Framework has finally broken the silence on the future of its modular 16-inch gaming laptop, the . And the good news is that it actually has one. With AMD essentially exiting the mobile GPU market this generation the company only had one option, and that was to turn to Nvidia.
Today, —along with improvements to other components—that will house the mobile version of the graphics silicon.
Hopefully it'll be an experiential one, too, because Framework is promising improvements beyond just a shiny new RTX GPU. One of my biggest long-term bugbears about the original was the noise of the fans—it's something of an issue on all Framework laptops as there are no user controllable fan settings at all. There's still no news on that front, but the company says it's "revamped the thermal system, switching to Honeywell phase change thermal interface material and reoptimizing the fan blade geometry and controller IC for reduced noise while supporting 100W sustained TDP."
While the RX 7700S module is no longer in stock in its original form, Framework has also said it will be retro-fitting 7700S graphics modules with this new thermal system for anyone who wants to stick with AMD.
There are a bunch of other interesting changes, not the least being
the new laptop will represent the first time we'll have seen a full 240 W laptop adapter purely using the USB Type-C connection and the USB-PD 3.1 specification.
Framework is also bringing the new keyboard art from the 12- and 13-inch laptops, as well as the latest webcam module and notes, "we also have one keyboard option with a Copilot logo in case that’s something you want." Anyone? Anyone?
It's a relief to see Framework pull this subsequent generation off, especially after what happened . Though my only concern now is that it is delivering almost the bare minimum to keep it going. It's still just offering a single new GPU SKU, which does kinda limit the notion of upgrade choice.
I understand there are obvious limitations on power, so it couldn't go higher up the stack, but it would be good to know the reasons why Framework isn't offering an RTX 5060 or module with the same 100 W power limits.
But if this is what it takes to keep moving the needle on upgradeable gaming laptops, then I'm okay with it. Just give us a little more choice next time, eh?

👉👈
1. Best gaming laptop:
2. Best gaming PC:
3. Best handheld gaming PC:
4. Best mini PC:
5. Best VR headset:


