[ad_1]
We were impressed with the 13.5-inch Framework Laptop when we first tested it in August 2021. By the time we sampled the 2023 edition, we judged it one of the best values in the laptop world. Now, with the move to a larger display, Framework’s engineering team has room to do a lot more, and we’re here to say they swung for the fences: The Framework Laptop 16 (starts at $1,399; $2,544 as tested) upgrades the modular design by adding a new GPU module, a revamped cooling system, more customizable ports, and a one-of-a-kind keyboard and touchpad system that lets you mix and match parts for unbelievable personalization.Framework is still a young company, but this third-generation product proves there’s plenty of room for more innovation around its sustainable, customizable, repairable design. The bigger question is whether this most ambitious Framework project yet can satisfy customers who simply want a high-performance desktop replacement or gaming laptop, and that’s a tougher bill to fill. The Framework 16 narrowly misses the Editors’ Choice award we gave last year’s compact, but it’s well worth a good look.
Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. See how we test.
Design: An Accessible Modular-Parts ConceptFully assembled, the Framework Laptop 16 looks quite similar to the many other 16-inch notebooks that have come across our test bench. But the Framework is not like other laptops. In fact, the whole point is that it’s very, very different—made to be customized, to be upgraded, and most of all, to be repairable.
The Framework Laptop 16 expands on the size (and ambitions) of the 13.5-inch original. (Credit: Brian Westover)
Every part is accessible. Every screw can be removed by the customer. (Framework even includes an appropriate screwdriver in the package.) Each component, from the battery to the Wi-Fi module to the screen bezel, can be swapped out for replacement or upgrade. And each part is labeled with a QR code that pulls up the part on the Framework website with clear removal and installation instructions, as well as (where applicable) an order button to buy a new one if yours needs to be replaced. This isn’t a laptop you buy once and replace in two or three years; this is a PC that can grow and evolve as needed.
Finally, you can add a gaming-grade GPU to your Framework laptop. (Credit: Brian Westover)
That’s been Framework’s goal since day one, but it’s been pushed to new extremes with the 16-inch model. The mainboard may not be backward-compatible with the 13.5-inch model’s, but it can still be swapped out with a replacement when a new CPU option is offered. And as mentioned, the larger chassis allows for an extraordinary addition: a removable GPU module. You can leave the space empty to use the processor’s integrated graphics, saving weight and stretching battery life, or plug in an 8GB AMD Radeon RX 7700S for heavy-duty graphics applications or gaming.
Jazz up your keyboard with spacers or an RGB macro pad. (Credit: Brian Westover)
And it’s not just the GPU that’s new. The Framework Laptop 16 also features a completely redesigned keyboard and palmrest. Open up the laptop, and everything you see can be swapped, rearranged, or replaced. The notebook comes with the expected keyboard and touchpad, but you can pull them out, change their positions, or add an assortment of modules including a numeric keypad (which doubles as a macro pad), animated LED panels, or cosmetic spacers that can go on either side of the keyboard.
The keyboard connectors use magnets and pogo pins for easy swapping. (Credit: Brian Westover)
Even cooler, you can make these keyboard changes while the laptop is running. Need a num pad for spreadsheet work? You can add it mid-project. The secret is a two-part design that uses magnets and pogo pins to connect the functional modules and a slide-in locking mechanism to put the palmrest into place. It’s very slick and one of the most creative developments I’ve ever seen in a laptop.
Removable panels and lock tabs let you customize the palmrest. (Credit: Brian Westover)
It’s also someplace where Framework’s ambition may have pushed a bit too far too fast. The hot-swappable keyboard parts are awesome—I’ve literally wanted something like this for years—but the palmrest is a bit less polished. For connectivity reasons, the touchpad must follow the keyboard, staying centered with the space bar. That leaves sections of palmrest on either side of the pad that can be shuffled one way or another. The design solution is clever, with a sliding lock under the surface holding the pieces in place and a well-machined ridge or lip that helps hold it all together. But you can always tell that these are separate parts, with distinct seams between the spacers and some unavoidable play with each segment wiggling ever so slightly. The result is that it feels a bit unfinished. Really, I’d gladly settle for a single-piece palmrest.Framework 16 Configurations: Go Bare-Bones, or Prebuilt?When buying the Framework Laptop 16, you have “good, better, best” hardware configurations to choose from. Framework calls these options Performance, Performance Pro, and Overkill, with the first priced at $1,699 if you buy it prebuilt and ready to use. That rises to $1,749 for the Performance Pro and $2,099 for the Overkill model.
The DIY Edition can be outfitted with all sorts of parts, but even the simplest package has everything you need. (Credit: Brian Westover)
First, you can choose between two eight-core processors, with the Performance and Performance Pro configs using AMD’s 3.8GHz Ryzen 7 7840HS and Overkill bringing the 4.0GHz Ryzen 9 7940HS. The first two are outfitted with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage and the Overkill with 32GB of memory and a 1TB solid-state drive. The main difference between the Performance and Pro systems is Windows 11 Home versus Pro.If you don’t mind a bit more hands-on work before bootup, you can save $300 by buying the DIY Edition, which starts at $1,399. The assembly involved isn’t very complicated—the required RAM and storage are easily installed, with helpful instructions provided—but it’s not just hardware you need to put together but software. If you want Windows, you’ll need to install it. If you want Linux, you can set up Fedora or Ubuntu without much hassle, but again it falls to you.
The DIY Edition requires you to install your own storage, memory, and operating system. (Credit: Brian Westover)
If this sounds too daunting for comfort, take heart. Framework makes the job as straightforward and easy as you’ll ever find. I’ve done plenty of drive upgrades and swapped out many RAM modules over the years; the company’s clear instructions, plainly labeled parts, and no-surprises-or-glitches construction are second to none.
Assembly is easy thanks to clear labels and instructions. (Credit: Brian Westover)
Even the individual screws are labeled—in fact, numbered so you know how many to unscrew and in what order and how to retrace your steps and reassemble everything when you’re done. I’d urge you to watch a few assembly instruction videos and read Framework’s guides to get a better feel for what’s involved before you decide not to do it yourself. We had the opportunity to look at both versions of the Laptop 16, and while it was nice to unbox the prebuilt model and get to work, the DIY Edition wasn’t difficult at all.
DIY or ready-made? Both get you a great, customizable laptop. (Credit: Brian Westover)
Core ConstructionWhether prebuilt or finished by you, the Framework Laptop 16 is a well-crafted machine. The chassis is made with aluminum and magnesium alloy, so it’s both sturdy and light. With the GPU module in place, the notebook measures 0.82 by 14 by 11.4 inches and weighs 5.29 pounds, which isn’t ultraportable but is not bad for a 16-inch laptop. If you don’t run graphics-intensive programs, replacing the GPU with the empty expansion shell trims the system to 0.71 by 14 by 11.4 inches and 4.63 pounds.
Remove the keyboard and palmrest to see the Laptop 16’s mid-plate. (Credit: Brian Westover)
The customizable keyboard deck sits atop a very thin, removable metal mid-plate (so named because it fits between the internals and the keyboard modules). On this plate are the various pogo-pin connectors for the keyboard and touchpad and the plastic slide locks for the other tile-like modules you can add. With everything in place, you’ll get a very solid-feeling keyboard that offers reasonably deep travel and a fairly springy response to each keypress. But between the mid-plate, the connectors, and the keyboard on top, you’ll feel a fair bit of flexing as you type.Thanks to its removable design, the touchpad is also a bit smaller than the oversize, space-bar-to-front-edge pads found on many modern laptops. The touchable area is 3 by 5 inches; I never felt hemmed in by it, though I did wish for more distinct (or maybe just better marked) zones for left- and right-clicking.You can use spacers to fill in the gaps on either side of the keyboard and add some personal flair to your laptop. The standard spacers are black, but Framework sells them in other shades such as orange, gray, and lavender, plus a a color-shifting option with a pearlescent finish. There’s even an available LED matrix that can be programmed to display messages, react to audio like a visualizer, or display data such as battery level.Display and Webcam: No Choices HereThe sole 16-inch display option has 2,560-by-1,600-pixel (QHD+) resolution and a 165Hz refresh rate, which isn’t half bad for speedy gaming. The panel’s 16:10 aspect ratio is in line with other contemporary notebooks’, and it supports AMD FreeSync and variable refresh rates for a smoother gaming experience. There’s no touch-screen option; I didn’t miss one since none of the other 16-inch gaming laptops we’ve reviewed offers touch.
The QHD+ IPS display has a swappable bezel frame. (Credit: Brian Westover)
The IPS screen offers impressive color quality and brightness, with 100% sRGB color coverage matching that of the Alienware m16 and the HP Omen Transcend 16. It’s a solid step up in brightness and color from the 13.5-inch Framework display. Since this is a Framework laptop, you can customize the screen with a swappable bezel that snaps on magnetically; our unit offered a choice between black and orange, though the company also sells a lavender frame. A built-in lens cover ensures your privacy when you’re not using the webcam.The webcam itself is a mixed bag. We’re happy that it provides full HD (1080p) instead of lowball 720p resolution and 60fps capture, and in my tests it captured fine details such as stubble on my chin and details on my shirt fairly well. But its color is a little flat, with a bit of noise and graininess in lower light. You’ll look fine in your next Zoom call, but you probably won’t be using the webcam to record YouTube videos.The Framework 16’s Ports: Pick and ChooseAnother innovation that we loved on the first Framework is the port expansion system. Instead of giving you a preset selection of USB, HDMI, and other ports, the company uses a series of USB-C connectors and adapters that slot into the side of the laptop, letting you pick exactly which ports you want and where you want them. And the number of selectable ports has grown, from the four slots of the 13.5-inch notebook to six customizable slots here.
Swappable USB-C expansion cards let you choose your port selection and placement. (Credit: Brian Westover)
This mix-and-match system lets you pick and choose among USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, DisplayPort, and Ethernet ports, plus a 3.5mm audio jack and microSD card reader. If you don’t need half a dozen ports, you can use a slot for an extra 250GB or 1TB of storage. With the Laptop 16’s GPU module in place, there’s one additional port on the rear of the machine, a USB-C connector that supports DisplayPort Alt Mode.
Our system’s right-side ports. (Credit: Brian Westover)
Our system’s left-side ports. (Credit: Brian Westover)
If you want connectivity not offered in Framework’s expansion-card catalog, the company has publicized the card dimensions and technical specifications so you can make your own with a custom PCB and 3D printer. Most of us are less ambitious, but the swappable system comes in handy when it might be convenient to move your HDMI port from the right side to the left, ditch it for another USB Type-A port, or add an Ethernet jack when moving from a Wi-Fi to wired office environment. (The laptop comes with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.)There’s one minor drawback: Not all of the slots support the same features. For example, just four of the six allow 240-watt charging with the included USB-C power adapter. And you’ll want to make sure power-hungry peripherals are plugged into one of the rearmost ports, because the other slots won’t handle the highest available power draw. Similarly, HDMI and DisplayPort modules are limited to one slot on the right-hand side and two on the left rather than fitting any of the six. It’s nothing titanic, but it’s a frustrating limitation of what’s otherwise an exceptionally flexible system. I also wish these caveats were better communicated in the manual or printed on the card slots themselves, since the average user isn’t likely to check Framework’s expansion-card knowledge base whenever he or she wants to swap something out.Testing the Framework Laptop 16: Measuring Modular MoxieOur Framework 16 review unit came with the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS processor and Radeon RX 7700S GPU module. That made it a rival to other midrange gaming machines like the Alienware m16, the HP Omen Transcend 16, the Lenovo Legion Pro 5i Gen 8, and the Razer Blade 16. For context’s sake, we also included last year’s 13.5-inch Framework Laptop to show how far the system’s hardware and performance have come from its more portable roots.
Productivity and Content Creation Tests We run the same general productivity benchmarks across both mobile and desktop systems. Our first test is UL’s PCMark 10, which simulates a variety of real-world productivity and office workflows to measure overall system performance and also includes a storage subtest for the primary drive.Our other 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 Geekbench 5.4 Pro from Primate Labs 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).Finally, we run PugetBench for Photoshop by workstation maker Puget Systems, 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.
There’s no denying that the Framework 16’s Ryzen 7 processor delivers serious power. Whether it was the third-best time in Handbrake or the leading score in PCMark 10, the modular machine’s performance was strong across the board. And since these tests are very CPU-focused, you should see this level of productivity whether you use the Radeon GPU module or save a little weight with the integrated graphics.Graphics and Gaming TestsFor gaming laptops and other mobile gaming hardware, we run both synthetic and real-world gaming benchmarks. The former includes two DirectX 12 gaming simulations from UL’s 3DMark, Night Raid (more modest, suitable for systems with integrated graphics) and Time Spy (more demanding, suitable for gaming rigs with discrete GPUs). Also thrown into that gauntlet is the cross-platform GPU benchmark GFXBench 5, which we use to gauge OpenGL performance. These GFXBench tests are rendered offscreen to accommodate different native display resolutions; more frames per second (fps) means higher performance.Beyond those synthetic tests, our real-world gaming testing comes from the in-game benchmarks of F1 2021, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and Rainbow Six Siege. These three games—all benchmarked at 1080p resolution—represent simulation, open-world action-adventure, and competitive/esports shooter games, respectively. Valhalla and Siege are run twice (Valhalla at Medium and Ultra quality, Siege at Low and Ultra quality), while F1 2021 is run at Ultra quality settings with and without Nvidia’s performance-boosting DLSS anti-aliasing turned on.
The addition of a discrete GPU really shows how far the Framework Laptop 16 has pushed overall capability since the company’s first machines. The new model offers triple or even quintuple the performance of last year’s 13.5-inch Framework, as well as going toe to toe with name-brand systems in day-to-day graphics work.Our real-world gaming tests, however, show that the Framework 16 is a capable gaming machine but not quite up to the mark set by other 16-inch systems. Whether it’s the low-demand, high-frame-rate Rainbow Six Siege or the eye-candy-packed Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the Framework consistently delivered playable frame rates but trailed flagship models from gaming champions like Alienware and Razer.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%. 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 software to measure a laptop screen’s color saturation—what percentage of the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 color gamuts or palettes the display can show—and its 50% and peak brightness in nits (candelas per square meter).
Equipping a laptop with a dedicated GPU, a high-powered CPU, and the cooling hardware necessary for those parts always takes a toll on battery life. In the case of the Framework 16, that toll is about five and a half hours. All things considered, that’s not bad—it’s roughly the same as the Alienware m16 and double the stamina of the Razer—but nowhere near class-leading.At least the laptop’s display is quite good for both productivity and gaming. The 165Hz refresh rate allows for smooth, swift gameplay, and the panel’s color and brightness are impressive for an IPS panel, matching some of the best gaming systems on the market.
(Credit: Brian Westover)
Verdict: Sweet 16 Redefines the Modular LaptopThe theme that emerges when looking at the Framework Laptop 16 as a whole is one of impressive innovation, as well as a genuine stab at producing a high-performance notebook unlike any other. It’s not perfect, but it’s a massive success for a first-gen (well, kind of first-gen) product packed with truly ambitious features. But is this unique machine too out-there for the average buyer?We don’t think so. Granted, flagship systems from famous gaming brands squeeze out better performance and longer battery life, but at the end of the day, Framework has a genuine gaming laptop, something fans of the brand have been clamoring for since day one. Even more impressive, the 16 handles both productivity and gaming without sacrificing the ethos of the Framework experiment, maintaining the modularity and sustainable, repairable design that the rest of the industry largely ignores.If you want a bragging-rights gaming laptop, brands like Razer and Alienware are ready to oblige. But if you want to support an entirely different approach to laptop design or put your money behind repairable, sustainable, obsolescence-proof products, there’s nothing like the Framework Laptop 16. That’s worth celebrating, let alone buying.
Pros
Removable GPU adds potent gaming capability
Swappable ports and innovative modular keyboard and touchpad
Strong performance from AMD Ryzen 7 processor, Radeon GPU module
Cons
Design feels unpolished in places
DIY Edition requires customer assembly and OS installation
Battery life is good, not great
Some limitations on rearrangeable port design
View
More
The Bottom Line
The modular Framework Laptop 16 is an ambitious upgrade to the obsolescence-fighting concept, with a customizable keyboard, touchpad, and port setup, as well as a dedicated-GPU option. It leaves room for improvement, but it’s a landmark desktop replacement.
Like What You’re Reading?
Sign up for Lab Report to get the latest reviews and top product advice delivered right to your inbox.
This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.
[ad_2]
