Framework AMD laptop

Manufacturers such as Acer and Asus have been experimenting with radical new laptop layouts of latetwin screens, or pop-up and slide-out keyboardsbut the Framework Laptop is something else entirely: a notebook built around true modularity and component swappability. Fully focused on easy repair and long-term viability, this 13.5-inch ultraportable is designed from the ground up to be opened up, part-swapped, and used by its owner for years to come.

This combats environmental waste, and the idea that you need to throw out or recycle your whole laptop when one part goes bad, or when you need an upgrade. Almost every core component in the Framework Laptop is easy to access and change out. As a general-use laptop, its build, performance, and battery life were good [not great] in our testing, but the upgradability is what sets it apart. We have video and photos to show how it all works, but know that it earns a TechX award and our recommendation for its innovation and execution.

Introducing Framework Computer

The Framework Laptop comes not from a major manufacturer, but Framework Computer, a San Francisco-based company that [if you couldnt tell from the name] is all about this product in particular. The concept comes along at a time when both the "right to repair" push [the ability for end users to maintain and upgrade their tech purchases rather than dispose of them] and being more environmentally friendly are firmly in the zeitgeist. Indeed, just a few weeks before we wrote this, the Biden administration announced plans for an executive order addressing onerous repair restrictions on certain products, including types of tech.

Framework Computer's argument is that most modern laptops arent terribly upgrade-friendly, built to be thrown away after a few years of use, and that this is bad for both the environment and consumers. Its hard to argue with that; at most, some notebooks offer the ability to add or swap out the RAM or storage, but even thats not a given, and mostly reserved for larger gaming or workstation-grade models. When the parts get old, you can't really change or upgrade them as you might on a desktop PC, and most users will eventually pass along or retire the machine.

In theory, this will not be the case with the Framework Laptop, which is made for users to be able to order new parts, easily access the interior, and replace what needs replacing. On top of that, the chassis is built with 50% post-consumer recycled aluminum and has fully recyclable packaging. It weighs just 2.8 pounds, placing it squarely in the ultraportable class.

To be clear, the laptop is sold with Windows and components, and is fully functional to start. You can select among three pre-configured models, at $999 [the Framework "Base" model], $1,399 [the "Performance" model], and $1,999 [the "Pro"]. The Base model includes a Core i5-1135G7 CPU, 8GB of memory, and 256GB storage, while the others bump up to one of two flavors of Core i7 CPU [the Core i7-1165G7 or Core i7-1185G7, respectively], and as much as 32GB of memory and 1TB of storage.

Our review unit is the middle Performance model, offering a good balance of core specs alongside the DIY design. It includes the Core i7-1165G7 CPU, 16GB of memory, and a 512GB SSD, and Windows 10 Home.

The display is a 13.5-inch 3:2 screen with a 2,256-by-1,504-pixel native resolution. The squarer 3:2 aspect ratio may take you by surprise if you havent used a screen with one before, but were seeing this more and more, especially on smaller laptops. The picture quality is good, and quite bright at maximum brightness. [We measured 357 nits at 100% brightness.]

You can also buy an assembly-required DIY version of the Framework Laptop at $749. If you choose this starting point, you pick individual parts for your order, or leave some components out of the order and provide your own, and then assemble the kit yourself. That also gives you the option to roll your own operating system, including Linux distributions.

Swap It All, From Ports to Parts

Its a tough ask to make every laptop component and part swappable, but Framework Computer is dedicated to exactly that. To start, on the exterior chassis side, you can change out the screen's bezel frame for one of a different color. [Our review sample came with a black frame.] You need to pry off the frame gently. The plastic is flexible and held on by strong magnets. Opening the screen to 180 degrees flat makes it easier. The hardest part is disengaging the bottom bezel, which wraps around the hinge area, but it's simple enough if you take care.

More crucially, you can swap out the four actual port connections, which are housed in modules, for other modules that come in the box. For example, you can switch out a USB Type-A port for a USB-C connection by changing the modules, or insert one of the video-out options [HDMI or DisplayPort] if you need to connect another display [but don't always need to].

The chassis has bays for four of these modules around the body, letting you leave the combination you need in place and change it up when needed. These port modules [which Framework dubs "Expansion Cards"] can be pulled right out of their slots by hand [you press a button on the laptop underside to release each pair] and swapped in seconds, so this really requires no expertise. You do need to pull [or push against the groove on the module] with more force than I first expected, but they pop right out. The interface on the inner side that plugs into the laptop is is USB-C for all modules.

The port modules in the box include two USB-C connections, one USB-A connection, HDMI and DisplayPort modules, and a microSD card module. They come in small cardboard boxes that fit into slots in the shipping box. These little boxes are strangely pleasing if you can keep them organized, though you might consider keeping track of these [and transporting them if needed] a small added burden.

Framework also offers 250GB and 1TB SSD storage modules that you can swap into any of these bays. This, in essence, lets you install extra storage in the form of a sort-of "internal external" SSD connecting to the PC via USB-C. The storage modules were not included with our review unit, and are additive to the boot drive, not a replacement for it.

As noted, the screen bezel is magnetically attached and pulls away with ease. This is just aesthetic, and Framework Laptop says it will have multiple colors to choose from. Underneath the bezel, you can see the guts of the webcam hardware. The laptop includes a 1080p, 60fps-capable webcam, which is also above-average quality. In this age of remote work and endless Zoom meetings, this is a big plus [though not one of the aspects you can change yourself]. You also get a hardware cutoff for the camera and the built-in mic.

The interior upgrade options are more numerous, and a little more complicated, though still way more accessible than the guts of your average laptop. All you need is Framework's single tool [included] to access and remove any of the parts.

Youll need to loosen five star-head chassis screws from the underside using one end of the tool, and the spade tip/spudger on the other will help you pry off the keyboard deck from the lower half of the chassis. It's easy.

The keyboard lifts right off the keyboard deck after unfastening the screws with a little prying. Once the keyboard deck is freed from the base, you simply unplug one delicate ribbon cable from the motherboard and it lifts clear...

Now, you can clean or swap the keyboard, and get to the components beneath the deck. This is a look at the underside of the keyboard...

And here is the component layout of the rest of the laptop, in the lower half of the chassis...

The layout of the parts beneath is super-neat, and impressive considering the sheer accessibility of everything. Laptop makers have been squeezing the most out of increasingly slim chassis and optimizing cooling, and that was without having to make everything removable by end users. The thermals could potentially suffer slightly from this, but to spoil a bit of the testing section to come, this doesnt appear to be the case compared to similarly sized laptops.

Full Component Accessibility

In a clever turn, every replaceable component in the Framework Laptop has a QR code on it, which will take you to instructions on how to replace it. This is a clever evolution of the increasingly common practice used in desktop motherboards, where the manual will include QR codes for instructions [or the entire manual can be found online via a QR code in the box]. One corner of the board even includes credits, showing the names of the people who developed the laptop, a nice touch.

You can remove the obvious options like the storage and memory, but also the battery and speakers. As you can see here, you get two SO-DIMM slots, capable of taking up to 64GB of main system memory...

The preconfigured models, however, come with only up to 32GB [and that in the $1,999 model].

The internal storage is not soldered down but is instead implemented as an M.2 PCI Express module. Framework Computer notes that the slot, thanks to the 11th Generation Intel "Tiger Lake" CPU platform, supports PCI Express 4.0 speeds, and takes up to an 8TB module [available aftermarket]. The slot is an M.2 Type-2280, working with M.2 SSD modules up to 80mm long. The company uses WD PC SN730 SSDs if you opt for a model with pre-installed storage. Our tester came with a 512GB module.

Framework even plans for the whole mainboard itself to be replaceable, allowing you to upgrade to future CPU generations rather than being locked in permanently. The mainboard has its own replacement QR code...

Because laptop CPUs aren't socketed, there's no other way to change out a CPU in an ultraportable like this than a full board swap. The catch, though, is that board designs in laptops are almost always custom to the chassis and thus not upgradable. This is a huge distinction with the Framework Laptop: The plan, at least in theory, is of the company issuing future laptop mainboards that will work in the existing chassis with other components that will be held behind. [Of course, it's also a big "if" whether the demand will exist in a year or three for Framework to indeed make this happen.]

A motherboard swap is not as trivial as the other component changeouts in the Framework Laptop. Framework points to its guide to motherboard swaps, which it rates as "Moderate" difficulty and comprises 32 steps. We didn't attempt it ourselves [we have only the installed motherboard on hand], but it looks to require some patience and delicate maneuvering [such as removing the Wi-Fi card and its antenna wires]. But the process is well documented, and it is something by nature you'd do only once or twice in this machine's lifespan, if at all.

Performance Testing

This laptop may be unique in its construction, but good old fashioned performance matters too. Weve run our new-and-improved suite of benchmark tests on this system, and compared the results to those of similar systems. The names and specs of the competitors can be found in the table below.

Productivity Tests

The main benchmark of UL's PCMark 10 simulates a variety of real-world productivity and content-creation workflows to measure overall performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheeting, web browsing, and videoconferencing. We also run PCMark 10's Full System Drive test to assess the load time and throughput of a laptop's storage. [See more about how we test laptops.]

Three benchmarks focus on the CPU, using all available cores and threads, to rate a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads. Maxon's Cinebench R23 uses that company's Cinema 4D engine to render a complex scene, while Primate Labs' Geekbench 5.4 Pro simulates popular apps ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning. Finally, we use the open-source video transcoder HandBrake 1.4 to convert a 12-minute video clip from 4K to 1080p resolution [lower times are better].

Our final productivity test is Puget Systems' PugetBench for Photoshop, which uses the Creative Cloud version 22 of Adobe's famous image editor to rate a PC's performance for content creation and multimedia applications. It's an automated extension that executes a variety of general and GPU-accelerated Photoshop tasks ranging from opening, rotating, resizing, and saving an image to applying masks, gradient fills, and filters.

Not all of the competitors were able to complete the PCMark 10 test for one reason or another, but the Framework Laptop passed admirably. Anything over 4,000 points is a good score, and this system easily surpasses that number, earning the all-clear for everyday productivity.

It otherwise sat in the middle of the pack on average across the CPU and Photoshop tests, never the fastest nor the slowest. None of these systems is really a specialist media-creation or -editing machine in terms of speed or raw power [more specialized pro-grade systems are recommended if thats part of your workflow], but the Framework Laptop can do a job when called on.

Graphics Tests

We test Windows PCs' graphics with two DirectX 12 gaming simulations from UL's 3DMark, Night Raid [more modest, suitable for laptops with integrated graphics] and Time Spy [more demanding, suitable for gaming rigs with discrete GPUs].

We also run two tests from the cross-platform GPU benchmark GFXBench 5, which stresses both low-level routines like texturing and high-level, game-like image rendering. The 1440p Aztec Ruins and 1080p Car Chase tests, rendered offscreen to accommodate different display resolutions, exercise graphics and compute shaders using the OpenGL programming interface and hardware tessellation respectively. In GFXBench, the more frames per second [fps], the better.

The strongest GPU on this list is the Swift 3Xs Iris Xe Max, but thats scarcely an improvement on the integrated graphics used in the rest of these systems. Without a discrete GPU for 3D work or gaming, these laptops dont have much hope beyond the basics in either of those tasks. Simple gaming is more viable than 3D work on these systems [our in-depth testing showed that some integrated graphics laptops can get by], but neither task is meant for laptops like this. The Framework, for its part, does no better or worse than the rest of the group.

Battery and Display Tests

We test laptops' battery life by playing a locally stored 720p video file [the open-source Blender movie Tears of Steel] with display brightness at 50% and audio volume at 100% until the system quits. We make sure the battery is fully charged before the test, with Wi-Fi and keyboard backlighting turned off.

We also use a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor and its software to measure a laptop screen's color saturationwhat percentage of the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 color gamuts or palettes the display can showand its brightness in nits [candelas per square meter] at the screen's 50% and peak settings.

The battery life on this laptop is decent but doesnt quite hit the heights of the others. Youd prefer a small and portable laptop to have extreme battery life [15-plus hours, like we saw from the Swift 3X, is great], but more than eight hours for all-day battery life is still good. You can freely travel with this system and not worry about where the next outlet is until youre closer to the end of your work day.

A Unique Twist on Traditional Laptop Design

The Framework Laptop is a totally unique proposition with its DIY-style build, easy-access interior, and unmatched upgradability. The core laptop traits are nothing too specialdecent build quality, good-enough performance, and average battery lifebut its the maintenance-friendly and environmentally conscious design that separates this machine from the pack.

There is, of course, the issue of long-term support for the modular ethos, as well as parts availability. But the concept and execution here bring into stark relief the type of design innovation that the laptop market needs in a big way. This pioneering spirit earns the Framework Laptop our TechX Award as an innovative new solution, and a solid overall recommendation as an everyday work buddy.