Fine, I'll Do It Myself: Framework 16 DIY Assembly

[00:01] Historically, some of the coolest inventions  ever were built in a cave with a box of scraps,   and this Framework 16 laptop is no different.  I mean, maybe it's a little different since I   intentionally chose the DIY version so I could  channel my internal Iron Man. I could obviously  

[00:19] spend a few more bucks and have Framework do the  assembling for me, but where's the fun in that? Framework laptops are the only laptops that ship  like this. And this, their most powerful 16-in  

[00:31] laptop, has an impressive, upgradeable  Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 graphics card   inside—a graphics card that I can swap out  and upgrade in just a few minutes. The first  

[00:43] modular laptop of its kind. Plus, the whole  Framework design is foolproof. Watch this:   the graphics card can be swapped out just  by lifting up this black flap and undoing   six screws. But we'll get to that in a  second; I want to see what the rest of  

[00:57] the laptop looks like first. And I can do that  by peeking underneath the large metal plate. When I say it's foolproof, I mean that each  of the screws that I'm removing right now   don’t actually come out. They are captive,  meaning they stay in the hole that they're  

[01:10] securing and can't get misplaced or lost. With the  mid-plate and its steel captive screws removed,   we can get our first look at the extremely  modular internals. There are some slots   for memory, long-term SSD storage,  and even the battery. It says this  

[01:25] battery is replaceable. Did you  feel that? A breath of fresh air. With only three more captive screws to  unscrew, the 85-Wh battery is the easiest   battery replacement of all time. For reference,  this is the battery we found inside of Apple's  

[01:39] M2 MacBook Pro. It is 100 Wh, but it is  not user-replaceable, and it looks like a   Frankenstein conglomerate of iPhone batteries,  which makes removal far more difficult. So,  

[01:51] thumbs up to Framework for being normal and  finally giving the people what they want. The two lower loudspeakers are also  modular. Each including a 1-watt   woofer and a 1-watt tweeter for four  speakers in total. The coolest module,  

[02:05] though—and something I've never seen in a  laptop before—is the ability to swap out   and upgrade the modular graphics card. All made  possible by removing four screws and pulling up   on this interposer. Just don't touch the gold  contact pads on the bottom. An interposer is a  

[02:20] high-bandwidth bridge, a connector designed  for repeated swaps of powerful components. We can unscrew two more captive screws identified  with the orange markers, and this allows the whole   graphics card module to be released out the  back, meaning I can upgrade this graphics card  

[02:36] in the future, all in about 4 minutes. Also,  if you're not into gaming or video editing,   you can use the same interposer and the same  cavity to add more internal SSDs instead.   A modular design is basically unheard of in  the laptop space; I hope Tim Cook is watching.

[02:52] Normally, a GPU is soldered onto the mainboard  for portability, which is true—the Framework   is 20 mm thick versus the MacBook Pro at  16 mm thick—but all things considered,  

[03:04] it's really not all that big of a difference,  and I think it's pretty amazing. I'll remove   the upper airflow grill and fingerprint-scanning  power button from the laptop. Normally, a person   wouldn't need to go this deep since the mainboard  is not as likely to need replacing, but since  

[03:19] it has marked and numbered screws 1 through 8, I  think we should just keep going for the fun of it. disconnect the modular Wi-Fi 7 module. And  with the motherboard removed, we can see  

[03:33] the heat pipes that are keeping the Ryzen AI 9  12-core processor cool. As well as on the back,   it has Framework's mailing address  and customer service number just in   case you need more instructions or  someone to talk to if you're lonely.

[03:47] The Framework 16 is basically a desktop  in a laptop body. And thankfully,   it is still upgradeable with all this new  hardware. It's almost like the company  

[03:59] cares about its customers, and I'm not sure  what to do with these new feelings I have. With the motherboard back in place and our  interposer bridge installed onto the graphics   card, I can set in our long-term storage. I  have two SSDs. These are basically the hard  

[04:14] drives that run the operating system.  The stubby 2-TB drive goes in first,   and the full-size 4-TB drive goes in on top. I'll  use the smaller one for holding the operating   system and program files, and the larger drive  for storing the video projects that I edit.

[04:28] The short-term DDR5 memory sticks click  in. On the right side of the motherboard,   I have two of the 24-gig sticks for  48 GB of RAM in total, which should   be plenty to edit my 4K footage with. I  don't do a whole lot of gaming, but video  

[04:42] editing uses all the same hardware, so having  a gaming laptop still gets the job done best. And you might be like, "Hey, Jerry, where's the  keyboard?" And that's a very valid question. The   keyboard is actually hot-swappable and modular as  well. Once the aluminum mid-plate is reinstalled,  

[04:58] there's a series of gold pins across  the plate that allow the keyboard or   number pad to be placed at any point or on  either side. The keys themselves have 1.5 mm   worth of travel. For reference, the MacBook  Pros have 1 mm, but who's counting? You are.

[05:14] And all of these keyboards, number pads, and  trackpads can be hot-swapped without needing   any tools. There are two locking latches  at the bottom left and right sides of the   computer that hold everything in place. I'll  throw on the black plastic screen bezel for  

[05:28] a second. We'll come back to this, but it's  held in place with magnets. Then I can put in   literally whatever ports I want to into the  sides of the computer. Whether it's USB-C,   USB-A, six different headphone jacks, Ethernet,  HDMI, Micro SD, DisplayPort, or SD card slots,  

[05:45] they are all hot-swappable, and I get to choose  what I want. How about them apples? Plus,   each of the ports only costs 20 bucks, which  is far cheaper than Apple's dongle adapters. The only downside of the DIY edition is that  I do need to install my own operating system,  

[06:00] which is kind of a hassle. I am told that  the Framework laptops also work with Linux,   but as embarrassing as it sounds, I'm  still not quite sure what Linux is,   and at this point, I'm too afraid  to ask. So, Windows it is for me.

[06:12] The display of the Framework 16  has a 2560x1600 pixel resolution,   165-Hz refresh rate, and 500 nits of  brightness with 100% DCI-P3 color,  

[06:26] meaning it can be used for video editing  or picture grading. And I repeat: even the   screen can be replaced in about 10 minutes  with just four screws. Framework already   has replacement parts ready to go on their  website for everything inside this computer.

[06:40] And I'm not sure what these feelings  are—happiness, appreciation,   maybe hope. All I know is that I am Iron Man  and I don't think I'll ever be going back to   a regular old laptop ever again. Framework is  where it's at. If you want one of my teardown  

[06:56] skins for your own Framework laptop, I'll leave  a link down in the description. We also have   teardown skins for MacBooks and every popular  smartphone so you too can look like the genius,   billionaire, playboy, philanthropist that you are.  Thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.