Framework Laptop 16 (RTX 5070) Review: A Dream Come True

Between that and the potential $300 CPU upgrade you’ll want to get—the AMD Ryzen 9 HX 370—the laptop will start at $2,449, and that’ll only increase if you add other components like memory and storage. To put things in perspective, the extremely high-end Razer Blade 16 with an RTX 5070 costs around $2,300 (though it often drops below $2,000 on sale). With the Framework Laptop 16, you are paying extra for the ability to replace parts in the future.

Luckily, you get solid gaming performance in return. This is good enough to give you the option to play in native resolution in some games, such as cyberpunk 2077The frame rates you see above were all tested at the highest graphics preset without upscaling or ray tracing enabled, so you can get higher frame rates by removing the settings, I like that there is enough performance to let gamers choose smooth gameplay or sharp visuals depending on the game and play style, Of the games I tested, Black Myth: Wukong Was the only title that could not run smoothly at maximum graphics settings. The RTX 5070 only has 8GB of VRAM, which is its biggest shortcoming in AAA titles, while the desktop GPU of the same name has 12GB.

The risk of adding a discrete graphics card is in battery life, although it’s not as bad as you might think. Despite having equally powerful graphics, the Framework Laptop 16 still delivers about 25 percent more battery life than cheaper gaming laptops. In my testing, it lasted about nine hours of local video playback. This would equate to very little in a real-life workload – I was getting close to five hours in my normal daily work. One unique advantage of the system is that if you want a few hours more battery life while traveling, and you don’t plan on playing games, you can always remove the graphics module.

One of the impressive things about the Framework Laptop 16 is that it runs entirely on USB-C power. The 240-watt GaN power charger is no bigger than a standard charger, yet it can power the entire system, including graphics. Just be sure to actually use both sides of the included charger to get full performance.

The Framework laptop was conceived and designed before recent changes in laptop pricing. You can now buy a really great laptop for $650—even less during big sales events. Unfortunately, the price of the framework does not change, and the company does not sell through third-party retailers. But there is an audience for repairable, durable, and now more powerful laptops – whether you want to run it on Linux or Windows. Just be prepared to pay the premium.