I’ve been running the same computer for about 4-5 years now. I looked at Framework in the past, but because of their prices and my obvious lack of funding, I just stuck with what I had. Now that the prices have gone down considerably on the 11th/12th Gen boards, as well as Framework finally providing a slim mountable case for them, my interest has piqued.
With the 12th Gen existing, it seems pointless IMO to go down to 11th Gen. Even though either would be better than the Pentium 5405U that’s in my “mainboarded” Lenovo Flex. I’m just curious- will a 12th Gen board work in the case? Visually they look the same so I’m not seeing why not, but if it’s a square-peg-round-hole situation, are modifications possible? Are there plans for a 12th Gen Cooler Master case?
And no- I don’t have a 3D printer. I also don’t plan on ordering a print of their open-source case from a company, including the downtime with production, shipping and the coin-flip chance the print doesn’t go well. Rinse and repeat. This case is aimed at people like me, too lazy/unable to make it themselves.
I just really want the semi portable drawing/gaming setup. Configurable laptop box smaller than the screen that I can easily dismantle and store. It’s been a pipedream for a long time. It’s almost there. -w-
@BigT That’s what I thought too, but they only list the 11th Gen boards within the case kit. Are the 12th Gen boards any hotter? Could be a factor of why they aren’t listed.
I can understand the case being relatively new, but I’d think by now they would have tested the 12 Gen boards in the case to see how they perform overall.
What’s even more confusing is that Cooler Masters webpage mentions “Framework 13” and is copy and pasted in the description of the case on the Marketplace. I feel like at this point it’s obvious, but only providing 11th Gen boards in the kit is odd. Maybe as a cheap portable introduction?
My guess is the lack of listing 12th gen boards in a kit with the case is down to supply. They probably have fewer 12th gen boards, so they don’t bother offering it as a kit with the Cooler Master case. The Cooler Master case has pass-through venting on each side, so they claim it actually has better cooling than the laptop chassis.
On the product page for the case by itself it just says “Framework 13 Laptop Mainboard.” It doesn’t specify 11th gen, or even Intel.
I can’t speak for Framework. But personally, I would comfortably and confidently order it for whatever 13" mainboard I wanted to use and fully expect it to work without issue.
just to confirm - the cooler master case is the same, regardless of which kit it’s listed with on the marketplace? i have a 12th gen board and am wanting to put it in the case and upgrade the board in my laptop. wanna confirm before pulling the trigger. thanks
