It’s hard not to marvel at Framework’s commitment to its original 13-inch modular computer, which it has been updating . When a new Intel (or AMD) chip comes out, it builds new motherboards that can be replaced to keep your machine on the cutting edge. And it’s to ensure that old motherboards that you no longer use can have a second (or third) life.
(Series 1) processors on their mainboards with the Ultra 5 125H, Ultra 7 155H and Ultra 7 165H all available. This offers more efficient power consumption, better thermals and the option to add up to 96 GB of DDR5 RAM. To go along with the new silicon, the company introduced a second generation webcam and display.
Given the need to fit into an existing template, the main boards are almost identical to their predecessors. Except the thermal system has been changed so hopefully things are cooler without so much noise. Intel’s new Core Ultra Chips are designed to be a little more gentle on their power consumption and how much heat they generate. Existing Framework machines are notorious for spinning their fans into overdrive whenever they get the slightest amount of exercise.
Sadly, I haven’t had the upgrade long enough to do any meaningful benchmarks, but it seems to be significantly faster than its predecessor. The company says you should expect to see improvements in power efficiency, battery life and video performance and gaming performance. As for the fan noise, he said it’s a little quieter than the previous model, especially when you run games – which you can easily do now. You will still hear the fan if you play the game like Grand Theft Auto Vbut it won’t sound like a jet engine taking off.
I have a few positive things to say about the 2,880 x 1,920, 120Hz display. The only significant difference is that while the original display had a maximum brightness of 400 nits, this one will reach 500. The extra backlight is a blessing, especially in bright weather, but I don’t mind the extra resolution a bit.
The first generation webcam of the Framework was not fragile but also subject to the whims of the endless march of time. Space constraints on laptop lids mean that it’s only now that we can see better sensors, like the kind we see in phones, shrinking into that gap. 9.2-megapixel sensor with backlight and pixel binning: the first allows better low-light performance; The latter ditches the 9.2-megapixel image for a higher-quality 1080p image than we’ve seen before. In front of the sensor is a five-element lens, f/2.0 with an 87-degree field of view, and with the promise of better image quality.
The installation of the webcam – and everything else – is, as usual, a breeze. But while installing a new module is good enough, the image you get from the other side isn’t much of an improvement. Colors are still nicely muted and I’m not sure, without better detail, that I can see enough of a difference between the two models to consider upgrading. And while pixel binning makes the image sharper, it’s not a night-and-day shift. While new buyers will get the new module as is, those with existing Framework Laptop 13s shouldn’t feel like they’re missing out.
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