@ParticleCannon Oh right! Forgot the port changes due to its size increase. Ok! Not a big problem. Maybe I’ll just continue the upgrade path on the 13 inch
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I love the idea!
What I’d really love for a “medium” sized input module would be navigation and arrow keys in the same configuration that you find them on full sized keyboards. I find that the awkwardness of where they get crammed into on laptops is often what turns me off from using laptops in general, as I rely on them for various shortcuts and navigation of text files.
Just pre-ordered a 13th gen mainboard for my current FW, but may very well opt for this once more info comes out and pre-orders go live. I don’t need the upgrade for my workload, but battery life improvement would be nice.
I want to see what the dGPU support is going to look like. They probably have someone on board with a modular/upgradeable design before announcing it. I’m guessing its AMD or Intel and not Nvidia.
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I had always used a 15" laptop before I bought FW13 last year, I was really missing the num pad. Excel is little more conveniant to use with a num pad. I’m glad this will give me options and more power?
Give us Specs please and take my money too.
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Will you guys be offering some sort of buy-back program? To send the 13 inch back and get a small discount on the 16 inch version? That way you can also use those parts for the future generation of “refurbished” 13 inch.
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Unfortunately no. We do encourage second-hand sales and parts trading amongst the Community. Warranties are transferrable!
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@TheTwistgibber While disappointing to hear, Thank you for providing the most comprehensive answer on that yet!
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With a proper GPU expansion bay module, would you guys still recommend an external GPU enclosure? Given the Thunderbolt 4 limitations (and the current thunderbolt controllers used by eGPU enclosures).
I know a desktop-class Nvidia 3060 for example will outperform a laptop’s 3060, and also that a 3060 in a eGPU enclosure will be subpar to the desktop 3060… But will a expansion bay 3060 be on-par with a regular laptop 3060? or subpar? and if it’s weaker, will a thunderbolt 4 eGPU dock provide better performance than a direct connection?
With the budget I had, I was thinking of either getting a Dell XPS 13 with Nvidia GPU, or the Framework 12th gen 1280P (spoiler alert, I picked the framework). Alongside the other pros that Framework has over the competition, I also liked the upgradability. Hence why I decided to get a Framework and an eGPU instead of a laptop with a dedicated GPU. Because that way, in 2-3 years’ time, I can upgrade the GPU no problem (alongside the Framework mainboard).
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Absolutely speechless. I didn’t think it would be possible to make a 16" laptop enticing to me. A new upgradeable graphics form factor? Better speakers? A customizable RGB input cover with an RP2040-based module ecosystem??? This product will be a resounding success in the gaming, maker, productivity, media, and creative markets (and if an AMD gpu module is available, Linux will flock to this hardware platform even more so than it already is). Cannot wait!
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That’ll depend on the die used but at the very least since it will be x8 PCIe Gen 4, it’ll have more bandwidth available than current eGPU offerings based on Thunderbolt 3/4.
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I’m beyond excited to see the comparison. TB3 is four lanes, so at the very least the bottleneck will be significantly reduced.
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Well if I check the max bandwidth available at the moment with Thunderbolt 4, 40 Gbps or 5120 MB/s, and the bandwidth available with the expansion bay, PCIe Gen4x8 that means, according to this post by GamersNexus that we will get 15752 MB/s max bandwidth!
That looks to me like 3x the performance!
EDIT: Even with the new Thunderbolt standard that supports 80 Gbps which gives us 10240 MB/s, we’re still better off with the expansion bay. That is, unless the 120 Gbps is actually available for eGPU usage. And if Framework will support the super shiny new USB 4 2.0 or whatever it’s called.
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Is there any info on what battery the 16 inch laptop will use? Because a dGPU on the new 61wh battery doesn’t seem like such a good idea.
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It might be better than that- Thunderbolt also has to send display signal back over the same lines, but checking the pinout for the connector it, has 8 dedicated PCIe lanes as well as 4 dedicated DisplayPort lanes
What is the screen resolution ? I would expect a 4k option to be used with 2x UI scaling and avoid fraction scaling.
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Super excited about this! Especially all the new upgradable parts (including the new expansion card!!)
But I would encourage everyone who, like me, owns a Framework 13, to try and refrain from replacing with a 16. If the whole idea with the Framework is to reduce electronics waste and more generally our environmental footprint, getting a new laptop every time Framework releases something new and exciting really defeats the point.
Saying this with all the love in the world, let’s be strong and resist the urge, and wait another 10 years before replacing our Framework! 
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So with the expansion bay at the back (8 lanes) and the internal SSD (4 lanes) we only have 8 raw lanes left for the six card slots to share. In the (unlikely, admittedly) situation you needed a thunderbolt (4 lane) connection out of more than two of the six ports alongside everything else, is there a PCIe switcher being incorporated on the larger mainboard to expand beyond the CPU’s 20?
Follow-up question I’m really interested in the potential ecosystem interoperability between the 13 and the 16. if I wanted to keep my 13 and use the eGPU expansion bay enclosure, would that be possible in the “traditional” single TB4/USB4 cable or would the x8 connection of the expansion bay mean something more specialized?
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Literally planning to sell two desktop gaming machines to get the Framework 16.
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@Raph I agree with you. At the moment I don’t need a new laptop. The only thing I would like right now would be more GPU power. My initial plan was to get an eGPU enclosure with the newest Intel TB controller (I haven’t found any atm), but now that Framework will offer their own solution for GPUs (and you can still upgrade them over time), that might stop me from getting a GPU dock and switch to the 16 inch.
Even if I do end up making the move, I ofc will sell my 13 inch to somebody else. So I’d definitely not count it as wasted electronics 
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Not so @Christopher_Doman. Given that the motherboard is bigger than the 13in model, it seems likely that FW has added a chipset to the board to provide extra lanes. The storage and expansion bay could be have direct CPU lanes for best performance and the expansion cards be relegated to chipset lanes.
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