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jvanderbot parent
It'd be nice if I could upgrade my old Framework into this spec. Infinitely upgradeable is nice on a per product line basis. But new product lines still lead to obsolescence and in this case regret.

chpatrick
You can upgrade your old Framework 16 to this. Framework 13 wouldn't work anyway because it's a different chassis.
jvanderbot OP
That's exactly my point. When I bought the 13 I figured there would be these kinds of upgrades down the road. You're right to say that was stupid and it was. And next there will be the framework 17, a 16 that's not backwards compatible or something?
bcrosby95
Like the other commenter mentioned, you can upgrade the 13". It's pretty common for laptops to come in two classes: smaller with a focus on portability and larger with a focus on performance.

There's a reason why a lot of us sat on the sidelines and were looking forward to the 16". There is no slippery slope here, the differentiated product lines 100% make sense.

Edit: there is another class I could see making sense - desktop replacement. Those chassis' tend to be pretty chunky because they put desktop parts into a laptop. Think 10 lb laptop with a battery that lasts 20-30 minutes. But I'm not sure if the market is large enough for them to pursue it.

kelnos
The 13" is upgradeable, just not in the same way the 16" is. It shouldn't be surprising that you can fit more stuff in a chassis for a 16" laptop than an 13" laptop, not to mention it's harder to deal with thermal issues in a 13" laptop. While it's not unheard of, it's much less common to see a dGPU in a 13" laptop, and Framework is no exception there.

I've upgraded my Framework 13 a bunch already since I bought it in 2022, and will hopefully continue to do so for years.

adgjlsfhk1
There are a bunch of upgrades that have come out for the 13, new gens of intel and AMD boards, new displays, new keyboard options, etc.
ffsm8
As framework doesn't produce their own hardware, they're also forced to live with the reality that generations are also bound by the whims of the producers.

E.g sockets and chipsets change and will force incompatible changes, no matter how much framework would like to keep things stable.

kelnos
Not sure what you mean by "produce". Nearly no PC/laptop brand actually manufactures their own hardware.

Framework does work with ODMs (Compal, I believe, is their main one?) to design mainboards for their chassis, which are designed specifically for Framework. It's not like they just take an off-the-shelf design and build it without any modifications.

And yes, chipsets change. (A "socket" changing isn't really a thing when we're talking about a laptop where the CPU/SoC is soldered in.) Generally this isn't a problem, though: as long as you can design something that physically fits in the chassis and supports the features you want, you're fine.

ffsm8
The socket still has a significant impact, even if the CPU is soldered on. It puts constraints on where things can be.

I believe the framework CEO himself mentioned in an interview how the chipset and socket are kinda at the core of designing the whole laptop, because it necessitates the placement of the cooling and all other components. I sadly didn't bookmark that YouTube video, so I cannot provide a link however

And fwiw, Apple is the only company that could make their laptops fully compatible and upgradeable, because they've got the relevant stack under their own control. Sadly, they're not interested in reducing ewaste, as that would mean less profit for them

antonvs
> When I bought the 13 I figured there would be these kinds of upgrades down the road.

Unless you already have the Ryzen AI 300 motherboard - in which case you're up to date - you can upgrade your motherboard right now:

https://frame.work/marketplace?compatibility%5B%5D=amd_ryzen...

You can hardly expect Framework to reconfigure the physical structure of your laptop to support a new GPU card when the device didn't have one to begin with.

You seem to be looking for something to complain about.

dangus
I think you are making up a scenario that is not real.

You assume Framework will just abandon models willy nilly and make slight model line changes to break compatibility like moving from 16” to 17”, but in reality they have no track record of doing that.

The original 13” model has been around for 5+ years and it’s been 100% forward and backward compatible through multiple iterations of parts. Framework has never discontinued a product line.

Obviously we can’t predict the future.

daviddever23box
As far as I can tell, these upgrades (aside from the discrete graphics) bring the 16-inch in line with the 13-inch.

I'd be more concerned about what I'd be able to do with an older 16-inch mainboard, as the 13-inch has the Cooler Master case options.

Still rocking the Intel Tiger Lake 13-inch here, mixed Windows / Ubuntu workflow, loads of RAM.

antonvs
This isn't a new product line, it's an upgrade to an existing line - exactly what the company promises.

On the OP page, it says:

> Pick up all these upgrades from our Marketplace to extend the life of your existing Framework Laptop 16.

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