The Framework Desktop Is a (Semi) Modular PC With Soldered RAM

Who wants a desktop with a handle? You could turn to the many NUC solutions or Apple with its Mac mini. Or, perhaps you can turn to Framework with its new, small PC tower full of customizable parts. Other than updated renditions of the Framework 13 and Framework 16 ultra-modular mobile devices, the company has two original designs coming this year:a Framework 12 2-in-1 convertible laptop and a customizable Framework Desktop.

Yes, you heard that right. Desktops are already customizable, but Framework’s relatively small build for a relatively cheap price is supposed to be more mighty than its size implies. However, you can do less with it than you might imagine if you ever built your own PC. But hell, it has an optional handle. With that, I can’t stop thinking about the Nintendo Gamecube from 2001. Perhaps, in time, we’ll appreciate the Framework Desktop as we did Nintendo’s off-the-wall design.

The Framework Desktop starts at $1,100, but the version with 128 GB of memory and top-tier CPU costs $2,000. It might seem like a relatively good deal at first glance, even though the 4.5 L frame looks a little too small and industrial for its own good. Then again, if you ever built your own PC, you already know PCs are already modular. Well, the Framework Desktop is less modular than practically any desktop design, and even some laptops that aren’t sold by Framework. The Framework Desktop packs an AMD Ryzen AI Max chip, a Zen 5 CPU with a large section for CPU cooling apparatus built on top, all plugged into a mini-ITX motherboard. You can’t exchange the RAM on Framework’s new machine.

“To enable the massive 256GB/s memory bandwidth that Ryzen AI Max delivers, the LPDDR5x is soldered,” the company wrote in a blog post. “Because the memory is non-upgradeable, we’re being deliberate in making memory pricing more reasonable than you might find with other brands.”

Framework CEO Nirav Patel said that they worked with AMD to solve the soldered RAM problem on the Ryen AI Max CPU, but there was no way around it. He said it was “important to bring [the Ryzen AI Max CPU] into a modular design,” but it still seems out of place for any kind of desktop when you can find many components that don’t require the APU design. Like the Framework laptops, you can buy the mainboard for $800 individually to use in any other config as well.

The device does come with two PCIe NVME M.2 2280 slots if you want more storage, and it includes WiFi 7 support standard. The front tiles are the most customizable portion of the entire device, which can accommodate expansion cards for front port customization. Plus, if you want to take it to “LAN parties,” as Patel suggested, there’s that carrying handle. You can get it with Windows 11 or Linux distros like Ubuntu and Fedora or stick it with Bazzite for a gaming-only rig.

AMD shared how the Ryzen AI Max chip should be able to game relatively well at 1440p and high settings on games such as F1 24 and Horizon Forbidden West, though mostly thanks to AMD’s FSR with frame gen turned on. So, while it would be exciting in a laptop, it’s less enticing in a 4.5 L desktop, even one where you can rip out and replace some of the guts. You can replace the I/O, and there are two fan options from Cooler Master and Noctua available when you purchase one.

The more enticing device was the cute, colorful Framework Laptop 12. It, too, takes many of the design cues from the rejiggered Framework Laptop 13 and Laptop 16, but it now includes a 12.2-inch, 1,920 by 1,200 resolution touchscreen that you can flip backward to turn into a tablet. And yes, it supports a stylus.

The Laptop 12 is powered with a 13th-gen Intel chip in either i3 or i5 varieties, and it supports up to 48 GB of memory (which, unlike the desktop, can be swapped out). The device also comes in five colors: soft lavender, sage, and “bubblegum” pink. It seems cute and a solid starter laptop with the potential to upgrade over time. Modularity is where Framework shines; hopefully, this device sticks to the company’s strengths. There’s no pricing information currently available, but it should go up for preorder in April this year.