The Framework Laptop 16: A Mixed Bag of Upgrades and Quirks

The Framework Laptop 16 is back with a fresh set of upgrades, but it still has some old issues. The new model comes with a powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 graphics card, which is a big step up from the previous AMD Radeon card. This makes it a strong contender for gaming and graphics-intensive tasks. The laptop also features Wi-Fi 7, a more robust USB-C charger, improved cooling, and a new webcam. All these parts can be bought separately, so existing owners can upgrade their devices.

Flaws and Improvements

However, the laptop is not without its flaws. The original Laptop 16 was known for being hot, loud, and a bit creaky. While the new model has made some improvements in these areas, it still feels a bit rough around the edges. The lid, for example, still has too much flex, and the side spacers are uneven and creaky. The auto-brightness feature is also erratic, jumping up and down instead of adjusting smoothly.

Pricing and Modularity

The base model of the Framework Laptop 16 starts at $1,799, but the reviewed DIY Edition with an AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 mainboard, an RTX 5070 graphics module, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD costs $2,524. This price does not include extras like more expansion cards, colorful spacers, an optional number pad, an RGB macro pad, or the standard expansion bay module. The closest prebuilt version is the $2,449 Performance tier, which includes the 5070 and comes with a smaller 512GB SSD and a Windows 11 license.

One of the standout features of the Framework Laptop 16 is its modularity. Owners of the original can upgrade their Laptop 16 piecemeal with new and improved second-gen parts. The enticing new Ryzen AI 300-series mainboards with included Wi-Fi 7 module and Framework’s revised heatsink design cost $749 to $1,049, while the standalone RTX 5070 graphics module is $699, and the new 240W USB-C charger to adequately power them is $109, making this double-chip upgrade $1,557 to $1,857. That’s the price of a whole laptop.

Performance and Upgrades

Other improvements add up further, including a second-gen 1080p webcam ($39), more rigid second-gen top cover lid ($139), and second-gen display ($279). The display hardware is actually the same, but with a firmware update for Nvidia G-Sync instead of the first-gen’s AMD FreeSync support. Unfortunately, if you have a first-gen Framework 16 and want to take full advantage of the new GPU module, you’ll need to spend $279 on a display that’s hardware-identical to the one you already have; you can’t change that firmware yourself. That’s hugely disappointing, and it pushes the cost of a GPU upgrade to nearly a thousand dollars.

The eight-core Ryzen AI 7 350 mainboard is modestly faster than the last-gen Ryzen 9 7940HS, with Geekbench CPU, Cinebench, and PugetBench Photoshop gains as high as 21 percent and as low as just 1.5 percent. There’s also a 12-core Ryzen AI 7 370 mainboard option, which offers better multi-core performance.

The new graphics card is the bigger update. Graphics-intensive tests like the Geekbench GPU benchmark and 3DMark’s Time Spy show 64 percent and 34 percent improvements, respectively. In fully rasterized gaming benchmarks across Black Myth: Wukong and Cyberpunk 2077, the new Laptop 16 yielded about a 36 to 50 percent increase in average frame rates over the original Radeon RX 7700S module. The delta increases further when using Nvidia’s DLSS 4 rendering on the new model compared to the last-gen with AMD’s FSR 3.1.

Thermal Management and Flexibility

The original Laptop 16 got especially hot, and under load, its fans sounded like a small jet engine. Framework redesigned the thermal management system with new heatsinks and fans, and it makes a big difference. The new Laptop 16 still gets loud, but it’s noticeably quieter. Instead of a constant jetlike whine, it’s more like white noise — albeit pretty loud white noise when the laptop’s really pushing it.

As with other Framework devices, the Laptop 16’s flexibility is its great strength. It wouldn’t be a Framework without swappable expansion cards — of which the Laptop 16 maintains six, for three customizable ports on each side; you can charge the laptop from any of the rear four. And the keyboard and trackpad are even more flexible than on Framework’s other laptops. You can center them and fill the sides with colorful spacers, or you can put a macropad or number pad either to the left or right, and align the keyboard and trackpad accordingly.

Keyboard and Trackpad

The keyboard is available with either white or RGB backlighting, and in a multitude of language options (or with clear keycaps). It’s one of the better notebook keyboards, with a touch of the Laptop 13’s pillowy feel and deep key travel, but with firmer tactile feedback. And it’s fully customizable using QMK. The mechanical trackpad is good, if slightly small for a laptop of this size (especially compared to those on the 16-inch MacBook Pro and Razer Blade 16), and having the freedom to left- or right-align is unique.

Design and Build Quality

Unfortunately, Framework’s spacer-heavy design is ingenious in theory and infuriating in practice. The components often don’t line up quite right — you can feel the edges under your wrists — and it creaks a whole lot. It just doesn’t feel like something that costs two and a half thousand dollars.

The lack of polish pops up in other areas. The IPS panel is crisp, with a 2560 x 1600 resolution and up to 165Hz refresh rate, just like the original. Its problem is an overly aggressive, erratic auto-brightness: rather than a smooth fade up or down, it increases and decreases in visible steps, like someone secretly hitting the brightness keys for you, trying to guess what you want. And while Framework says the lid is sturdier than before, it’s still not sturdy enough. Closing it carefully from the center is fine, and it’s ever-so-slightly more solid than the first-gen in that spot. But grab a corner and gently pull or push the screen, and it’s flex city. Other slightly lackluster components include the speakers, which sound flat and lifeless until you crank them, and the webcam, which is sharp but often dark and muddy in low light.

Battery Life and Reliability

Battery life during my normal workday of many Chrome tabs, incessant Slack messaging, and simultaneous Spotify or Twitch streams was pretty good for a machine with discrete graphics, though it usually lasted a max of six-ish hours instead of a full eight-hour workday.

But where the second-gen Laptop 16 has faltered the most so far is in its reliability. It crashed around six times in the first two days, both while on battery and while plugged in — and sometimes while waking it up from sleep or when plugging it into power. It got slightly better after some initial BIOS and driver updates, but it still crashed another half dozen times over the next week.

In the two days since I installed the 3.04 BIOS update that will be shipping to customers, it’s only crashed once. Framework seems to be improving the stability of the Laptop 16, much like it did after the first one launched, but it might not be out of the woods just yet. I’ll have to keep testing it after further updates.

Conclusion

It’s easy to admire Framework’s commitment to repairability and upgradability, and its overall execution has been solid. The thin and light Laptop 13 has slowly been refined into an excellent all-around package, and the company’s Laptop 12 and Desktop both came out of the gate strong. Its biggest laptop still feels the most like a beta test.

The Laptop 16 is now updated with 2025 hardware, but its structural rigidity, fit, and finish still come up short. I’m hoping the incremental refinements will continue; something like a single-piece metal trackpad surround would go a long way. Because of the price, it’s hard to deny the temptation of non-upgradeable gaming laptops that are thinner and sleeker, such as the ROG Zephyrus G16, or more powerful. But maybe Framework can Ship of Theseus its way to a design that feels like less of a compromise.