The unique Framework Laptop computer’s gross sales pitch was that it wished to carry a few of the modularity and repairability of the desktop PC ecosystem to a purposeful, skinny, and light-weight laptop computer. For almost half a decade, the corporate has made good on that promise with a number of motherboard upgrades and different tweaks for the unique 13-inch Framework Laptop computer; with the Framework Laptop computer 16 and Laptop computer 12, the corporate has tried to carry the identical ethos to gaming/workstation laptops and funds PCs for college kids.
One in every of Framework’s bulletins this week was for the corporate’s first desktop PC. Unsurprisingly dubbed the Framework Desktop, it is aimed much less on the general-purpose PC crowd and extra at individuals who need the smallest, strongest desktop they will construct and can pay more money to get it. Preorders for this technique begin now, and Framework says it ought to ship in Q3 of 2025.
Right here was my first query: What does an organization attempting to construct a extra desktop-like laptop computer need to carry to the desktop ecosystem, the place issues are already standardized, upgradeable, and repairable?
The reply, a minimum of for the Framework Desktop introduced at the moment: a gaming PC that takes benefit of many PC requirements and presents a singular mixture of small measurement and excessive efficiency, however which is in any other case considerably much less modular and upgradeable than a mini PC you may already purchase or construct for your self.
Tiny however Quick
This mini ITX board relies on current PC requirements—observe the M.2 slot, the common USB-C entrance headers, and the four-lane PCIe slot—but in addition comes with a soldered-down CPU and GPU and soldered-down, non-upgradeable RAM.Framework
The Framework Desktop is powered by an AMD Ryzen AI Max processor, a Radeon 8060S built-in GPU, and between 32 GB and 128 GB of soldered-in RAM. Over at Ars, we reviewed a extra thermally constrained model of those chips within the Asus ROG Circulate Z13 pill—regardless of technically being an “integrated” GPU constructed into the identical silicon because the CPU, the variety of compute items (as much as 40, primarily based on AMD’s RDNA 3.5 structure) plus the high-speed financial institution of soldered-in RAM offers it efficiency just like a midrange devoted laptop computer GPU.
In Framework’s first-party case, the PC begins at $1,099, which will get you a Ryzen AI Max 385 (that is an 8-core CPU and 32 GPU cores) and 32 GB of RAM. A completely loaded 128 GB with a Ryzen AI Max+ 395 configuration (16 CPU cores, 40 GPU cores) will run you $1,999. There’s additionally an in-between construct with the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip and 64 GB of RAM for $1,599. Should you simply need the mini ITX board to place in a case of your selecting, that begins at $799.
None of those are impulse buys, precisely, however they’re priced a bit higher than a gaming-focused mini PC just like the Asus ROG NUC, which begins at almost $1,300 as of this writing and comes with half as a lot RAM. It is also priced properly in comparison with what you may get out of a DIY mini ITX PC primarily based on built-in graphics—the Ryzen 7 8700G, an AM5 ITX motherboard, and 32 GB of DDR5 can all be had for round $500 collectively earlier than you add a case, energy provide, or SSD, however for significantly slower efficiency.
