Intel tigerlake processors are great. But Ryzen processors still beat the Intel ones when it comes to multi-core workload. Not having AMD option in Framework seem to be a deal breaker.
Ryzen 5000 or 4000 series (Ryzen 7 and/or Ryzen 9) would be great!
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Having the option to choose a Ryzen mobile CPU would be great because of the higher performance like you said. However the problem is that the CPU manufacture (AMD & Intel) normally help with designing the insides and the logic board itself. I don’t know how much Framework is designing by themselves and how much is designed by Intel or another partner, but since Intel is 10 times bigger than AMD they are able to help a lot more companies with designing laptops. AMD only has so many resources and I would think that they would want to allocate those resources to the other bigger laptop manufacturers. It’s also maybe worth noting that Intel probably also makes far more CPU’s and with that mobile CPU’s which makes them easier to get as opposed to AMD more limted amount.
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Please yes, AMD all the way.
Sure, Intel XE graphics is quite impressive but their CPUs are simply not very attractive overall.
Anyone from the team willing to share any insights into why Intel was chosen and not AMD?
Personally I want AMD because their drivers are baked into the kernel these days and because they are overall more power efficient as far as I’ve grasped the situation. Less power means longer battery life and less heat, less noise. More awesome.
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@anon69199554 , ohh yes that’s a good point I didn’t think about earlier. But again the problem is that other well established laptop manufacturers also tend to use Intel chips, and that they limit use of AMD CPUs to a bunch of models. That doesn’t give us a lot of choice, and the availability of specific models depends a lot on the region we live in. Here in India I’ve observed that few laptops are available with AMD, and moreover they don’t give much options to customise RAM size. I’ve found some good models with AMD 5000 series CPUs and other good specs as well but less RAM is the deal breaker.
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Yes please, I don’t know if this laptop model or a future one will have a dedicated graphics card but in that scenario I would love to see a full AMD laptop.
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The Intel CPUs worry me about this device…Intel is making trash these days and we already know from various reviews that there isn’t even a point to buying Tiger Lake i7 over i5 because the i7 will throttle and underperform the i5. If that doesn’t show that Intel is in trouble, I don’t know what does. All this while failing to achieve respectable efficiency, which is a trend with Intel’s entire lineup as we’ve seen devices like the Surface Pro actually go backwards in battery life from one year to the next.
Framework needs some mid-range Ryzen options, at least until ARM options become more developed.
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@linkert From my personal experience working in multinational companies. I never found any companies to use any AMD CPU. So, I think Intel is chosen because Intel is perceived to be reliable and more popular than AMD counterparts.
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@CFG9000 Intel laptop CPUs have decent efficiency, unlike their desktop CPUs. That said, I prefer AMD CPUs too.
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Would love to buy one with AMD as well. I guess Intel was chosen because of Thunderbolt?
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@Paulo_Lieuthier afaik you don’t need an intel cpu for thunderbolt, even if it is a technology developed by Intel. It is rare indeed but from what I read it’s the motherboard that needs to support both thunderbolt and amd cpus. If the Framework Team is designing the mainboard to this level I don’t think that’s the reason for choosing intel over amd. Hopefully they will be able to add these options as well in the future, latest gens from intel didn’t look that good
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Yeah, I know it’s possible. I meant that it’s probably be easier to go with Intel. There must be barriers or it wouldn’t be so rare.
Also, maybe Intel still has better fame, and the Framework Team preferred a safer start.
Anyway, I really liked the product, but will be waiting for a Ryzen version, and hopefully double-port USB expansion cards.
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Yeah, even Ryzen 5 4000 are better than i7 10th gens, I know there’s 11th gen but that too doesn’t come with huge advantage as the 5000 series beat them quite easily on both performance and efficiency.
I guess Ryzen 4000/5000 support would be awesome.
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It would be nice to hear from the team about that.
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this ^
i never planned in buying one with intel, but this still seems too good and i may just go for it.
hopefully a future upgrade to amd won’t be too expensive, because of motherboard incompatibility issues or something.
Even though according to this everything should be gucci
ps: someone should probably check once in a while for duplicate “please amd” posts lul
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AMD… not just about performance…
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There is a lack of decent AMD based laptops. What out there are priced based and have crap screen resolution.
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I will NOT buy Intel! Intel support Israeli apartheid. If it has Intel inside, I’m not touching it period! Even if that means a lesser computer, I’m not buying Israeli apartheid.
I’m not the only one that feels this way. There is a market for NOT Intel products. You should capitalize on these opportunities. No Intel inside and a better screen than the current offering on AMD based laptops.
I’d buy a RISC-V product over Intel. If you are “Open Source” building a laptop then why not go all the way with Open Source internals.
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I think AMD next generation APUs would be amazing for a passively cooled pc, because fanless pc are more reliable since they are more resistant to dust and humidity.
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Greetings…
What an exciting concept! But, like many in this thread, I’m left feeling less enthused due to the limited CPU selection. I’m also confused.
The decision making going on behind the scenes strikes me as being a bit outdated. Most of the news coming from Intel has been bad the past few years, especially as it pertains to a project like this. If I were on the Framework team, I’d be very anxious if my dreams were tied to present-day Intel and its abilities as a chip manufacturer.
As AMD has narrowed the single-core performance gap, there’s now less reason than ever to choose Intel parts. The decision to stay with Intel is made all the more confusing when you couple it with the bad press surrounding their inability to scale 10nm parts, being forced to back port their designs to a larger node, and their CEO stepping down.
It’s been mentioned earlier in the thread that the might of Intel is the reason a company like Framework would choose Intel… You’d have to ignore all that’s happened in the last few years to make that stick. As it is, Intel is making itself a case study in what not to do once you’ve dominated a market.
In all fairness, in the mobile sector, the reviews for the (albeit, limited selection of) AMD laptops have not been great. One has to wonder why the Ryzen platform fails to perform as well once it is watered down a bit for this form factor. Is it because the laptop manufacturers aren’t trying as hard (because their profit margins may be lower), or is there some genuine flaw in the designs?
Sadly, as much as I’d love to support this company and their mission, I’d be hard pressed to invest in an Intel based computer (in any form factor). The only vote we have in any of this is where we spend our money. Businesses only change when their survival depends on it or when it is advantageous to do so. If enough people buy the Intel version, the Framework team won’t be as motivated to build an AMD variant.
Framework team, I wish you the best with this and truly hope you are able to expand your offerings somewhere down the line. I’d love to pickup an ARM unit to run Chrome OS and an AMD unit for Linux / Windows. What you’re doing is admirable and I hope you succeed. As someone who has spent a significant amount of time helping friends and family repair their computers, I don’t think what you have so far will be appealing to most people. They just don’t care enough. Your first customers will likely be those who are already comfortable tearing down a traditional laptop, so it would be better to make your initial build more appealing to that segment of the market. It would seem to me there is more enthusiasm behind AMD at the moment, but I sincerely hope this “safe bet” you’ve made works out. I look forward to your newsletters 
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Depending on the source, they have not only closed the gap. But then again, 5000 series just came around ther corner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edpdmbmYOj0
As much as I want to see AMD CPUs, I understand that a young project needs to focus on few SKUs. Supporting additional platforms would have such a big impact on firmware alone.
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I saw many reviews that the ryzen series especially Ryzen 9 have positive reviews compared to Intel counterparts. But, the lack of Thunderbolt 3 support is quite problematic and a deal-breaker for many users as well
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