Framework has built a name for itself by taking the locked down world of laptops and making them modular, upgradable, and repairable. So it’s surprising — and maybe even controversial — the way that Framework has approached its first desktop: it’s made a PC that’s actually less modular than most.
Don’t worry; this isn’t a Mac Mini situation, where mere mortals are not meant to touch the innards of such a brilliant little computer. But it’s not a traditional small form factor PC, either.
The Framework Desktop is impressively small for what it offers. It’s around the size of a couple hardcover novels standing on your desk. Its black-and-silver case is just large enough to fit a mini-ITX motherboard, a cooler, and a power supply — plus two modular front ports and a customizable array of 21 plastic tiles on the front panel, just for fun. And its AMD Strix Halo APU is surprisingly powerful. Even the base configuration is capable of respectable gaming frame rates at 2.5K resolution, and the highest-end spec, with a more powerful processor and 128GB of shared memory, is enough to run beefy local large language models like Llama 3.3 70B.
Yes, you can buy or build a bigger, more powerful small-form-factor desktop, and it’ll actually be more upgradeable than the Framework. And if you just want a tiny desktop for the basics, there are plenty of brands offering cheaper prebuilts. But none of them are quite like the Framework Desktop. It’s a simple, compact computer that’s good enough for serious gaming or content creation and doesn’t come with a shred of bloatware. It’s incredibly easy to assemble (you don’t even have to apply thermal paste), competently powerful, and its design is endearing and unmistakably Framework.
8 Verge Score Framework Desktop $ 1099 $ 1099 The Good Tiny 4.5-liter desktop PC
One of the easiest building and upgrading experiences
Enough graphics power for 2.5K gaming
Configurable with 128GB of RAM for working with local AI models
Not a lick of bloatware (aside from Windows itself) The Bad Not for 4K gaming unless you bump settings way, way down
CPU, GPU, and RAM are all integrated and can’t be upgraded outside of changing the mainboard
... continue reading