique RX 7700S module to $399, down from $499 initially.

The new cooling is perhaps the half I’m most inquisitive about, as my greatest complaints concerning the authentic had been warmth and noise when utilizing the graphics module (whose followers additionally cool the laptop computer’s CPU). Patel received’t promise that my points have been fastened, solely that it’s “something users are going to have go try,” however he says each acoustic efficiency and thermals needs to be higher than the unique for a lot of causes. It’s not simply the graphic module enhancements, but in addition a revised heatspreader and Honeywell thermal interface materials on the CPU, which can itself run extra effectively than AMD’s earlier era of elements. I assume I’ll discover out!

Note that Framework isn’t asserting any bodily modifications to the Framework Laptop 16’s distinctive “input modules” this 12 months. It will likely be delivery a firmware replace to maintain each Laptop 16 from waking up if keys are pressed when the lid is closed, however there are not any new modules or colourful spacers being introduced immediately, although the keyboards themselves now provide variations with the Microsoft Copilot emblem, or with no Windows emblem in any respect “for all the Linux users out there.” You may nonetheless purchase Framework’s clear RGB keyboard, macropad, and LED matrix panels if you wish to look flashy.

Speaking of Linux, Patel tells me his firm will formally be supporting Bazzite on the Framework Laptop 16, the SteamOS-like distro that we just lately put in on the Framework Desktop to nice impact. Framework will publish its personal guides, and he says the Nvidia RTX 5070 ought to work there too. With the most recent kernel and drivers, he says Nvidia players “should be able to play anything on Steam on Linux and have it work well.”

There’s no getting round the truth that it is a dear laptop computer, with graphics playing cards that price extra money for much less efficiency than the equal desktop elements — even when you go for the RTX 5070, you’re in all probability taking a look at enjoying the most recent video games at excessive settings on the laptop computer’s native 2560 x 1440p decision, and decrease settings when you go for 4K, Patel suggests to me.

But with Framework, you’re paying for the promise of a laptop computer you’ll be able to improve many times, 12 months after 12 months, as an alternative of shopping for a brand-new machine every time. The firm did it with its 13-inch laptop computer, and it appears it’d genuinely do it with its 16-inch laptop computer, too. It’s by no means been accomplished earlier than.

Just don’t count on Patel to get any looser-lipped about which future GPU upgrades is perhaps obtainable, or when. “If AMD announces something, obviously we’d want to talk to them,” he says. “We have a good relationship with Nvidia; obviously, when the future comes, we’ll be able to show you what we have.”