“Will it play Doom?” Apparently so. This is the test I have to pass to get this new laptop husband-approved. Even if it’s not perfect it must allow him to game casually (without an eGPU.)
My question to you all is will it stand up to the heat a few hours a day? The same for HDR 4k movie files or streaming (output to external monitor via HDMI/Displayport).
Because it has “displayport Alt Mode” I would use it mainly as a media center/entertainment PC. I also tinker a lot so would love to build this laptop as I go. It just seems like a lot of money to spend for this purpose unless I can convince my hubby he can use it too. Since this first model doesn’t have a discreet GPU option, it might be a hard sell though.
Which Doom? The i7 Framework would probably only be able to play the most recent release (Doom Eternal) at 1280x720 low settings at 60 FPS, or 1920x1080 medium settings at 30 FPS, which may not be ideal. Here’s a video of it running on a laptop with similar performance. Doom (2016) may be slightly better but not by much. I definitely recommend getting something with a discrete GPU (at least GTX 1650) if he wants to play these at 1080p high settings at 60 FPS.
Any Doom game before these two would be no problem for the Framework though.
@MP1 In my opinion it really depends on what you’re looking for in a PC, and where your threshold for “playable” lies for games. In my opinion, having grown up on pretty low-spec computers the video @fishstik posted is very respectable/playable considering it would be running on an ultralight. However, if I got that level of quality running out of my desktop (i7-9700k + RTX2080) I’d probably throw a fit. All in all the threshold for “playable” is a very subjective balance, and for the laptop being “hubby approved” I’d probably just ask him
Now, with regards to longevity, I’m assuming the framework team has done a good job with designing power delivery to the CPU. Seeing as in reviews I’ve seen it pegging itself in the ballpark of 80C peak temperature with a consistent turbo (AKA still above base clock), I have no reason to believe the computer won’t last for years and years working at that temperature and performance level. Intel laptop CPUs have demonstrated very strong longevity operating at close to 100C for several years now, so I’m basing my prediction on that observation.
All in all applying this laptop to backup gaming device and HTPC applications seems like a good use case, as the tiger lake CPUs bring a really good balance between performance and power consumption. It’s a very efficient APU for those use cases, that should last you a long while. And if you end up finding that the CPU dies in three years, it’s a lot cheaper to upgrade/repair than buying an entirely new laptop, assuming Framework reaches the kind of success we are hoping for
Even if it’s not perfect it must allow him to game casually (without an eGPU.)