News Framework Previews 16-inch Laptop With Upgradeable Graphics, Adds Ryzen Mainboards

[Admin]

Framework is introducing new Intel and AMD versions of the Framework Laptop 13, as well as a new 16-inch notebook with upgradeable graphics and removable numpads.

Framework Previews 16-inch Laptop With Upgradeable Graphics, Adds Ryzen Mainboards : Read more

 

[cyrusfox]

Custom PCIE Dock for GPU or storage. Nice. Although Next Gen Thunderbolt provides nearly the same throughput (it is able to change IO lanes to do 80-120 gbps out and 40-80 gbps in[anandtech article]).
So next gen Thunderbolt will still a bit slower than gen 4 x8 lanes which does I/O 128 gbps but for graphics output only 8gbps different when flexed to full output bandwidth.

Although this is creating another proprietary connector...

I like having the option, and likely TB4/5 whatever they call it is too far out and will be Intel only initially so I get going the custom route but I wish it could be kept under the USB C connector standard (TB3/TB4/USB3.2/USB4....).
I bet they are doing this to get better performance now with less engineering required by utilizing a new custom dock connector, Nice that it is being open sourced but so far they are the only users of it so I won't hold my breath for widespread adoption.

Also great to hear about foreign language keyboards, got some elderly folks that this will be just the thing for them.

 

[sygreenblum]

I should have waited another year to buy a framework. I like it, but a 16inch screen would better suit my needs.

 

[bit_user]

You won't have to open the notebook to get the GPU out.

That's just going to make it more bulky, clunky, heavy, and expensive. Seriously, having to open it up and plug/unplug cards isn't a problem. Swapping graphics cards isn't something even most power users do multiple times/day. It doesn't need to be as simple as swapping SD Cards.

The concept of removable compute modules reminds me a lot of Intel's "NUC Elements".

 

[cyrusfox]

That's just going to make it more bulky, clunky, heavy, and expensive. Seriously, having to open it up and plug/unplug cards isn't a problem. Swapping graphics cards isn't something even most power users do multiple times/day. It doesn't need to be as simple as swapping SD Cards.

The concept of removable compute modules reminds me a lot of Intel's "NUC Elements".

It always made more sense to me to have a bulky GPU in a docking station to drive higher resolution and add GPU compute power, Eliminating the power draw and added weight while mobile as you don't need as much GPU output[driving displays]. Its too bad gpu docking stations is mostly relegated to displaylink which is serviceable for office work but too puny for about anything else.

I have a TB3 GPU dock (GTX 1050 - Lenovo) and it was great making 8th through 11th gen Intel Laptops much more capable and I think it is the ideal package, but it is to immature. I have to disable GPU every time before I disconnect and make sure it enables correctly when reconnecting otherwise I usually end up with a hard freeze requires a hard reboot. I was really hoping for an external dock type solution to take off but with the limited adoption and the effort one has to use to get it to work reliably as well as the limiting bandwidth from 4x pcie gen 3 TB3/4 (Some TB3 only give 2x lanes), looks like it will be a niche solution superseded by other attempts.