Framework Laptop 16 (AMD) review: I’m obsessed with both the concept and the laptop
Amid a slew of modern tech designed to be outdated within a few years (a.k.a. planned obsolescence), the Framework Laptop 16 is a welcome innovation. It’s a DIY laptop that you can easily repair and upgrade over time, and it very well could be the last ‘new laptop’ you ever purchase.
Before you let the concept of a ‘DIY laptop’ scare you away, let me explain. It’s really not that difficult to put together. Framework makes the process superbly easy, so it’s no more difficult than putting together a piece of IKEA furniture… er, scratch that. It’s like putting a simple jigsaw puzzle together with step-by-step images to guide you.
I love Framework’s mission to “remake consumer electronics to respect people and the planet” immensely, but I was objective when testing and scrutinizing every element of the Framework Laptop 16. I definitely noticed ways in which this laptop could improve, like having more colors to choose from, a lighter chassis, or a more satisfyingly clicky keyboard option.
But that’s the beauty of an upgradeable, repairable laptop, isn’t it? Any upgrades you want could become a reality eventually, and the Framework Laptop 16 is ready to accept those upgrades if that time comes.
This laptop is pricey, but man, it delivers a lot for that price. I’d consider the Framework Laptop 16 to be one of the best laptops available today, and it’ll likely only get better with time.
Framework Laptop 16 price and specs
The Framework Laptop 16 can be customized to your heart’s content directly through the Framework website. Our DIY review unit costs $2,961 and comes with the following specs:
Mainboard with AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 processor — $1,499
Graphics Module with Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 GPU — $650
32GB RAM (Two sticks of 16GB RAM) — $120
1TB of SN7100 SSD storage — $135
16-inch (2560 x 1600) display
Windows 11 Home OS — $139
Lavender bezel — $20
2nd Gen RGB US English keyboard — $50
Two Black input modules — $20
One USB-C input module — $11
Two USB-A input modules — $22
One HDMI input module — $22
One audio input module — $19
One 250GB Storage Expansion module — $45
240W power adapter — $109
If you already have a power cable or any other components, or you want to create a temporary bootable USB with Windows 11 for free, that could save you quite a bit upfront.
Through the configuration page, Framework says this laptop starts at $1,499, but that’s only if you’re purchasing the mainboard with an AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 processor by itself. To get the Framework Laptop 16 with the minimum specs (Ryzen AI 7 350, integrated graphics, 8GB RAM, 500GB SSD, 6 of the cheapest ports, Windows 11 Home, and a power cable), it’d cost you $1,922. Bumping that configuration up to 16GB of RAM (which should be the minimum, in my opinion), you’d be spending $1,982.
The price may seem steep compared to many pre-built laptops available right now, but you’re essentially paying for a laptop you can perpetually fix and/or upgrade with one of Framework’s DIY models, saving you money in the long run.
Wildly innovative design, though not very portable
If you value repairability (or simply the ability to change up your specs now and then), the Framework Laptop 16 is perhaps the best laptop you can buy right now.
You can change up pretty much everything besides the display and certain elements of the chassis on Framework’s 16-inch laptop. Externally, this includes the trackpad, the keyboard, the display bezel, the expansion bay (with or without a GPU), and all the ports. Inside, you can add more RAM, upgrade to a bigger SSD or add an extra one, or change up the mainboard if it’s time for a better processor.
This PC-building process can be intimidating for beginners, but it’s honestly just like putting a puzzle or a piece of furniture together. Framework does a great job outlining exactly which part you need to install next and how to do it, with pictures to make it even easier. Framework’s Windows 11 installation instructions are simple to follow, but I thought the instructions for Linux were confusing and found it was easier to follow the official Ubuntu/Canonical guide instead.
Despite all its easily swappable parts, the Framework Laptop 16 feels well-built and quite sturdy. The spacers next to the keyboard are a tad rattly when they’re tapped, but unless you’re currently inspecting the build quality of the laptop, it’s not really noticeable.
The chassis has a CNC aluminum top cover and a magnesium-alloy, thixomolded bottom cover, both of which do a great job resisting fingerprints. At the time of writing, it’s only available in a silver colorway. The Framework Laptop 12 has multiple chassis colors to choose from, but the Laptop 13 and 16 don’t yet.
Right now, the only colored elements you can customize are the display bezel, the keyboard spacers, and specifically the USB-C ports, which come in a variety of different colors and styles, but no other ports do.
This laptop’s biggest design downfall is its weight. Without a GPU module, the Framework Laptop 16 weighs 4.6 pounds and measures 14 x 10.6 x 0.7 inches. Expecting a 16-inch laptop to rival an ultralight Chromebook is unfair, but it’d be nice to see it get closer to the weight of one of the lightest large-screen laptops out there, the LG Gram 17, which only weighs about 3.2 pounds.
Our review unit, which has a graphics module at the back with an RTX 5070 GPU inside, is even heavier and larger. It weighs 5.3 pounds and has dimensions of 14 x 11.4 x 0.8 inches, and it’s quite hefty to carry around in a backpack.
I love this laptop’s large, high-res matte display
Framework’s Laptop 16 is equipped with a 16-inch, 2560 x 1600-pixel, anti-glare matte display with a 165Hz refresh rate. I love how much sharp screen real estate this laptop offers, despite its hefty bottom bezel, and its matte, anti-glare properties actually work. Even below its max brightness of 500 nits, I was able to work outside in the sun and easily see my screen.
After streaming Klaus and playing Cyberpunk 2077, I can confidently say colors appear vibrant and accurate, though contrast isn’t the best. Along with many others in the Framework community, I think this laptop would benefit from an OLED display option, as it would greatly help with richer contrast. Hopefully, the company adds this as an optional upgrade in the future.
Craft your own dream port setup
The Framework Laptop 16 comes with six open port slots, and it’s completely up to you to decide which ports you want in the laptop, past at least one USB-C port that you’ll need to charge the laptop.
Our review unit is equipped with a USB-C port, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, an audio jack, and 250GB of extra storage, and because we have the RTX 5070 Graphics Module, there’s also a USB-C port in the back.
Here are all your available port options for this laptop, as well as their cost:
$11 — USB-C port (customizable color), USB-A port
$19 — DisplayPort (2nd Gen), MicroSD slot (2nd Gen), Audio jack
$22 — HDMI port (3rd Gen)
$25 — SD card slot
$39 — Ethernet port
$45 — 250GB (2nd Gen) Storage Expansion card
$125 — 1TB (1st Gen) Storage Expansion card
Each port connects via USB-C to the mainboard, and you can swap any of the ports at any time within a few seconds.
For laptop speakers, the audio quality is impressive
The speakers on Framework’s Laptop 16 aren’t rivaling any standalone Bluetooth speaker worth its salt, but compared to most other laptop speakers, they’re fantastic — at least, after tweaking the settings a little.
At their default settings (zero across the equalizer), vocals come through crisp, and both music and dialogue sound decent, but not great. After playing around with Windows’ built-in Realtek Audio Console, I was able to amp up the bass quite a bit, which was great for rounding out the songs I was jamming out to and making video games more immersive.
Listening to Kelsea Ballerini’s "Emerald City" after adjusting the settings, I could clearly hear the bass thumps keeping the beat throughout the song. Before, these thumps were nonexistent. The same goes for my go-to testing song "Real" by Unprocessed (ft. Polyphia’s Tim Henson and Clay Gober). After playing with the EQ settings, I could hear the bass guitar plucks and synth sounds crystal-clear in this song.
A good keyboard and a solid trackpad
Our review unit comes with an RGB US English (2nd Gen) keyboard that tacks an extra $50 onto the purchase price, but there are also blank ANSI and ISO options, an RGB option with clear keys, and plenty of choices in other languages that cost nothing or much less.
All keyboards are hot-swappable, offer 1.5mm key travel, can run QMK firmware, support NKRO, and any non-RGB options still come with a basic white backlight. Each keyboard also comes with a fingerprint reader that’s compatible with both Windows Hello and libfprint in Linux.
You can customize the color of the spacers on either side of the keyboard or opt for a 10-key number pad instead, and there’s no need to commit to anything upfront. You can always change your mind later.
While I love this laptop’s customizability, the actual typing experience is only good, not great. The sound with each keypress isn’t as punchy as I’d like, and the membrane feels slightly mushy under my fingers.
That said, it’s certainly not the worst keyboard I’ve ever typed on by any means. Plus, there’s always the possibility that when mechanical laptop keyboards become more widespread, Framework could launch its own that you could upgrade to.
The trackpad looks small for such a large laptop like this one, but it measures 4.8 x 3 inches, and it feels great. Its matte glass surface is smooth to operate and highly responsive, clicking feels solid, and there aren’t any big gaps when pushing around the trackpad’s edges or corners.
An alright webcam in a pinch
I don’t know if I’m ever going to expect a laptop to have an exceptional webcam, though the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i does come close. But for the majority of laptops, including the Framework Laptop 16, you’ll need to invest in one of the best webcams available if you want a high-quality picture.
This laptop is equipped with a 1080p webcam with an 87-degree field of view, and it’s slightly above average.
From a distance, my selfie looks great. The red brick wall behind me, my light blue eyeliner, and my complexion come through accurately colored and not overly saturated, and the overall picture looks pretty sharp. But when you zoom in, you can see just how grainy it is, especially around my face, and my hair sort of blurs together.
In its favor, this laptop’s webcam does come with a physical privacy switch that you can cover the camera with. Next to it, there’s a physical privacy switch for the microphone as well.
Framework Laptop 16 benchmarks and performance
For daily productivity tasks, the Framework Laptop 16 is a masterful performer.
With 30 open Chrome tabs (two of which were playing YouTube videos), a running stopwatch in the Clock app, and music playing through Spotify, this DIY laptop and its AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 processor showed no signs of slowing down. There wasn’t any stuttering or lag when switching apps or loading new pages, and the laptop didn’t get too hot or start noisily spinning its fans.
On the Geekbench 6 performance benchmark, the Framework Laptop 16 notched a score of 13,593. Compared to other laptops in this price range using an Intel processor equivalent, this score is a bit lackluster. However, compared to the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 processor in MSI’s Stealth A16 AI+ laptop, which earned a score of 14,399, this processor holds its own well.
Because our review unit came with a Graphics Module featuring Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5070 GPU, we also ran a few gaming tests. Before getting into our results, it’s important to note this laptop isn’t necessarily a ‘gaming’ laptop by design, but its DIY nature with replaceable and upgradeable components inherently draws gamers to it.
On 3DMark’s Time Spy benchmark, the Framework Laptop 16 earned a score of 12,808. Running the Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark at 1080p resolution, High presets, and with DLSS off, it generated 104.9 fps; switching DLSS on bumped that up to 118.1 fps.
We haven’t tested a gaming laptop with this CPU/GPU pairing yet, but we can compare it to a few other laptops with the same GPU and a different processor:
I played Cyberpunk 2077 for an hour and, considering the Framework Laptop 16 isn’t technically a gaming laptop, I think it performed beautifully.
Driving, running, shooting, and everything else felt incredibly smooth at both native and 1080p resolutions. That said, do expect some fan noise and a very hot bottom chassis.
The fan noise is certainly noticeable, especially when it’s plugged in while gaming, but it was never so loud that I couldn’t easily hear the game through the laptop’s speakers, set at only 30 percent volume.
More concerning than the fan noise is the heat generated while gaming. If you use this laptop to play AAA titles like Cyberpunk 2077, you’ll need to have it on a solid surface, like a desk, to maximize its ability to cool itself off. It gets quite hot on the underside, though it never got uncomfortably hot where it mattered most when gaming, like under the keys I needed most frequently.
Unlike more conventional gaming laptops, you can actually unplug the Framework Laptop 16 to help lower fan noise and heat buildup, without needing to worry about it dying for at least an hour or more, depending on the type of game you’re playing.
Framework Laptop 16 battery life
If you opt for Framework’s Laptop 16 with a discrete GPU over a traditional gaming laptop, you’ll be happy with its longer-than-average battery life. The Framework Laptop 16 lasted 6 hours and 52 minutes on our battery test, which involves looping a 1080p video at 50 percent brightness until it shuts off.
Compared to other modern Windows laptops, like the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition that lasted 23 hours and 34 minutes, the Framework’s battery life doesn’t seem all that great. However, when you compare it to our current median for gaming laptops, which is about 5.5 hours, the Framework Laptop 16’s battery test results instantly become more impressive.
Plus, if you know you won’t need the discrete GPU on an upcoming trip, you could spend an extra $99 to add the default Expansion Bay shell to your order and quickly swap it out before your trip. Without a dedicated GPU, the laptop’s battery will last longer, and it won’t add as much weight to your bag.
Is the Framework Laptop 16 worth it?
The Framework Laptop 16 is absolutely worth it for anyone who wants to invest in an upgradeable, repairable laptop that could easily last a decade or two (or even three, who knows?). Bonus points if you want a laptop you can play AAA games on.
However, you have to be comfortable enough to make the necessary upgrades when the time comes, or at the very least, know someone who could do it for you. This could include adding more storage, identifying and replacing a bad stick of RAM, upgrading the mainboard when the processor gets sluggish, or swapping out ports that don’t suit your needs anymore.
If you’re on the fence, I’d highly recommend taking a look at the Quick Start Guide for the DIY Edition of Framework’s Laptop 16. You can see just how clearly explained each step is, often complete with multiple photos to ensure that not even beginners are confused.
The only group of people the Framework Laptop 16 isn’t ideal for are those looking for a lightweight laptop that’s easy to travel with. Whether you get a configuration with or without a discrete GPU, this laptop is quite heavy and has a large footprint. That said, I love this laptop so much that I’d travel with it despite its heft.
Ultimately, the Framework Laptop 16 is designed to be the last laptop you ever buy, and that’s an exciting idea to behold in the modern tech world.