It should come as no surprise to regular readers of Techradar’s computer section that I am a big, big fan of a frame. It is the portable manufacturer that does everything right: repair ability, environmentally friendly designs, good adaptation options and a company’s ethos that put employees first. I grew lyrically about Frame Laptop Chromebook Edition‘s fantastic design back in 2023, and now I get excited again – because Framework is finally making a desktop PC.
The frame desktop that was shown in a Blog posts On the manufacturer’s website, it feels a bit contradictory to Framework’s mission declaration. After all, to all are stationary PCs already More customizable, repair and upgradable than laptops were a set of advantages for benefits eager to bring to the laptop with its most important product line. However, the blog post addresses this by saying that the reason why it is finally decided to make a Tower -PC is due to the new AMD Ryzen AI Max processors -chips so good that the framework changed its roadmap a year ago to incorporate them into a desktop system to “release any bit of its performance”.
AMD’s latest are some serious fleshy CPUs, so it makes perfect sense to see this happen. With up to 16 CPU cores at a 5.1 GHz boostur and recently raised Radeon 8060’s integrated graphics plus an NPU to run local AI workloads, AMD is not messed around, potentially making the frame desktop a candidate for our list of the best workstations PCs. Frames claim that the top spec Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 configuration is capable of 1440p games in even “the heaviest titles”, something I’m eager to try.
Good things come in small packages
Also … this is just the cutest little desktop system I’ve seen in my life. Seriously, look at it. It’s cute. Fit to be one of the best Mini -PCs ever seen, honestly. The front panel is formed by 21 interchangeable colored tiles, and frames have open sourced designed so you can also print your own. You can choose between a solid black or glass side panel, select an RGB fan and even add an optional carrying handle to those of us still going to LAN parties.
All that is good and I love how slim and compact this thing is but there is another design choice here that is much More important: Frames have included the hot-swappable ‘expansion cards’ used to customize gates on its laptops, which means you can choose exactly what two ports you want on your front I/O. It’s neat.
The top spec Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 configuration starts at $ 1,999 (£ 1,999 / around AU $ 3,160), which is a fairly high price of access to a desktop PC but as I noticed in my review of Framework’s Chromebook, you get a lot of computer for your cash and You make a social and ecological responsible purchase. For those who do not need the highest performance, the 8-core Ryzen AI MAX 385 configuration starts at $ 1,099 (£ 1,099 / around AU $ 1,740). Frames have also confirmed that there will be new models of its flagship 13-inch laptop plus the new 2-in-1 touch screen 12-inch model.
Framework describes its Desktop -PC as “the easiest PC you will ever build”, and even offers the main table – which is the motherboard, CPU and RAM – as an independent device that starts at $ 799 (£ 799 / About AU $ 1,265) so you can install it your own customized Custom -Build Compact PC instead. Personally, I can’t wait to get my hands on the whole PC.
