Comment on Framework’s first desktop is a strange—but unique—mini ITX gaming PC
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 3 days agoAm I really supposed to sit here and list off what makes a great product for a great price?
No, I don’t understand what you are asking for.
You don’t have to be extensive, but… what would you want instead? A more traditional Mini PC? A dGPU instead? A different size laptop? Like, if you could actually tell Framework what you want, in brief, what would you say?
commander@lemmings.world 3 days ago
Fair enough.
I skimmed it for a few seconds, got a little bit ill at the $1100 starting price, and then it occurred to me: what is this for?
Wasn’t frameworks whole thing about making modular laptops? What value are they bringing to the mini-ITX market? They’re already modular. In fact, it looks like they’re taking away customizability with soldered RAM.
You asked me what I want, and this is definitely what I don’t want. If they wanted to make this product appealing to me, they’d have to lower the price and live more modest lifestyles with the more modest profit margins.
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 3 days ago
This is ostensibly more of a workstation/dev thing. The integrated GPU is more or less like a very power efficient laptop 4070/4080 with unlimited VRAM, depending on which APU you pick, and the CPU is very fast, with desktop Ryzen CCDs but double the memory bandwidth of what even an 9800 X3D has. In that sense, it’s a steal compared to Nvidia DIGITs or an Apple M4 Max, and Mini PC makers alternatives haven’t really solidified yet.
I think Framework knows they can’t compete with a $900 Walmart laptop and the crazy bulk pricing/corner cutting they do, nor can they price/engineer things (with the same bulk discounts) at the higher end like a ROG Z13/G14.
So… this kinda makes sense to me.
commander@lemmings.world 3 days ago
I’d love to see some benchmarks comparing the two. I don’t believe that this integrated GPU is able to hold a candle to a laptop’s 4070, but I’d love to be proven wrong.
As far as CPU speed goes, couldn’t people simply choose whatever CPU they want when building their computer without paying the “framework tax”? Are you trying to claim there’s something “special” about this CPU like the PS3’s cell processor?
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 3 days ago
There is. It’s a 16-core desktop CPU kinda like Ryzen, but hooked up to an IO die with very fast (8533MHz) quad channel memory. It’s more like a small, power efficient threadripper CPU, if you want to look at it that way.
But that IO die has a 40 CU GPU (compared to 12 for the previous highest end IGP, or 8 for the Steam Deck), so yeah, somewhere in the ballpark of a 4070. Or maybe the 4060 at the lower end of SKUs.
But the real appeal isn’t “magic”: its like an Apple M Pro or Mac, a decent GPU hooked up to a huge pool of VRAM without having to pay freaking $4000+ for a Quadro or A100.
I’d buy it at the drop of a hat for workstation stuff. I also have some friends who want one as a home server, since it’s so powerful but power efficient, and more modular/repairable than some Chinese mini PC.