I’ve been waiting for an AMD motherboard for a long time, and there’s been a lot of (justified) hype around the AMD APUs, but absolutly no information on the SKUs aside from Ryzen 5 and 7, which seems a bit sketchy, to be honest. Are they going to be the HS or U variants? I don’t know what I’d rather prefer (probably U), where as I’d love an option of either an HS Phoenix or a Dragon Range in the 16 inch models.
A companion post will appear in the Framework 16 section about my concerns there. My overall feeling is that there isn’t enough information on either of these models to justify a smart purchase. I desperately need an upgrade to my 11th gen Framework, and I don’t even know what I’m getting into either way by purchasing a 13 AMD board now or waiting for more 16 specs.
The good news in regards to this is that you cannot purchase either at this time anyway. You are only able to put down a $100 reservation that is fully refundable, and based on all the previous batch sales Framework has done, they will release full information on the exact specs before they start shipping out the new mainboards, so you will have time to cancel your order and be fully refunded after details are announced.
I’m afraid I have to disagree with Richard, Framework would have stated if it was the HS series. As for the “U” variants, while AMD hasn’t announced them yet, information about them has been leaked. This is what I expect to get with the Framework 13 AMD, the “U” variant. As for the 16, that may still be the HS variant, but they didn’t want to release those specs until they released the 13’s specs.
Almost certainly the 7040U series.
The reason the specs aren’t listed yet is because AMD has an embargo on info regarding U series until later this Spring.
I don’t get why people are saying it’s the HS series ;-;
Exactly. Framework does not want to jeopardize its new relationship with AMD and has managed to keep all that was revealed last week secret until now. They cannot legally reveal anything right now, just like any other laptop manufacturer planning on building 7040 laptops.
Yeah…the heatsink, fan + chassis combo can only handle 28-30W sustained. So it’s looking like a U series. HS is 35W upward…and I can’t see that chassis taking on an additional 25% (from 28 to 35) in one generation.
Plus the battery capacity…that means 35W is even less likely.
Then plus the 65W USB-PD brick…(instead of, say, 90W)…that’s like less-less likely to take on the HS proc.
Yep definitely a U series, that’s the move for a 13" thin&light.
I’m really excited about RDNA3 in these. My intel 12th gen can handle skyrim fine on medium setting and that’s great for me for now, but I’m lookin’ at getting an eGPU to play more modern games down the line. I’m hoping RDNA3 in a 7640U or similar might save me from buying an eGPU for a while longer.
…Except with the 1370p and 1280p sipping 20w MINIMUM, 28w Base, and 64w turbo, I don’t think that 35w base and 45w turbo aren’t exactly pie in the sky dreams for the little Framework 13, given the right cooler. And the pictures of the motherboards on the new 13th gen and 7040 series motherboards do not look exactly like the same cooler as even 12th gen. It may just be cosmetic, but they also might have upped the ante.
As for the refundable down payment, one COULD drop $200 for both Ryzen configurations and then refund the ones they won’t be getting, but that’s not a viable strategy for a lot of people, probably. I just hope we get some more info sooner than later.
While it is true that 64W is a turbo, it thermal throttles within seconds! Honestly the cooler, probably could handle 35W, I just don’t see why Framework would hide the model numbers otherwise!
Honestly, I would say there’s a very high chance of it just being the 7640U and 7840U respectively! That would be the only option that makes sense! And in that case we already know the specs essentially!
HS and U series generally use the same silicon, it’s just at different clocks! It is a bit of a risky game to bet, but it’s almost certainly going to be:
Good call that I don’t really know what I’m talking about for the full AMD product range. It looks like the “U” versions were announced later in January than the article that I linked to - but googling does provide info on both the 7640U and 7840U.
It’s a $100 pre-order, one that you can back out of at any time and receive a full refund. There isn’t any risk to this process. Until payment is made in full, you have paid for absolutely nothing. Either you are interested enough to pre-order or you aren’t. It’s unfair criticism to (deliberately or not) portray FW as somehow obfuscating specs to goose sales. Dollars to donuts FW hasn’t even made the decision which series to go with, it’s the only logical reason why they wouldn’t publish specs.
100 dollars isnt nothing. 200 if you preorder both just to be safe. Not everybody can afford to just put down that kind of money, even if they can just take it back later.
That being said, I HAVE preorderrd both, out of necessity, and wish I hadn’t had to do so. But at least I’m in a safe position to do so, financially.
I’m not pretending it isn’t but let me explain my reasoning. Either you can wait for a laptop, in which case the pre-order is no risk to you because if you wait and it turns out not to meet you needs, then you can back out and still get a different laptop. If you need a laptop urgently then you shouldn’t pre-order at all and get either the 12th gen FW or get a different laptop entirely. And again, if you can wait for a laptop, then the batch number is functionally irrelevant to you because you’ve committed to waiting either way. You shouldn’t pre-order the 16 based upon what FW might do as far as GPU modules are concerned. They have not committed to producing anything except the laptop. Only demo’ed what might be possible. Buy based upon what is here and now, not future promises.
Like @GhostLegion said, the pre-orders are only to get into the first batches. After all the batch orders are fulfilled you’ll be able to buy them from the Marketplace. This works out, because if someone doesn’t have the money to put down on a pre-order, they can wait until other users who can pay to get their orders first, and be able to see if there are any issues or missing features before choosing to buy. Those of us with the financial means to pre-order get to be the guinea pigs of sorts for everyone else.
Yea, that’s my thoughts, so might as well wait for the reviews, which then Meteor Lake might be out (at least for other laptop model reviews) to make an easier choice which should I get I guess.
I blindly put down a $100 deposit on my lunch break at work. If it falls flat, so be it. If I end up with a racing-hot machine, so be it. It’s in my control until I pay the rest of the grand I owe.
