I’m okay with a 13in or the upcoming 16in. I just want to have a badass GPU/CPU to stay on top of latest titles.
Any recommendations?
Learned about Framework from Dave2D on YouTube. And enjoyed the “long term review” from Elevated Systems. That’s really where the rubber hits the road. Tia!
Well, the 16in will at the very least have the same gaming capabilities as the 13in. It might even be better if that dGPU module actually gets made (they haven’t committed to that to my knowledge). So really it comes down to form factor. Which do you want? 16in 16:10 screen? Modular/customizable keyboard? Then that’s the 16in for you. Want a 3:2 screen? Then that’s the 13in. I expect both to get regular mobo upgrades but at least the 13in has a proven track record of delivery on that promise. Other than that, nobody can say. If you’ve seen the annoucement/read the specs page then you know as much as the rest of us.
I have yes. I’ll probably wait for a bit to see what happens with the upgradable GPU. I think I have another 1-2 good years of my current laptop. Going to keep apprised of Framework! I love the ideas, and would love to upgrade the system overtime.
Supposedly the module can be used as an eGPU though I am curious how are they going to power it considering the limitations of USB-PD.
The gpu module can have it’s own power input if 100w isn’t enough. Inb4 4090 module that needs 4 200w power bricks XD
USB-PD 3.1 is 240W actually. So I am not sure if it is enough to power the laptop + GPU. My guess is a separate charging brick for each of them.
if you want to play triple A games you should probably wait for the 16 inch one. igpu will always be somehow not enough.
I mean, I use an eGPU with my 12th gen…
I mean, I use an eGPU with my 12th gen…
But then you don’t really have portability with the GPU, which kinda eliminates the only advantage gaming laptops have over desktops… def seems best to just wait for the 16.
My current laptop has gpu RTX 2060 and cpu Ryzen 9 4900HS 3rd gen
Power brick says 20V at 9amps which is 180 watts. It games wonderfully - so far.
I also recall when flagship GPUs come out they are power hungry monsters! I’m alright with being 6-12 months behind the flagships in exchange for smaller more efficient modules with more reasonable power demands.
But I also don’t need an ultra-portable. It would be alright with me if the laptop was chonky! Like semi-portable laptop. Two power bricks for another 60fps? Hell ya.
Afaik nobody has done that jet and I don’t know of any charger or device that to 240w pd (or actually anything above 20v), idk if framework is going to be the first on that front.
Also it’s just straight up overkill for the laptop portion, much more flexible to have the expansion bay deal with the power requirements. If you have only nvme drives you can just pull power from the laptop, if you put a 4090 or a 7900xtx into one you’d probably have to add like 4 200w bricks or hell just add a built in psu XD.
Just pointing out that it is possible but it is still not enough to power modern gaming laptops vs barrel plug chargers of even higher wattage.
I am well aware, the PD spec is probably my favorite part about usb-c and also one of the least half assed ones. If only the usb if had the balls to actually enforce sensible standards it would be so much less of a mess.
I do wonder, would that much power draw be bad for the battery? I mean there are gaming laptops made with cards that power hungry, so it’s gotta be possible… 16 inch is gonna need a beefy battery though.
I could easily see GPU expansion bays having their own port for power when running off of DC power, but it seems unreasonable to have to draw from multiple ports at once… might end up that it only draws 100w (or, who knows, maybe framework will be the first to fully implement USB-PD 240w. I bet they’re at least considering it)
Depends on if you want a desktop class version or a mobile one, a mobile 4090 is apparently limited to 150w tops, on a 61wh battery that’s a little under 3C, add 30w for the cpu and it should stay under 4C, that is pretty doable for capacity focused battery cells though idk how useful 15 to 20min battery life would be. If we are talking desktop-class, a 7900 xtxt is 400w and a 4090 around 600, 10C is a bit more spicy than what I’d do to a laptop battery.
But the thing is, the expansion cards can have their own power input, you could for example have your meme 600w 4090 card on it’s 4 200w bricks and when you unplug it it goes into “limp mode” to at least not crash the system.
So, looked at the electrical documentation on github for the expansion bays and found some interesting stuff – the VSYS_GPU pin on the I/O can apparently do 20V at 10.5A maximum – not quite 240W but 210W is still well above the 100W that’s standard.
Perhaps more interestingly, there is listed a VADP_GPU connector which is specifcally listed as allowing for “power to be fed from the Expansion Bay back into the laptop in an Extended Battery scenario or another type of card that has a power supply attached.” Definitely seems to imply GPUs drawing from a port on the expansion bay itself.
Thing is though, if I’m understanding correctly, that 210W number is only for the pin connecting the expansion bay to the laptop and doesn’t include the alternate port on the back of the expansion bay… which could still mean 200W+ power without a boost from the port on the expansion bay (and maybe even more than 210W total if charging in both spots at once)
In addition, it appears that VADP_GPU can draw 20V at 4.5A for 90W of power, which would mean a max of 300W hypothetically. I doubt it’d ever reach that high, but that’s theoretically the upper limit.
And as many power inputs in the Expansion card itself as you can fit XD, like that 21inch acer one that had at least 2 bricks
Hell might as well just add an ac plug to your expansion card and do a built in psu, that would actually be kinda neat.
Not entirely sure if the spec allows for that, as it only lists 6 pins for the power routing from the back of the expansion bay, and with each limited to 0.75A you’re only going to get 4.5A. Although, the fact that this is part of the IO for the pinout could mean that’s only the upper limit if that power is being shared between the laptop and expansion bay, if that power stays within the expansion bay you might be able to put as much in as whatever your module can handle.