Framework is living up to its promise of an upgradeable laptop and is showing off reviews for its new 12th Gen Intel Core CPU kits. Numerous companies over the years have made similar promises of extensive upgrade options for their laptops only to stop supporting them within one or two generations. For most, the drives and memory are the only upgradeable items. This is often due to the limitations for replacing certain parts being tied to power, thermal, or mainboard restrictions. Framework has now shown that it has a pathway for users to swap out almost everything with little more than a screwdriver, a little time, and patience.
Almost exactly a year ago, we shipped the first Framework Laptop out with a promise of upgradeability. Today, we’re excited to live up to that promise by starting Batch 1 shipments of the Framework Laptop (12th Gen Intel® Core™) and opening ordering on Mainboards and Upgrade Kits!
Over the last few weeks, we sent systems and Upgrade Kits to journalists across the tech industry, and they have started sharing their reviews. We’re thrilled to see the feedback on the improvements we’ve made along with the overall philosophy of being able to fully upgrade a thin and light notebook, module by module. Check out some of the highlights below, and we will continue to post on our social media channels as more go live.
“If repairing and upgrading your laptop is your highest priority, it’s hard to recommend anything above the Framework Laptop.”
– Andrew E. Freedman, Tom’s Hardware
“Being able to easily swap out processors feels almost magical, and it’s only the beginning.”
“[Framework] not only delivers on the promise of a modular, repairable, and upgradeable laptop, but also one that’s lightweight and durable, offers strong performance, and is generally a pleasure to use.”
Currently, there are 9 mainboards on its store page with prices ranging from $449 all the way up to $1138 for the flagship 14-core, 20-thread Core i7 1280P. The mainboard kits all come with the CPU, heatsink, and fan, preinstalled.
Mainboard and CPU upgrades are not the only options available either. Their laptops feature a swappable expansion card system with magnetic locks allowing additional storage, changing of USB, networking, and display (including DP and HDMI), ports. A user could literally reconfigure their laptop within seconds to meet their needs at the time.
Sadly enough, there are no GPU upgrade options, yet, but it is hoped that there are plans in the work as this is usually the other biggest upgrade hurdle for laptop owners. Framework is a supporter of the right to repair and also has an extensive list of parts ranging from keyboards, trackpads, display panels, and much more, to meet the needs of just about any needed repairs.
Source: frame.work