Kinda surprised that Ars hasn’t dropped their review yet.
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Problem is, when I compare the fw16 to TUF gaming a16 which got a 95W 7600s, 7600s is faster in 1/3 games(5%-6%). Although fw is faster in a few games(about 13%-15%), its still make no sense. I guess that’s because the drive of GPU isn’t fine yet.
@nrp might have adressed this discrepancy in test results in his post in this very thread:
could also be other power/thermal management reasons in the other laptop models, of course
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~6 months worth of pre-orders disproves that pretty easily.
@nrp Hi and thanks for taking the time to address people’s concerns. A few pieces of info I haven’t been able to find in any reviews: How dim does the FW16 display get? One of my favorite features of my FW13 (gen 11) is how dim it gets for low-light usage. Also, what is the minimum refresh rate of the freeSync variable refresh rate?
Also just wanted to say that I’m happy to keep my FW16 pre-order since you guys have had an excellent track record of improving and polishing the FW13 in my opinion. I’m very happy with my new matte screen and gen 2 hinges. Please keep up the excellent engineering!
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@Lupin very bad take, I think.
While i haven’t looked at every single review, I have skimmed over most of them. And a lot of them praise the Laptop in multiple regards.
Is it the best laptop ever in every regard? Of course not.
Is it quite expensive compared to devices with similar performance? Very much so. But imo you get a lot of features and advantages which you can’t really compare to any other laptop on the market. You have to decide for yourself, if they are worth it to you.
And obviously you are free to decide if you want to spend your money on this machine, but to say “The reviews are bad” is pretty much just wrong.
I think it’s amazing what Framework has pulled of, considering they are a team of only 50-or-so people. This can’t stay the excuse forever and every little thing, but I also think they show that they actually really care about making better and better products and, again, what they already accomplished is just astonishing compared to others with hundreds and thousands of staff members at their disposal.
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I’m totally with you.
Some here expecting too much.
I don’t know why.
It’s to loud - don’t rely on one review. Compare with other competitors. They are similar.
To slow for games - you are using a mid range GPU. Sry get your expectations right.
framework sucks - get good sleep and think about it again.
They are doing the best and I don’t know if I’m totally happy with the FW16. But when I’m an not. I’m going to order a FW13.
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fr honestly at the end of the day, the joy I get from a product itself multiplies its value for me and if that’s what this laptop brings me then I dont give a damn about price to performance or every little tidbit that can definitely be fixed.
If I were in such a rush to get a top of the line gaming laptop, I would’ve gone with something that is 100% tailored for that. However, that’s not what this laptop is trying to be. It is literally about being an option for just about anybody (or at least that’s what the goal is)
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I’ve mentioned this before on a related thread on Reddit, and I don’t know if you have addressed this already somewhere, but I think another open question is regarding the battery draining when gaming even when the 180 W AC adapter is plugged in, based on NotebookCheck’s review.
We’re able to record a maximum draw of 176 W from the small 180 W USB-C AC adapter when running games or other extreme loads like Prime95 and FurMark. This is important to note because the limited AC adapter overhead can bottleneck the performance or charging capabilities of the laptop. In this case, the charge rate is impacted when running demanding loads. For example, we’re able to observe the battery drain from 100% to 85% when connected to an outlet and running Witcher 3 meaning that it is not possible to charge the battery at a decent rate while running demanding loads simultaneously. Such a scenario would never occur on most other laptops.
Well, most other laptops have some kind of non-standard plug with a well over 200W of power that it can provide. The FW16 does support 240W charging, whenever there are power supplies that can provide that via the appropriate USB-PD charging modes.
But yes, right now it is a concern, although there’s future headroom to “fix” that.
Also I’d say it’s a testament to Frameworks thermal designs that the system can consume that much power and still keep temps down enough for very good (for the hardware) performance in all other aspects.
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I wonder how the FW16 would support a truly monstrous dGPU module. A desktop 4090 eats 320W. Or would that just call for an eGPU enclosure and an OCulink module?
I believe the Framework 16’s 180 W AC adapter is the first USB-PD compliant charger that can offer up to 180 W, which I do commend Framework for designing and bringing.
And I don’t believe there are currently any USB-PD compliant chargers that can offer up to 240 W on the market.
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Would have to be an external enclosure, probably basically just an eGPU via TB3 or OCulink. Wouldn’t surprise me if there ends up being an OCulink expansion slot replacement eventually.
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I’m honestly hoping later generations of FW16 have a full 16 lanes in the expansion bay. Not sure how it could be done, but with how nice the CPU already is, it really could be a desktop replacement with OCulink and a desktop-grade GPU. The CPU’s certainly nothing to sneeze at after all.
FW has come forward prior and said that this is to be expected. This is why the FW 16 supports 240W charging. Unfortunately, no one has made a 240W charger yet, and FW’s own 180W is the first of its kind.
Their options were to either:
a) invest into the future of usb-c power delivery and keep the device future-proofed
or
b) utilize a barrel plug, which would not fit into their philosophy of waste reduction through unification
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- Having read all of the reviews as they are released - the reviews are overwhelmingly good - remembering there is basically no comparable laptop out there (eg. perform a mental reverse comparison review against any one of the other laptops mentioned - and they will be missing 95% of the modularity / repair / upgrade features present in the 16)
- Sales of the 16 are good, based on batch numbers, and community comments. There’s an ever growing demand for repairable and upgradable electronics - this will eventually become the default (3-5 years) placing Framework in a good position for growth.
- This could be a moment to reflect on whether the glass is half full, or half empty, because I see a lot of mostly full glasses around here
“Framework” reminds me of the term “Worldview” in it’s application, as both refer to internal structures / operating systems / beliefs. Our embrace of disposable consumption has been an accepted part of global worldviews for the past 100 years. As a result, we now have no option but to delete disposable consumption from our worldview for the sake of all life on earth. Lets applaud vision and innovation for a more sustainable existence!
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We really hope that this will become closer to the default. I don’t ever see it entirely changing, sadly. But we can hope that more companies, especially big tech companies, will move towards this.
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Has anyone seen something about the battery life without the 7700S? It seems all the review battery measures were done with the graphics modules, but maybe I missed something?
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No joke though, I half thought about doing a mockup for a barrel jack expansion card so we could use the beeg gaming laptop power bricks.
And then I remembered I have no circuit design/soldering skills 
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