You’re buying for the promise, not the performance. But when the potential is this damned enticing it’s hard to resist.
The Framework 16 is the gaming laptop I’ve always wanted. Well… almost. If you put the Framework 16’s GPU party piece into the Razer Blade 14 then you’ve got the gaming laptop I’ve always wanted, but this is certainly a vital step down that path. And without Framework there’s no chance of ever getting there; it’s also honestly pretty incredible this innovative machine works so well even in this first generation.
Because this here is a new breed of notebooks. One that ought to pave the way for genuinely upgradeable gaming laptops, in almost the same way we have endlessly configurable desktop PCs we can tweak to our heart’s content. For all the promise of MXM modules, this is the first gaming laptop that a user can remove and replace the graphics card in only six twists of a Framework-supplied screwdriver.
As alluded to at the start, this machine’s party piece is the ability to remove the graphics card as easily as you can a desktop PC’s add-in board. It’s all housed in a removable module which slots into the rear of the Framework 16, and can also be replaced with a blank housing if you just want to run on the machine’s processor graphics to save on space and battery life.
The promise here is that, much like with Framework’s existing mainboard offerings, you’ll eventually be able to buy a next-generation module which adds a new, more powerful generation of graphics silicon to your machine. You will no longer have to buy an entirely new gaming laptop if you want to use a new line of mobile graphics… at least, that is the promise.
How that holds up over time is going to be down to support from both Framework and AMD, because it’s this partnership between the two companies that has been intrinsic in getting this whole project off the ground. Which does mean that you are restricted to mobile AMD GPUs, and right now to only one SKU—the RX 7700S.Framework 16: The quick verdict
The Framework 16 is an outstanding achievement and the upgradeable GPU isn’t the only thing I’m talking about here either. This is the gaming laptop every nerdy PC gamer ought to covet. It can be a DIY build project, a starting point for an upgrade journey, and a notebook capable of engendering the same level of affection you might feel for a full desktop you’ve lovingly evolved over the years.
There’s a quirky juxtaposition of impressive engineering and endearing jank to the Framework 16, and honestly only in a good way. That mix is the only way you’re ever going to get a machine with this level of customisation on offer, even if it does mean a slightly wayward finish on the metal spacers.
The way you can reconfigure the machine on the fly, depending on what you’re doing or where you might be going, is a supreme strength of the device. But the tantalising potential of being able to drop a whole new generation of mobile graphics chip into this exact machine a few years down the line, for markedly less than it would cost to buy a whole new gaming laptop is what would have me lining up to buy one.
But you are still going to have to square something with yourself first. The Framework 16 is not a cheap gaming laptop; it’s supreme modularity costs, and its DIY nature isn’t a recipe for being able to save yourself a few dollars here and there. You will be able to buy much faster gaming laptops for the same money, and we cannot here and now guarantee that there will be new generations of graphics cards released for this laptop.
Still, I’m impressed the RX 7700S works in the first place. The switch between integrated and discrete is pretty seamless, with neither Windows or the AMD drivers batting an eyelid when you change modules. And the RTX 4060-beating performance isn’t too bad either… just not for the money.
But you’re paying not for performance today, you’re paying for its potential. And if you can’t afford to do that right now, then it’s maybe not the laptop for you. But if you’re happy to suck up the mid-range gaming performance at this price, and willing to take a punt on the promise of a cheaper upgrade path down the line, well, this is the only real option.
And I think it’s a great option at that.Framework 16: The in-depth review
This is not the first time an GPU-upgradeable gaming laptop has been posited. The idea of a modular gaming laptop isn’t new, and is something that’s been teased by successive generations of mobile GPUs in MXM form. That was a mobile GPU socket standard originally designed to allow successive generations of graphics card to be dropped into laptops, but one that has evolved away from that to a point where the standard is only open to manufacturers wanting to drop new generations of graphics silicon into their last-gen platforms and is well beyond the end user simply craving an upgrade for their ageing laptop.
The notion of user upgradeable mobile graphics cards was also specifically promised by Alienware for its own Area-51m gaming laptop—though it’s worth noting Dell only ever stated that it would definitely be offered for the GPUs on offer at launch and not necessarily future generations of laptop graphics. The fact it never managed a second generation of compatible GPUs for its much-vaunted gaming laptop with «unprecedented upgradeability» was the subject of an unsuccessful class action lawsuit a couple of years ago, though reportedly some owners received settlements for individual cases.
Suffice to say, the history of the upgradeable laptop GPU has not been a shining one.
Framework, though, has made it its mission to create a business on the back of the idea of offering complete upgradeability with its own laptops, and its Framework 13 machine has certainly delivered on that for non-gaming notebooks.
