Framework Presents AI Mini PC Cluster and Customizable Laptops at Computex 2025

[igormp]

The framework 13 sure looks like a great product, and even with regular DDR5 instead of LPDDR5X it still manages great performance and a reasonable power consumption, as per phoronix's benchmarks.
I'd personally prefer LPDDR5X for an even lower power consumption and more memory bandwidth. But my main gripe against it is that the battery is kinda small at 61Wh, whereas most competitors are using 70Wh+ batteries.

The demo with multiple FW desktops is also cool as a showcase for the rack and that it's possible, albeit in practice it's pretty useless due to that gimpy interconnect.

With one NIC @ 5Gbit this is basically useless for AI and clusters but at least this can push more awareness towards Jeff Gerlings Project MINI RACK ...and we hopefully get more competition for the MS-A2.

Yeah, this pretty much summarizes my feelings for the demo itself.

Strix halo has access to 16 external PCIe lanes. There's no reason we couldn't have at least a x8 slot. GPUs age quickly, far faster than CPUs, and that's also not the only use for a x8/x16 slot. Even the likes of Dell/HP, when they use x4 slots, have the common courtesy to leave the end of the slot open so you can use cards with the x16 sized connector, since actual x4 edge connectors are very rare.

For a company that is all about longevity and repairability/modding/expansion, to the point they made a dGPU addon for one of their laptops, this is a pretty major oversight.

I think the dGPU argument for this specific product is a bit moot. It'd make no sense whatsoever to do so.
However, complaining about the lack of a full-width slot for usage with other PCIe devices, such as faster networking or more NVMe storage, is way more reasonable IMO.

 

[TPUnique]

Heavy amounts of technicality. Is it the fastest mobile processor available in a desktop form factor? Sure, though necessary caveat, the Framework Desktop/ITX Mainboard is still in the pre-order phase. I will go out on a limb here and say that other companies, like Minisforum, will also have something in the works for a Strix Halo motherboard.

To think that they are notable for being the first to advertise a Strix Halo board, and to extend faith here and assume no one will beat them to the punch, deliver a Strix Halo board in a desktop form factor, is offering them far too much credit. If their achievement withers with time, it is not an achievement. Nevermind all of the compromises made to their own mission statement to reach this point.

As far as I can tell, Framework is the only company to have presented its ITX mobo, demonstrated it to journalists, and opened orders.
This puts them beyond other companies such as Minisforum, which potentially have similar prototypes in their workshops, but haven't peeped a word about it.

So you may well dispute the timing (mass shipping hasn't yet started) - but your initial post wasn't about timing per se, you were rather downplaying the role of a Strix Halo APU brought to desktops. Putting it on a standard PC motherboard isn't "nothing new", it's an actual innovation - no matter small it might sound.