HA good questions - could have been carrying a padded tank on my back!
It’s a Northbound Voyager. Multi-compartment, light padding in the main “laptop” pocket that’s closest to my back.
I generally carry a second smaller laptop, a change of clothes, a kindle, my 180w charger, a mouse, some extra cables, sometimes a portable monitor (16 inch), some snacks, and a water bottle. The water may or may not be in the bag at any given time.
In a typical week, the laptop and bag will come with me to an office building Monday through Friday and get removed/inserted several times throughout each day. It travels between desks and rooms by hand. I drive to and from work, so no regular public transit jostling, although I take cabs or trains to and from airports every few months. The bag and laptop always travel with me and airport removal/checks has (so far) netted no damage. I’ve dropped the machine twice - loudly and embarrassingly - but so far so good!
My thought after listening to the Q&A that they did on YouTube right after launch is that what’s out now is all for this generation. Perhaps in a future generation (2-3 years from now) they’ll launch physically larger GPUs with more RAM? IDK, that’s just one man’s opinion.
The higher up the stack you go, the more unlikely, considering what Nirav said in the Q&A, as @Jeff_the_man already pointed out. Next you’d have the 5070 Ti which is IMHO the best card of this gen, then come 5080 and 5090, though what do you do with a 100W 5080/5090, because both are already power constrained at their max 175W. The only reason would be to get more VRAM, which some AI or rendering people could surely use.
Regarding the space, the 5070 is minimally smaller than the 7700S, about 200mm^2, which might be the ballpark for the chip size. (For complaints about accuracy: disregarding the difference between die and package, as the package seems to be roughly 7 times as big as the die, looking at images and measuring my 1060 that lies bare next to me). The 5070 Ti uses a bigger die than the 5070 (by about 50%) and two more RAM chips, but is smaller than the 5080, while 5080 and 5090 use the same die and the same amount of VRAM modules, so if the 5080 is possible, so is the 5090.
I wouldn’t expect any of these chips to make it, but everyone thought that about Nvidia GPUs in general, yet here we are.
Unfortunately, Nvidia has been using this market tactic for a while now (started with the GTX 10 series if I recall). Admittedly, there has been quite an improvement in the laptop GPUs that bring them closer together (which I believe is why the removed the M, among other reasons), but a mobile 5070 still isn’t a desktop 5070. I think the last few generations have been doing like you’ve said, taking a lower GPU and labeling it as a higher tier in the laptop variant. I get that people want that top in card in a laptop, but I feel like it’s not right giving people a 5080 and calling it a 5090 rather than just saying laptops top out at XX80 or XX70. At least there wouldn’t be an illusion of grater performance.
I certainly don’t blame Framework for the performance difference, or the lack of VRAM (I’m sure Nvidia had more to do with it then they’re letting on).
We’ve also updated the modular keyboards in two ways. First, we’ve adjusted the firmware behavior to prevent the system from waking if keys are triggered while the lid is closed. That change is also coming soon as a firmware update for all current Framework Laptop 16 keyboards.
Where can I track that firmware release cycle? Do I need to subscribe to a mailing list or something? Is there going to be a designated download page?
Yeahhhh, no. I will admit Framework has gotten better but I would hardly say they “traditionally” have been prompt with the firmware updates.
@ratijas There is a mailing list! You can also find the beta BIOS thread for your FW laptop model on this forum and periodically check that thread. When a new beta BIOS is available, FW posts a link in the old thread linking to the new release then they lock the old thread.
I asked Google if this graphics card is OK for Solidworks. The answer was “no”. So, does that mean as a heavy Solidworks user I should steer clear of Framework?
Which GPU are you speaking of? The 5070? In case you’re wondering, the only certified GPUs for Solidworks are workstation ones like RTX XX00, Arc Pro and Radeon WS, and unless you want to pay Dell or Lenovo (and of course dozens of other vendors) a ransom, you don’t get a GPU certified for Solidworks.
I reckon (but I am no expert at all), that using Nvidia Studio Drivers will work with Solidworks. Also, I have seen another website that actually lists normal cards like the RX 7600 or Arc A750 as good cards for Solidworks. What GPU do you have in the current computer you use for your CAD? If it’s a Geforce, Radeon RX or just Arc, then both FW16 options should work for you.
Yeah, I asked about the GeForce RTX™ 5070. My current laptop is an old Lenovo with this. NVIDIA NVS 5400M Graphics with Optimus Technology, 1GB DDR3 Memory. There have been some issues with this GPU and Solidworks, but it generally works OK.
I will check around to see if anyone else is using the GeForce with Solidworks.
Just looked up that 5400M, and it’s 13 years old… If that worked for you, I don’t think there is going to be any problem. Install studio drivers and then that’s it. I also found an article discussing the use of GeForce cards (in this case the 3060), and it seems that there is not really any problem with that.
Do we have any information on what bios the 300 series boards will be shipped with? Are they going to have their own or similar to the 3.05/3.06(Beta) from the 7x40 series with slight tweaks?