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Something to look forward to: In a sea of laptops that get less scalable or serviceable every year, a small company called Framework is trying to carve out a new niche with a work laptop that offers plenty of customization options and is partially made up of recycled aluminum and plastic. Hoping they decide to make a gaming laptop in the future.
One of the main complaints about laptops introduced in recent years is that manufacturers almost always prioritize thin and light designs over scalability and repairability. Many PC laptops still have replaceable and / or upgradeable components like RAM and SSD storage, but in the case of MacBook owners, they’re all soldered to the motherboard, while other things like battery and Touch Bar are tricky even for repair professionals. with.
In the smartphone world, consumers face a similar phenomenon, but some companies like Pine64 and Fairphone are pushing back the tide with serviceable, modular, and even eco-friendly designs. This week, a startup called Framework announced a laptop based on similar principles, with components that are easy to replace or upgrade for users.
The new laptop comes with a 13.5-inch 3: 2 screen with a resolution of 2256 by 1504 pixels and over 400 nits of brightness. Its components are housed in an aluminum chassis less than 16mm thick, for a total weight of up to 2.9 lbs (1.3 kg). You can configure it with any of three 11th Gen Intel Tiger Lake processors with integrated Xe graphics – i5-1135G7, i7-1165G7, or i7-1185G7 – and up to a 6E Wi-Fi module for wireless connectivity .
The processor is the only notable component that cannot be replaced as it is designed as a BGA case soldered to the motherboard. However, the Framework team says they’ll release new motherboards in the future when new processors come out, so theoretically that shouldn’t be such a big deal. And thanks to the lessons learned with the Alienware Area-51m R1, it’s ultimately up to Intel to make things easier in this department.
You can pair the processor with up to two 32GB DDR4-3200 RAM modules for a total of 64GB, and for storage you can configure up to a spacious 4TB M.2 2280 NVMe SSD. The slot supports four-lane PCIe 4.0 drives, so you can fit one of the fastest consumer SSDs on the market.
For connectivity, the Framework team came up with a nifty solution to the USB-C transition – all four ports are recessed into the case to allow installation of all the ports you need for your use case via modules. removable. As these connect via USB-C, you can probably lend them to a friend or colleague who needs a USB-A, HDMI, microSD, DisplayPort, and even a headphone jack. This system also allows you to choose which side these ports are on, which can be useful more often than you might imagine.
The screen is also replaceable, as is the magnetically attached bezel that houses the 1080p webcam and microphone with physical privacy switches for both. The keyboard offers 1.5mm key travel, and you can choose a localized version if needed. Powering all components of the Framework laptop is a 55 Wh battery which is also user replaceable as it is not glued to the case.
The Framework team plans to offer this laptop with Windows 10 or Linux starting this summer. There is no pricing information yet, but we do know that it will also be offered as a “DIY” kit for those of you who want to assemble the laptop on your own. As for the many user-replaceable parts, they will be available on the Framework Marketplace, which will be open to third-party vendors of components.
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