Im thinking about buying the Framework 16, but I’m wondering if it was really designed with gaming in mind and whether it will have a solid upgrade path for that. I’ve noticed most people who use the 16 seem to be focused on productivity or just want a bigger screen. I just don’t want there to be a single forced upgrade path that ends up hurting gaming for example, if the only screen upgrade is a 16-inch 4K display, thats great for Linux or web browsing, but not for gaming due to the performance hit for relatively little visual gain.
I would suggest only getting a Framework if the current offering and specs satisfy you. Don’t buy with an expectation that a certain upgrade will appear soon. Or if you have a very particular want, that a certain upgrade will appear ever, quite frankly. Say, a 240hz OLED, and you would be unhappy with anything less.
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I assume you’re referring to my request in the other topic :)
Really don’t take that as if it’s any kind of word that such an upgrade would happen. It may never happen. It’s just my own wishful thinking. I don’t work for Framework, my word has the same weight as yours.
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I use my fw16 for gaming and perform fine for the games I want to play.
When I was buying this laptop I did not look to buy a gaming laptop, I wanted a laptop I could fix if there were issues and upgrade if they released upgrades.
I did buy fw13 for my child as the school laptop since they tend to be harsh on the devices and so wanted to be able to replace everything, and seeing what they did for upgrades on that is what made me get the fw16
It just happens to be able to play the game I want… Or is it I pay the games I can run on it…
Either way for me I’m happy 
I use my Framework 16 for gaming and it’s been pretty good. It handles most modern games pretty well.
I currently have the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and 8GB GeForce RTX 5070. I am planning to upgrade to the 12GB 5070 when that releases in July.
My only complaint is the screen resolution. 2560x1600 defaults to 150% zoom for games/programs that don’t natively support higher resolutions, and looks a bit ugly with the uneven pixel stretching (though, I suppose you might not notice it if you don’t look closely).
I’m hoping that they either release a 1920x1200 (100% zoom) or 3840x2400 (200% zoom) screen option in the future. Since Framework is now at a point they can order custom display panels, they’re no longer reliant on just already existing panels (all previously existing FW 12, 13, and 16 panels existed before Framework ordered them).
They also have an OCuLink kit on the way. So if you’d rather something more powerful than the laptop GPU options, you’ll have the option of tethering it to a desktop GPU.
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I use my Framework 16 for gaming. It’s not “everything on ultra” levels of powerful, sure, but it performs just fine.
Upgrade path wise, I don’t want to speculate but we are getting a GPU expansion module with more VRAM and an Oculink expansion module to use a desktop eGPU - both are already up for preorder.
Heck, one of the first upgrades they ever brought out was the Nvidia GPU option and they cited gaming performance as one of the things they went for with that.
So I think upgrade paths for gaming performance will happen again in future, as technology allows.
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One also needs to consider that a laptop will never be as fast as a desktop for gaming because there are limits on power, cooling ability and battery life with a laptop.
A desktop can fit in better cooling methods and use much large power supplies.
It is a simple equation.
If one supplies X watts of power to a GPU, one must also have a cooling method to remove X watts of heat produced.
So, any upgrade will only improve games performance, if gpu performance per watt improves.
I bought the FW16 out of frustration with the quality (both hardware and firmware) of gaming laptops on the market. Honestly I couldn’t be happier now. It’s simply built with longevity in mind, which isn’t something that can be said about its competition in this segment.
The only unsuitable for gaming part is really the keyboard. It can’t stand the combination of mashing the keys and high temperature and may start to fail. I managed to “heal” mine, which had a stuck “d” key, but for gaming I use an external keyboard now.
Also you don’t get the most recent hardware, but “most recent” here means “less then a year old”.
Gaming laptop vendors seem to lose interest in a model around two years after release, so firmware updates stop and parts become hard to come by, despite some manufacturers having a dedicated store.
My previous laptop was built for gaming and indeed performance fresh out of the box was amazing. That was gone after the previously mentioned two years, as a combination of a botched final firmware update making the iGPU run hot, thermal paste drying out and fans starting to rattle caused severe throttling.
I repasted it, bought replacement fans from AliExpress as the official store was out of stock and replaced them in what was ultimately a three hour operation. Throttling never completely went away, but with a heavily modded cooling pad it was manageable.
My patience was exhausted when a year or so later the audio port started giving out.
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My framework 16 comes today. What finally got me to pull the trigger was the announcement of the oculink module. I already have a full gaming desktop and a mini PC with an M.2 oculink adapter hooked to an eGPU. Excited to use the FW16 at work with oculink for gaming when I have breaks at work with the expansion and oculink adapter until the FW release.
I’ve been eyeing one since announcement but I wasn’t sold on the long term viability but after watching the announcement for the 13 pro I was happily wrong. I’ve had a zephyr 14 and 16 from ASUS where both had port failures, screen issues, keyboard issues, and other small problems that there was no way to fix without lengthy support. It was absurd for a $3k USD+ laptop. The display was gorgeous but the hassle wasn’t worth it.
My hope with the FW16 is that there will eventually be a chassis upgrade like the 13 pro, and hopefully an OLED display upgrade. The fact that there is now a real possibility for those things and an actual path to easily upgrading made the 16 an absolute no brainer for production and gaming on the go.
as someone who has been lurking here for a long time it is so refreshing to see a hardware manufacturer actually listen to their customer base.
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I agree. That’s all good points. There’s also the fact that USB charging caps out at 240W. So, any FW16 will likely want to stay near the 240W limit. Unless they can figure out a way to charge from more than one USB port at the same time or the spec can somehow support more than 240W. I don’t think either of those are likely.
I do think there’s an upgrade path for the FW16. Honestly I’m surprised we’re getting a third (2.5) GPU already. Hopefully we’ll see even more GPUs in the future. I sort of expect 1 GPU from each vendor for every new generation of GPUs for a bit before we get different tiers of GPUs.
if the only screen upgrade is a 16-inch 4K display, thats great for Linux or web browsing, but not for gaming due to the performance hit for relatively little visual gain.
If you had a 4k screen, you could just run games at 1080p and have them scale perfectly… Some people might actually prefer that for gaming.
But you can also not upgrade the screen if you don’t consider it an upgrade. Current panel is VRR up to 165hz, displays games running at 720 or 1080 decently well, and has a nice and approachable resolution for running many games at native res. Why would you actually want to upgrade? Only proper HDR support or maybe an OLED panel seem like sensible gaming upgrades for my tastes.
Point is, who cares if they come out with something you don’t want? You don’t have to buy it!
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Honestly il be fine, not really sure about buying anymore. The specs right now are good but overpriced and I get why, your saving money for the upgrades and repairability. But seeing that the specs I want in the future to upgrade to likely wont materialize Ill just get a desktop. Thanks for the replies.
Framework is an excellent notebook manufacturer, but as you pointed out they are more focused on productivity as a company. The Framework 16 is an excellent laptop and it does have some powerful aspects of a gaming machine: excellent 1440p screen, high refresh rate, solid build quality, large screen, very good audio, sufficient charging capabilities, solid CPU offers. However, the company itself does not have high-end gaming in its DNA. I am coming from many years of owning Razer, and what Framework calls “overkill” in their marketing would be “entry level” over at Razer - they simply don’t aim at high-end gaming. And I don’t think they plan to in the near future. For example, I doubt they plan to integrate a RTX 5090 with 24gb of GDDR7 VRAM in the Framework 16 any time soon - while companies like Razer do that with ease in much smaller form factors. It’s just not their main priority. But if you are fine with medium-range hardware like a RTX 5070 with 12gb VRAM, then yes, you can game well. But don’t count on high-end gaming with Framework.
There is one caveat to all this, though. Framework did allow for a way out for high-end gamers, which is their OCulink EGPU Dev Kit which is coming. So you could get the Framework 16 and instead of getting a Desktop go with the EGPU solution. This is what I am doing and the performance is very similar to a Desktop. So while the company does not integrate high-end GPUs into the Framework 16 (yet), they do allow for high-end gaming via this EGPU route. And the good news here is that you are completely independent and can define your own upgrade path. So Framework 16 is well worth a look for sure.
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I dont need that type of spec in my laptop, my point wasn’t that they dont offer higher specs and thats bad. My point is the specs they offer are overpriced for what they are, I understand if its upgradable. But if the upgrades arent in the direction im envisioning (a 1600p screen, pivot to productivity audience) it loses its value. thanks for the thought out response
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