We’ve just hit an exciting milestone: the first press reviews for the new Framework Laptop 16 are live, and we’re starting to ship the first batch of pre-orders next week. Pre-orders are still open, with the current open batch shipping in December.
When we first introduced Framework Laptop 16 two years ago, we set an extremely ambitious product target: bringing the depth of modularity and upgradeability available in desktop PCs into a thin, high-performance laptop. This included the path that many of you wanted most out of a notebook: upgradeable discrete graphics. Reviewers are pleased to see that we’ve delivered on the promise of graphics upgradeability, bringing NVIDIA graphics into the Framework ecosystem for the first time with the latest-generation RTX 5070 GPU. We paired that with a new Mainboard built on AMD Ryzen 300 Series processors and introduced one of the first 240W USB-C power adapters on the market, both of which got positive callouts in the reviews too. A few reviewers swapped the new modules into their original Framework Laptop 16’s and got to experience deep upgradeability first-hand.
Here are a few of our favorite quotes from the early reviews:
"But what I really love about the Framework Laptop 16 is that if you already bought one, you don’t have to junk it to upgrade—you can just buy the newer, better components direct from Framework and install them yourself!
That feature alone makes the Framework Laptop 16 my favorite laptop of the year, and our lab testing proves that upgrades like the new Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 GPU module make a big difference in gaming performance."
“The Framework Laptop 16 offers users a high-performance, fully-repairable desktop-quality laptop with support up to four external displays. I highly recommend it to developers and enthusiasts who run Linux and tinker with upgradeable modules, or anyone who wants a sustainable laptop to escape the technology upgrade rat race.”
– ZDNET
“Simply put, the RTX 5070 attachment placed the Framework Laptop 16 in its own class among this group. If you’re looking for graphics power, this is a legitimate option, not just a modest boost. It outperformed the more traditional RTX 5070 implementation in the Dell 16 Premium, and it smoked the rest of the competition, including the MacBook Pro.”
– PCMag
Part of upgradeability is making sure that the modules being swapped out don’t go to waste. Alongside the new generation Mainboard launch, we’ve released a 3D-printable case that you can drop your original Mainboard into to run it as a standalone mini-PC. We’re also working on ways to enable Graphics Module re-use, and we’ll have more to share on that early next year. If you haven’t seen it yet, we have one other 3D-printable item for Framework Laptop 16 that’s been popular in the community: a one-piece touchpad row to replace the default three-piece version.
We had a bit of extra fun with the review units this time. We partnered with a UV-printing service, Printeers, to custom-print artwork on the Spacers that are part of the hot-swappable Input Module system. We made extras of these, and we’re running a community giveaway of them for current Framework Laptop 16 owners. You can participate in the community thread here.
We have a few other announcements to share. When we launched the 61Wh battery for Framework Laptop 13, we kept the original 55Wh version in some configurations to consume remaining material in the supply base. That material is now all utilized, so we’ve introduced a new entry-level Framework Laptop 13 (Ryzen 7040 Series) configuration that brings in the 61Wh battery and 2nd Gen Webcam. Finally, we’re also close to completing pre-orders of the 128GB configuration of Framework Desktop and will be able to bring it in-stock soon alongside the already in-stock 32GB and 64GB configs.
