You might not have bought one, but the Framework Laptop is pretty cool. Laptops tend to be non-modular and have little to no room for aftermarket upgrades, so the Framework Laptop tries to go the exact opposite way with a modular and upgradeable laptop. Now, it’s making a desktop PC, which surprisingly looks cool.

Framework, the company behind the upgradeable Framework Laptop, has taken the lessons it learned from building a laptop and has now put together a desktop PC using that expertise and bringing some of the laptop’s best ideas to it. It looks like your average small-form-factor computer, but it has a few things that make it unique.

But Desktop PCs Are Already Modular?

I’m not going to lie—when I first saw this, I didn’t think much of it. After all, desktop PCs are indeed already modular for the most part. You can even assemble one from different parts you buy separately, and if you need to upgrade something like your processor or your graphics card, you can do so within the limits your motherboard allows—and if the motherboard becomes a limit itself then there’s technically nothing preventing you from swapping it out too. How, then, could Framework put together a more “modular” desktop PC?

While Framework did take some ideas to make the computer more “modular,” it’s not exactly the point. In fact, in a lot of ways this computer is actually less modular than a regular PC. It comes with up to a Ryzen AI Max 395 which is actually a soldered CPU, so you can’t really swap it out after the fact with a different chip. And the graphics themselves are also integrated. In a lot of ways, you can think of this as a sort of x86 competitor to the Mac Studio, carrying AMD’s recent Max chips which are supposed to be physically bigger.

But this is not the only tiny PC that’s powerful, and this is bigger than the average mini PC, so Framework needs to stand out here somehow.

So How Is The Framework Desktop Different?

For starters, this is a “DIY” PC. It’s a weird middle point between a pre-built PC and a PC you build by yourself, and you can think of it as kind of cranking up the difficulty to “medium.” You need to install storage (via an m.2 NVMe SSD) and a fan for the CPU, but you can then flip the panels on and fire up your computer. And you can actually customize it in cool ways with “tiles” for the front mesh.

Another thing that you can spy in the front are Framework’s familiar “Expansion Cards.” These are basically just additional I/O that you can plug into your computer to make your choice about front ports. You can put USB-C ports, USB-A ports, microSD or even full-sized SD slots, an Ethernet jack, or a 3.5mm headphone jack. If you’re not in need of an extra port, you can even use one of those expansion slots for an extra SSD. Framework’s laptop has these expansion bays too and they’re one of the coolest things we’ve seen on recent laptops, and it’s cool to see Framework bring that to its desktop offering as well.

As we alluded to before, the CPU is soldered and therefore not replaceable. But there’s a silver lining and it’s the fact that the motherboard inside looks like it’s roughly a mini-ITX size. When this hardware does go obsolete down the road, there would be technically nothing stopping you from swapping that motherboard out for another one. We asked Framework whether things such as the Expansion Card system or the non-standard power supply would be an impediment towards doing this, and we’re awaiting to hear back.

The Framework Desktop is now available for pre-order through Framework’s website. It starts at $1,099, and you need to make a $100 deposit to reserve yours before it ships later this year.

Source: Framework