Didn’t buy FW16 when first offered, the GPU offered (an 8gb RX7700) was too modest for what I wanted, with expensive, dated & unimpressive external GPU options on the market at the time.
The latter has not changed. Some in the community are exploring Oculink connections. A good external GPU solution and/or more powerful GPU options for that expansion bay would make this product more appealing.
My eldest son’s desktop is now on the way out, so I’ve popped back here after 2 years… no refresh? No update on CPU, let alone GPU? Dock situation is the same? Ouch.
Maybe it didn’t sell well enough. IDK. But if not, it might be because this is an enthusiast price laptop - which can’t support mid or high end graphics. That makes it a niche product.
The new line of CPUs from AMD have fewer PCIE lanes compared to the current processors in use so they would have to cut speed/functionality somewhere for a refresh. The new Intel ones have the PCIE lanes so that might be an option if Framework isn’t bound by an exclusivity agreement.
As for the GPU, it is interesting because the current Radeon 7700S and the new Radeon 9060XT are almost the exact same specs as one another. Right around 200mm dies(204 vs 199) with the same number of Shading Units, TMUs, Compute Units, and RT Cores. Hopefully AMD gets around to the mobile refresh soon because I would love some higher VRAM options.
I’m desperately hoping that they wait until Zen 6 hits the market. With its rumored low power cores, it’ll undoubtedly make a huge difference in battery lifetime in a lot of use cases. My laptop is just 16 months old, no need to update yet. I can wait another 18-24 months just fine ^^