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The Guardian
07-07-2025
- The Guardian
Framework Laptop 12 review: fun, flexible and repairable
The modular and repairable PC maker Framework's latest machine moves into the notoriously difficult to fix 2-in-1 category with a fun 12in laptop with a touchscreen and a 360-degree hinge. The new machine still supports the company's innovative expansion cards for swapping the different ports in the side, which are cross-compatible with the Framework 13 and 16 among others. And you can still open it up to replace the memory, storage and internal components with a few simple screws. The Framework 12 is available in either DIY form, starting at £499 (€569/$549/A$909), or more conventional prebuilt models starting at £749. It sits under the £799-and-up Laptop 13 and £1,399 Laptop 16 as the company's most compact and affordable model. Where the Laptop 13 is a premium-looking machine, the Laptop 12 is unmistakably chunky and rugged with over-moulded plastic parts for shock protection. It is designed to meet the MIL-STD-810 standard common to rugged electronics. It looks and feels as if it could take a beating, not like a flimsy DIY kit you put together yourself. The glossy 12.2in screen is bright and relatively sharp. But it is highly reflective, has large black bezels around it and has a relatively narrow colour gamut, which means colours look a little muted. It's decent enough for productivity but not great for photo editing. The touchscreen rotates all the way back on to the bottom of the machine to turn it into a tablet or it can be folded like a tent or parallel to the keyboard. The screen supports the use of a wide range of first and third-party styluses for drawing or notes, which could make it handy in the classroom. A selection of fun colours are available for the DIY version, further enhancing its college appeal. The 1080p webcam at the top is decent, although it won't rival a Surface, and it has a physical privacy switch alongside the mics. The stereo speakers are loud and distortion-free but lack bass and a little clarity, sounding a little hollow compared with the best on the market. At 1.3kg the Laptop 12 isn't featherweight but it is nice and compact, easy to fit in bags or on small desks. The generous mechanical trackpad is precise and works well. But the laptop lacks any form of biometrics, with no fingerprint or face recognition, forcing you to enter a pin or password every time you open the laptop or to use secure apps such as password managers, which gets old fast. Screen: 12.2in LCD 1920x1200 (60Hz; 186PPI) Processor: Intel Core i3 or i5 (U-series, 13th gen) RAM: 8 or 16GB (up to 48GB) Storage: 512GB (up to 2TB) Operating system: Windows 11 or Linux Camera: 1080p front-facing Connectivity: wifi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, headphones + choice of 4 ports: USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, DisplayPort, ethernet, microSD, SD Dimensions: 287 x 213.9 x 18.5mm Weight: 1.3kg The Laptop 12 comes with a choice of two Intel 13-generation U-series processors, which are lower-power chips from a few years ago. As tested with the mid-range i5-1334U it won't win any raw performance awards but was generally up to the task of more than basic computing. It feels responsive in day-to-day tasks but struggles a bit in longer, processor-heavy jobs such as converting video. The older chip means the battery life is a little on the short side for 2025, lasting about seven to eight hours of light office-based work using browsers, word processors, note-taking apps and email. Use more demanding apps and the battery life shrinks by a few hours. The battery takes about 100 minutes to fully charge using a 60W or greater USB-C power adaptor. The port selection is entirely customisable with a fixed headphone jack and four slots for expansion cards, which are available in a choice of USB-A and USB-C, DisplayPort and HDMI, microSD and SD card readers, or ethernet. Other cards can add up to 1TB of storage and the USB-C cards are available in a range of solid or translucent colours to make things even brighter. It is an excellent system but note the Laptop 12 supports only USB 3.2 Gen 2, not the faster USB4/Thunderbolt common on new machines. Framework rates the battery to maintain at least 80% of its original capacity for at least 1,000 full charge cycles. It can easily be replaced along with all the rest of the components, including the RAM and SSD. Framework sells replacement parts and upgrades through its marketplace but also supports third-party parts. The laptop contains recycled plastic in many components. The DIY edition of the Framework 12 starts at £499 (€569/$549/A$909) with pre-built systems starting at £749 (€849/$799/A$1,369) with Windows 11. For comparison, the DIY Framework 13 costs from £799 and the DIY Framework 16 costs from £1,399 . Similarly specced 2-in-1 Windows machines start at about £500. Like previous Framework machines, the Laptop 12 demonstrates that repairable, upgradable and adaptable computers are possible, work well and can be used by more than just the tech savvy. It manages to be fun in a way most mid-range PCs just aren't. The keyboard is solid, the trackpad good and the speakers loud. The modular ports are a killer feature that every PC should embrace, while being able to repair or upgrade it easily is still so unusual. The touchscreen is bright but unremarkable, the lack of any biometrics is irritating, and the older processor, while still decently fast for everyday tasks, means the battery life isn't long by modern standards. Its biggest problem is cost, as it is about £150-£200 more expensive than similarly specced but closed and locked-down machines. Unless you already have spare storage and RAM lying around, that's the price you have to pay for the open and modular machine. Pros: swappable ports, repairable and upgradeable, fun and durable design, compact, lots of colour choices, solid keyboard and trackpad, solid performance for everyday tasks. Cons: battery life short of best, screen is bright but a little lacklustre, no biometrics, expensive, older processor, wait time for purchases.
Engadget
18-06-2025
- Engadget
Framework Laptop 12 review: Doing the right thing comes at a cost
Earlier this year, Framework announced it was making a smaller, 12-inch laptop and a beefy desktop to go alongside its 13- and 16-inch notebooks. A few months later, and the former has arrived, putting the same modular, repairable laptop into a slightly smaller body. Unlike its bigger siblings, the Laptop 12 is a 12.2-inch touchscreen convertible clad in brightly colored plastic. It's aimed at students, with a focus on robustness and quality you won't see in the usual machines you find at the top of the bargain list. My initial impression is that it's a damn charming piece of gear, but I immediately wonder how many kids in school will actually get to use this thing given it's far pricier than its competitors. Framework's 12-inch laptop is an alternative to low-cost laptops, but it is too expensive to compete. $799 at Framework Laptop 12 is the first Framework machine clad entirely in ABS plastic, available in black, pink, lavender, gray and green. As soon as you open the packaging, you'll be instantly charmed by its look and feel given how different it is from the rest of the market. My green and off-white review unit (which the company calls 'Sage') stands out from the crowd almost by default. Framework founder Nirav Patel has long harbored dreams of bringing back the translucent and colorful aesthetics found in Nintendo's Game Boy Color. Here, the 12 reminds me of the OLPC XO or one of the fancier LeapFrog 'computers' that glowed up when you weren't looking. Daniel Cooper for Engadget Its footprint isn't dramatically smaller than the 13-inch model, but because it doesn't taper like its bigger sibling, it feels a lot chunkier. The chassis has a metal frame clad in two layers of plastic that, the company promises, will take whatever shocks and bumps you throw at it. It also has the same quartet of expansion card slots, which are now available in a variety of colors if you want things to match (or clash). Plus, all of those cards can be shared with the other Framework machines since they're all, mercifully, uniform size. Framework clearly learned from making its bigger machines, adding several quality of life tweaks to the 12 for both daily use and repair. The folks who regularly open and close their Framework laptop will instantly spot the changes that will make things a lot easier. For a start, the input cover is held in place with more screws (eight, compared to the 13's five), which better balances tension across the surface area. The input cover now slots into grooves on the front of the deck, making it easier to place than the 13. More importantly, the input cover connects to the mainboard via pogo pins rather than with a ribbon cable. I don't think I've ever damaged a ribbon cable myself, but it's always a worry if someone tries to yank off the lid without first disconnecting it from the mainboard. Daniel Cooper for Engadget Rather than screwing the SSD in place, Framework now uses a hinged plastic clip that you press in to secure the drive. Similarly, there's a little flip-down plastic cover to protect the RAM, with a large printed reminder to flip it back once you've installed the DIMM. Naturally, the board layout has changed, as has the battery — to a smaller, 50Wh cell — so the mainboard and battery won't work with its slightly larger sibling. (Aside: If you're a hobbyist hoping the 12-inch mainboard will be dramatically smaller than the 13-inch model to make smaller projects, expect to be disappointed. It is smaller, but not by such a significant degree that you probably wouldn't rather just use the 13-inch model instead.) Daniel Cooper for Engadget The power button has been moved from the keyboard to the right side of the deck, next to the expansion card slots. There's no fingerprint reader, either, which is one of several omissions you can attribute to 'cost saving,' 'this is a machine made for kids' or both . Would-be buyers get the choice of a 13th-generation Core i3-1315U or a Core i5-1334U, which can support up to 48GB of DDR5 RAM, albeit only at the slower DDR5-5200. You can throw in an M.2 SSD with up to 2TB of storage, and if that's not enough, you can get an additional 256GB or 1TB unit to sit in one of the laptop's four expansion card slots. Patel knows enough about keyboards and trackpads not to mess with what works, and what people like. The keyboard and touchpad are as robust and pleasing to use as you find on the 13-inch model. I'm not sure yet, but I might actually prefer typing on the 12-inch keyboard compared to the 13's, maybe because of the former's all-plastic build and the slightly louder, punchier keyclicks. Daniel Cooper for Engadget This machine was offered as a better, longer-lasting and more sustainable alternative to those dirt-cheap laptops sold to kids and students. But while everything already mentioned is more than good enough, we soon start to see where the cost-saving trims have been made. This is the first Framework to ship with a touchscreen, which is a 12.2-inch, 1,920 x 1,200 glossy LCD with a max brightness of 400 nits. In short, it's the same sort of screen you'll find on a lot of lower-end notebooks and so adjust your expectations accordingly. The gloss is an occupational hazard given it's a touchscreen, but the weaker backlight means you'll deal with the usual high-reflections and washed-out view in bright light. Framework is presently developing its own stylus, but until that launches, the laptop is compatible with any USI 2.0 or MPP 2.0 stylus. You'll have to source your own right now, and for the review, I was supplied with a Metapen M2 for testing. So far, however, I've found the pen experience to be more than a little frustrating, with the palm rejection a big issue. It needs a tweak — and I'm sure it'll be addressed swiftly — given the amount of times I prodded open a menu or closed a window with the flesh on the side of my hand. Similarly, the 2-megapixel webcam is a big step down from the 9.2-megapixel sensor found in the 13-inch model. Again, you can expect the same washed out, artifact-heavy video as you would find in many other low-cost laptop cameras. Framework has worked to improve its sound quality over the last few years but the size of the 12's chassis is a limiting factor. The pair of 2W speakers here are tinny and quiet even at full volume, but at least they don't rattle or vibrate with heavy bass. My review unit was equipped with a Core i5 with 16GB RAM, and it was more than able to handle the sort of stuff you'd expect to perform on a machine of this class. Writing the bulk of this review, watching videos, viewing and tweaking images are all well within this machine's reach. Hell, I even managed to get Hardspace: Shipbreaker to play, but not very well, and while Fortnite does run, it's janky enough to not be worth your while. Again, tweaked drivers will likely tidy those issues up, but I suspect this machine doesn't have enough grunt for doom room gamers. Of course, it's a Framework laptop, so you can already guess the one major issue that pops up whenever you put the silicon under load. As usual, the fan noise is pretty noticeable when the hardware temperature rises, and I wouldn't recommend you using this thing on your lap. And you should expect to have this thing plugged in for the duration of your time using it, as the battery life isn't stellar. If you're using this to run any sort of demanding app or game, you won't get more than four hours on a single charge. Daniel Cooper for Engadget Right now, you can only buy the pre-built edition in black, with the DIY version the only place you can pick your chassis color. It's available in gray, lavender, bubblegum and sage, and I'd heartily recommend you picking any of those options over the standard black. The pre-built edition starts at $799 with an Intel Core i3-1315U, 8GB of RAM, 512GB SSD and Windows 11 Home. If you want to step that up to the higher-end Performance model with an i5-1334U, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, it'll set you back $1,049. On the other hand, you can pick up the DIY edition for $549 (for the i3) or $699 (for the i5), leaving you to source your own RAM, SSD and OS. I'll admit I'm struggling to work out what the Framework 12's competitors are, since this is a tricky machine. When announced, the company said it was an alternative to the sort of entry-level laptops bought for kids and students, which are 'janky, locked-down, disposable, underpowered and frankly, boring.' This means it's going up against $500 notebooks and Chromebooks, the likes of which you'll normally find on sale at Best Buy. The ones that, you know, have a reputation for surviving until a week after the warranty expires, leaving you out of pocket until the next sale. From a utilitarian perspective, the higher price is offset by the knowledge it should outlast every other computer in your kids' cohort. Not only is it durable and repairable, but you should be able to swap out the mainboard in two or three years' time to keep pace with technology. But, by that same utilitarian argument, you could just as easily pick up a refurbished Framework 13 with a Core i5-1340P, when available, for just $779. Daniel Cooper for Engadget I'm fond of the Framework Laptop 12 because I can easily see it having a place in my life when I'm on the go. It's cute, good-looking and small enough you could easily throw it into a bag when you're in a hurry. The durability of the chassis and repairability, plus the swappable expansion cards, means it should run for years and years. And it's fun! I love the idea of a little laptop that stands out against the endless rows of cheap black plastic or silver aluminum notebooks. Those dirt-cheap notebooks built with low-end parts and sold to kids and students for $300 or so aren't much good for anything. If you want quality, you'll need to cough up for it, and this will at least last for years without endless replacements. But. The limited performance and battery life here gives me pause and I'm not sure a machine that, right now, needs a stretch to run Fortnite would be too popular. My gut tells me Framework had intended to sell this for less before tariffs pushed the prices up beyond what made sense. But as a consequence, the Framework Laptop 12 falls between two stools: Not cheap enough to be compelling to the price-sensitive buyers and not powerful enough for people with bigger budgets. Unless you happen to have a spare SSD, RAM and Windows license kicking around that'll bring the cost down to sticker price. My gut tells me that this laptop's real audience will be adults looking for a quirky second device to take on the go.
Tom's Guide
18-06-2025
- Business
- Tom's Guide
I just got my hands on the new Framework Laptop 12, and this one feature is a game-changer
I just spent an hour assembling Framework's latest product, and for my money, it's the easiest time I've ever had building one of these DIY laptops. I'm talking, of course, about the Framework Laptop 12, which was unveiled back in February (alongside a modular mini PC) as the company's big new release for 2025. If you're not familiar with Framework, you should be. The company debuted in 2022 with its Framework Laptop 13, which I called the anti-MacBook and the world's most exciting laptop because it's the most repairable and upgradable notebook on the market. Since then, the company has released newer, more capable models of the Framework Laptop 13 and its larger gaming-ready sibling, the Framework Laptop 16. But the new Framework Laptop 12 is not only the smallest and cheapest yet, it's also the first Framework laptop to ship with a touchscreen that can rotate nearly 360 degrees to lay flat against the keyboard, making this the first Framework 2-in-1. I was pretty excited to go hands-on with the Framework Laptop 12 at the reveal event back in February, but I had to wait until this month to try and build one for myself. See, since these laptops are designed to be opened and modified by the owner, you can order them in a "DIY Edition" that comes half-assembled and without key components like an operating system, RAM, or a storage drive. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. The idea is that you can save some money by providing your own components and software, and it's a nice option for experienced tech nerds. But for the rest of us, you can order a fully assembled and ready-to-use Framework laptop directly from the company at a slightly higher price. So while I expect most folks will order a new Framework Laptop 12 fully assembled ($799 to start), you have the option of ordering a DIY model ($549 to start) if you're feeling ambitious. I haven't had a chance to assemble a Framework laptop in a year or two, so when the folks at Framework reached out a while back to offer us a Laptop 12 loaner for review, I said, "Sure, send me the DIY Edition!" Fast forward to earlier this week, when I found myself staring nervously into a box full of Framework Laptop 12 parts and accessories. I was more than a little apprehensive since I'm not terribly handy or technical (I once almost electrocuted a friend who inadvertently tried to use my badly-soldered power cable), but once I got into it, I found the Framework Laptop 12 assembly process to be surprisingly quick and easy—and one particular innovation stood out to me because it seems like a game-changer for the Framework Laptop DIY process. The entire assembly process of the Framework Laptop 12 feels a bit easier than any other Framework machine I've used." I've opened a few models of Framework laptop at this point, and every time, the aspect I find most frustrating is managing the ribbon cable which runs between the innards of the laptop and the Input Cover (the "lid" with the keyboard and touchpad on it). As far as I know, this ribbon cable was key to ensuring your input on the touchpad was transmitted to the laptop, and I was always nervous about fiddling with it because any kink or short in the cable could cause the laptop to work incorrectly until I opened it back up and fixed my error. But while assembling the Framework Laptop 12 DIY Edition this week, I was pleasantly surprised to discover there is no cable tying the Input Cover to the innards that you need to worry about. Instead, the Input Cover on the Framework Laptop 12 simply snaps into place with the help of some magnets built into the chassis. It took me a few tries to get it seated just right, but the process was easy, painless, and worry-free. In fact, the entire assembly process of the Framework Laptop 12 feels a bit easier than any other Framework machine I've used. Sliding the RAM stick and SSD into their appropriate slots felt straightforward, and any time I was confused about what to do, I knew I could just look around the laptop and parts for QR codes I could scan to go directly to installation guides from Framework. Don't get me wrong—I still made mistakes and had to disassemble and reassemble the laptop at least once, because I'm a coward who was afraid to seat the RAM and storage deeply enough the first time around. So don't feel scared or nervous about building your own Framework; you're not alone, and even lunkheads like me can muddle through it with the aid of Framework's extensive library of guides. I'm still testing the Framework Laptop 12, so I'm not ready yet to publish a full review or pass judgment on how this 2-in-1 performs as a laptop. But in just the few days I've spent with it so far, I'm impressed. The Framework Laptop 12 has a nice, comfy keyboard that's easy to type on, and the 12.2-inch (1920 x 1200) touchscreen feels sturdy and responds well to stylus input. The aging 13th Gen Intel chip inside feels a little slow by modern standards, but it's still plenty capable for getting work done and some light gaming. Maybe my favorite aspect of this little laptop, besides its easier-than-ever assembly process, is the fact that it comes in cool colors like Bubblegum, Lavender, and Sage. However, I want to run more tests and spend more time with the new Framework Laptop 12 before I publish our full-scored review. Stay tuned!
WIRED
27-02-2025
- Business
- WIRED
Framework's Laptop 12 Could Inject New Life Into Budget Portable PCs
Budget Windows laptops still suck. Framework's upcoming repairable and upgradeable machine could change the game. If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIRED When Framework's repairable and upgradeable Laptop 13 came out a few years ago, it was exactly the disruption we needed in the portable computing space. Here was a laptop that let you customize its guts when ordering, and then you could upgrade or repair various components in the future as needed. It was expensive, but you wouldn't have to shell out a wad of cash for a new laptop every five years just because you don't have enough RAM. The company is back to do it again. Earlier this week, Framework announced the Laptop 12 alongside a new desktop PC. The Laptop 12 is a budget laptop that doesn't look awful, is fully modular, and doesn't skimp on the performance and display. If it sounds too good to be true, you're not alone. We don't know the price yet, which is incredibly important. But keeping it a 'budget' laptop is Framework's stated goal. 'We build products to fix what we see as a broken industry, and few categories are as emblematic of the problems with consumer electronics as entry-level laptops,' says Framework CEO Nirav Patel on the company's blog. Whether or not Framework has the antidote, Patel is right about the diagnosis. Shopping for a cheap Windows laptop today will leave you depressed about the state of the industry. They're often underpowered and slow, not to mention quite ugly too. Chromebook Killer The Framework Laptop 12 has a small 12.2-inch screen, hence the name. But it's a convertible 2-in-1 laptop, meaning it has a 360-degree hinge that lets you flip the screen around to use it as a tablet. With that comes a touchscreen and optional stylus—a first for Framework. We're still missing several details to complete the picture, like the laptop's thickness and weight—those details will arrive when preorders open up in April—but photos of the machine show a stylish PC that looks better than any budget laptop I've ever seen. The five new bold color options don't hurt either. It has some very thick bezels around the display though, something you won't find outside the budget Chromebook world these days. The Laptop 12 makes up for it by ensuring the display is better than what you'd typically find on a budget laptop. It has a 1920 X 1200-pixel resolution and up to 400 nits of brightness (the MacBook Air tops out at 500 nits). Framework's key selling point once again is modularity. Unlike Chromebooks—and virtually all Windows laptops—the Framework Laptop 12 is fully modular, just like its bigger siblings. The Mainboard system is still in place, allowing you to easily swap out the CPU (and attached motherboard) for something more up-to-date years down the line. It's so easy that an IT administrator could upgrade a boat-load of these PCs in just a few hours. Everything else is removable too, including storage, memory, the Wi-Fi card, the keyboard, the battery, and more. As revealed by one of its investors, the keyboard and RAM are easier to replace this time around—Framework itself claims that the Laptop 12 is its 'easiest product ever to repair.' At the very least, you no longer have to remove the flat ribbon cable connected to the keyboard, which was the more fragile component of the repair process in previous iterations. Modularity and repairability will be what drives these machines into the hands of educators and IT managers. A fleet of these babies could last many, many more years than some old, chunky Chromebooks—and probably make the students and faculty more happy with an up-to-date machine. Framework even admits that students are its target audience here, using 'overmolded shock-absorbing' materials over the plastic and metal structure to make it durable. Modular ports have become Framework's calling card, and the Framework Laptop 12 has four, not counting the headphone jack. Having the flexibility to choose what ports you get is fantastic, and in this model, those ports can be locked in place from the inside. Pricing remains the biggest point of contention. After all, we live in a time when you can buy an M1 MacBook Air for $629. While Apple's machine is more than four years old, its performance and battery life will likely still run circles around the 13th-gen Core i3 Intel processor employed by the Framework Laptop 12. You can even buy a previous-gen Asus Zenbook OLED 14 for just $550. Neither the MacBook nor the Zenbook have the modular features of the Framework Laptop 12. If the company nails the right price for this machine, it could be a fresh start for budget laptops, and it could mean sending less e-waste to the landfill.
WIRED
27-02-2025
- Business
- WIRED
Framework's First Desktop Is an Xbox-Sized Mini Gaming PC
The Framework Desktop is built around a mini ITX board that will fit in any PC case, but it's less upgradeable than most desktops. Framework If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIRED The original Framework Laptop's sales pitch was that it wanted to bring some of the modularity and repairability of the desktop PC ecosystem to a functional, thin, and light laptop. For nearly half a decade, the company has made good on that promise with multiple motherboard upgrades and other tweaks for the original 13-inch Framework Laptop; with the Framework Laptop 16 and Laptop 12, the company has tried to bring the same ethos to gaming/workstation laptops and budget PCs for students. This story originally appeared on Ars Technica, a trusted source for technology news, tech policy analysis, reviews, and more. Ars is owned by WIRED's parent company, Condé Nast. One of Framework's announcements this week was for the company's first desktop PC. Unsurprisingly dubbed the Framework Desktop, it's aimed less at the general-purpose PC crowd and more at people who want the smallest, most powerful desktop they can build and will pay extra money to get it. Preorders for this system start now, and Framework says it should ship in Q3 of 2025. Here was my first question: What does a company trying to build a more desktop-like laptop have to bring to the desktop ecosystem, where things are already standardized, upgradeable, and repairable? The answer, at least for the Framework Desktop announced today: a gaming PC that takes advantage of many PC standards and offers a unique combination of small size and high performance, but which is otherwise substantially less modular and upgradeable than a mini PC you can already buy or build for yourself. Tiny but Fast This mini ITX board is based on existing PC standards—note the M.2 slot, the regular USB-C front headers, and the four-lane PCIe slot—but also comes with a soldered-down CPU and GPU and soldered-down, non-upgradeable RAM. Framework The Framework Desktop is powered by an AMD Ryzen AI Max processor, a Radeon 8060S integrated GPU, and between 32 GB and 128 GB of soldered-in RAM. Over at Ars, we reviewed a more thermally constrained version of these chips in the Asus ROG Flow Z13 tablet—despite technically being an 'integrated' GPU built into the same silicon as the CPU, the number of compute units (up to 40, based on AMD's RDNA 3.5 architecture) plus the high-speed bank of soldered-in RAM gives it performance similar to a midrange dedicated laptop GPU. In Framework's first-party case, the PC starts at $1,099, which gets you a Ryzen AI Max 385 (that's an 8-core CPU and 32 GPU cores) and 32 GB of RAM. A fully loaded 128 GB with a Ryzen AI Max+ 395 configuration (16 CPU cores, 40 GPU cores) will run you $1,999. There's also an in-between build with the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip and 64 GB of RAM for $1,599. If you just want the mini ITX board to put in a case of your choosing, that starts at $799. None of these are impulse buys, exactly, but they're priced a bit better than a gaming-focused mini PC like the Asus ROG NUC, which starts at nearly $1,300 as of this writing and comes with half as much RAM. It's also priced well compared to what you can get out of a DIY mini ITX PC based on integrated graphics—the Ryzen 7 8700G, an AM5 ITX motherboard, and 32 GB of DDR5 can all be had for around $500 collectively before you add a case, power supply, or SSD, but for considerably slower performance. The volume of the Framework Desktop's first-party case is just 4.5 liters—for reference, the SSUPD Meshroom S is 14.9 liters, a fairly middle-of-the-road volume for an ITX case that can fit a full-size GPU. An Xbox Series X is about 6.9 liters, and the Xbox Series S is 4.4 liters. Apple's Mac Studio is about 3.7 liters. The Framework Desktop isn't breaking records, but it's definitely tiny. Despite the non-upgradeability of the main components, Framework has tried to stick to existing standards where it can by using a flex ATX power supply, ATX headers on the motherboard, regular 120 mm fans that can be changed out, and of course the mini ITX form factor itself. Framework So the pitch for the system is easy: You get a reasonably powerful 1440p-capable gaming and workstation PC inside a case the size of a small game console. 'If the Series S could run Windows, I'd buy it in a second' is a thought that has occurred to me, so I can see the appeal, even though it costs at least three times as much. But it does feel like a strange fit for Framework, given that it's so much less upgradeable than most PCs. The CPU and GPU are one piece of silicon, and they're soldered to the motherboard. The RAM is also soldered down and not upgradeable once you've bought it, setting it apart from nearly every other board Framework sells. 'To enable the massive 256GB/s memory bandwidth that Ryzen AI Max delivers, the LPDDR5x is soldered,' writes Framework CEO Nirav Patel in a post about this week's announcements. 'We spent months working with AMD to explore ways around this but ultimately determined that it wasn't technically feasible to land modular memory at high throughput with the 256-bit memory bus. Because the memory is non-upgradeable, we're being deliberate in making memory pricing more reasonable than you might find with other brands.' Patel notes that Framework 'leveraged all of the key PC standards everywhere we could.' That starts with a mini ITX board that uses standard ATX headers so it can fit into any PC case. The system's 400-W power supply is based on the established Flex ATX standard, and its 120-mm fans (made in cooperation with Cooler Master and Noctua) can be swapped out for any other fan of the same size. A front panel with customizable, 3D-printable square swatches adds a touch of personality and customization. Framework The system also retains some modularity, with swappable black or translucent side panels, an optional carrying handle, 21 customizable tiles on the front (which can be either bought or 3D-printed), and two slots on the front for the same expansion cards used for Framework Laptops. The system also includes a PCI Express slot with four lanes of bandwidth and two M.2 2280 slots for SSDs. Rear I/O includes two USB4 ports, two DisplayPorts, an HDMI port, and a 5-gigabit Ethernet port. Framework says the Desktop will work with not just Windows 11 and the typical Ubuntu and Fedora Linux distributions but also with more gaming-focused Linux distributions like Playtron OS and the SteamOS-based Bazzite. (We don't know whether the Framework Desktop will be supported by actual SteamOS when Valve starts distributing it on third-party PCs, but the desktop seems like a near-ideal way to resurrect the dead Steam Machine idea). So while the non-upgradeable nature of key system components make this machine seem distinctively un-Framework-like, it is Framework-like in that it attempts to identify and address an underserved market niche with something as standards-based as possible. To those looking to put together a more fully modular system with a user-replaceable CPU, GPU, and memory, I'm sure the Framework team would be the first to point you toward the wider PC ecosystem. This story originally appeared on Ars Technica.
