FW16 buying guide/thoughts

Framework Laptop 16
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After this update, I am contemplating buying the FW16 more strongly than ever, but I was wondering which version to buy and how it would be the smartest.

I want to have a good gaming laptop with good iGP and the dual NVMe expansion and there’d be several options and questions (those are likely not all of them):

  • Take the old version with Ryzen 7 without the GPU (upgrade for 12GB+ GPU later)
  • Take the old version with Ryzen 7 with separate 5070
  • Take the old version with Ryzen 7 and the 7700S (+ the expansion shell)
  • Take the new Ryzen 9 version without dGPU (upgrade for 12GB+ GPU later)
  • Sacrifice iGPU performance for getting the dGPU “cheaper” with the new Ryzen 7 and 5070
  • Is Copilot+ important, aka do I wanna use Windows?
  • Do I want to order the old 7700S separately from the new 16 (bc cheaper)?
  • The same with the 5070 (more to that in the next paragraphs)

I also noticed something very interesting, but maybe only in my region, no idea how it is anywhere else and I would appreciate it if maybe people could make these comparisons in their own regions:

When I configure (just on the basis of the things I want, not going from the standard options) the new 16 without the 5070, it costs €2294, with the 5070 added (pls mind that you don’t get the expansion shell with that) it goes to €3034 (+740) and with the expansion added (so basically ordering 5070 on top of the expansion shell) it’s €3143 (+109), totaling €849 for the GPU with interposer. But if I ordered the 5070 directly it’d cost €779, with the graphics interposer included it ends up at €811. So it should theoretically be cheaper to only order the new 16 with an iGPU and additionally order the dGPU with the interposer rather than actually ordering the laptop with the 5070. Just saying.

The same applies when you order the new 16 with the OLD 7700S, with that costing 477€ instead of 509€ for the new one (in the configurator, the Shop-Price for the new 7700S is 531€ with interposer). Keep in mind that the new version is likely better generally.

Coming back to the CPU options: the old Ryzen 7 is 206€ cheaper than the new one, but I reckon that the old one’s iGPU is faster, because it has 12 CUs instead of 8, and even RDNA 3.5 won’t help against 50% more CUs. So the 350 should only be on your watchlist if you want ~10% more single core performance and the Copilot+ thingamajig but are ok with 4% less multi core performance. I like Minecraft a lot (which is strongly single threaded) and I’m looking forward to trying CoPilot+ since I’ve never used it, but not sure if this is worth it.

Other factors are of course the new charger (which I can just buy in the shop if need be), G-Sync on the new panel (“problem” for the old 16) and the new web-cam on the Ryzen AI models as well as the new keyboards.

Maybe Framework are cutting NVMe lanes for the smaller (2230) drive on the new chips, as they have less lanes than ideal.

I strongly encourage the 5 people maybe reading this to share their opinions and price research and remind me of a dozen other things not considered here.

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This will be in USD:

If I’m configuring my FW16 right now, the default choice is expansion shell.

  • For $650 I can buy the 5070 card graphics module and graphics module interposer.
    • For $99 I can add on the expansion shell.
    • Increase to base cost if buying both: $749
  • For $350 I can buy the 7700S card graphics module and graphics module interposer.
    • For $99 I can add on the expansion shell.
    • Increase to base cost if buying both: $449

Buying parts directly from the Framework store instead:

  • 5070 card graphics module: $699
  • Expansion bay shell: $99
    • Based on support’s response to a client request (see the link I added), it’s likely that this comes with the expansion bat interposer.
    • Total for 5070 and expansion module: $798
  • Gen 1 7700S card graphics module: $399
    • Total for Gen 1 7700S and expansion module: $498
  • Gen 2 7700S card graphics module: $449
    • Total for Gen 2 7700S and expansion module: $548

You can certainly save a few bucks by bundling parts together - about $50USD! If you are purchasing a DIY edition unit, you can even exclude RAM, storage, the power adapter, and probably other options, allowing you to find better priced parts from alternate sources. Framework has “Bring your own!” listed in several sections of the marketplace ‘DIY builder’ page to let users know about that option.

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Thanks for you view on that, just keep in mind that if you buy the new 16 with the expansion shell, you don’t need to buy it extra and then you can save 50 bucks on the 5070 and the Gen 1 7700S. From what you wrote the new 7700S is exactly the same price…

I wasn’t sure whether the interposer would be part of that if I buy directly from the shop and I still can’t really “believe” that if I’m honest, because people upgrading their GPU already have that and wouldn’t need another interposer.

Also about that RAM thing: I would never consider spec’ing my Framework with the RAM and SSD FW offers, because it’s too darn expensive, I can get these parts for about half the money elsewhere. However about the charger…

I think it’s the best option for 120€.

I also find it funny that € pricing is so much higher than $.

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It seems the store prices where wrong for some time: Framework Laptop 16 configurations with RTX 5070 now updated to correct, lower pricing

I would strongly recommend against take anything not existing at the time of purchase into account for your purchase decision. It’s a formula for disappointment with any vendor.

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It’s including VAT and 2 years guarantee by law.

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That is European VAT rates for you. With USA sales tax at around 6% in most states (plus whatever the current tariff is) compared to European VAT at around 20% (country dependant) it soon adds up to a significant difference.

You receive the items you order with all taxes and duties already paid, included in the price you pay Framework.

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I should have considered that, but obviously I didn’t.

I think it’s very deceiving to have a “lower” price, just to see later that you haven’t paid taxes yet…

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Just looking at the configurator, buying the R7 350 with the 5070 and Expansion Bay costs as much as HX 370 with 7700S and Expansion Bay… I’m conflicted about this choice…