A laptop made out of arduous plastic will not flip heads in a market dominated with smooth metallic designs. However with its upcoming 12-inch 2-in-1 laptop, Framework Laptop isn’t chasing aesthetics—it is after schooling patrons.
Framework simply launched the Framework Laptop 12 at a launch occasion in San Francisco. The corporate’s first convertible laptop computer, it is designed to be low-cost and totally repairable. After some hands-on time with the Laptop computer 12, I discovered that is not the one proof that Framework constructed the gadget with college students, and their tough dealing with, in thoughts.
Getting a Really feel for the Framework Laptop computer 12
The edu-focus turns into clear the second you contact the Laptop computer 12. The PC is fitted in a inflexible plastic chassis designed to outlive drops and collisions. The entire package deal feels agency and durable, like a single block of tightly compacted elements surrounded with shock-absorbing supplies. Being smaller than the usual clamshell Framework Laptop 13, the Laptop computer 12 ought to really feel lighter than that mannequin.
(Credit score: Michael Kan)
One other sop to the youthful crowd: colours. Framework will promote the Laptop computer 12 in 5 hues: purple, pink, inexperienced, black, and white. Plus, college students will not miss out on what earned Framework its popularity—port swapping—with the Laptop computer 12 housing 4 Growth Card bays for customized I/O modules first seen on the Framework Laptop computer 13. Two are on either side. These bays allow you to change out the kind and relative location of the ports on the machine, altering out say, your USB-A for a USB-C or an HDMI-out in a given bay. (Extra germane, for teenagers? The bays additionally make it straightforward to repair a busted port.)
(Credit score: Michael Kan)
Outdoors of the port-shuffling potential, the Laptop computer 12 is a primary 2-in-1 that presents few surprises. The 360-degree hinge allows you to simply flip the display screen to a tablet-first orientation. The panel is a 12.2-inch, 1200p contact display screen that works with an optionally available stylus. That is a really perfect match for elementary and high-school classroom settings, the place nearly all issued laptops have contact screens. And 1200p ought to greater than suffice on the comparatively small display screen measurement.
What’s Contained in the Framework Laptop computer 12
Framework equips the Laptop computer 12 with Intel’s thirteenth Gen Core i3 and i5 CPUs (not the chip maker’s late-model “Lunar Lake” or “Arrow Lake” Core Extremely chips), as much as 48GB of DDR5 reminiscence, and as a lot as 2TB of NVMe solid-state storage. That is actually not what the entry-level configuration will include, however all choices ought to embody a Wi-Fi 6E radio and your alternative between Windows 11 and a Linux distro for the working system.
(Credit score: Michael Kan)
The thought right here is to provide college students simply sufficient energy to get by means of classwork shortly and reliably. For extra intense workloads (say, in specialised high-school environments or for demanding school curricula), Framework has its different, larger Framework Laptop computer clamshell choices. The CEO, Nirav Patel, even half-jokingly talked about the Laptop computer 12’s potential attraction to extra mature audiences, too.
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The Takeaway: Promising a Extra Sustainable Laptop computer for School rooms
For Framework, a very powerful features of the Framework Laptop computer 12 are its repairability and its skill to swap in new modules. By the product, the corporate desires to assist scale back e-waste, which may typically accumulate at schools. In introducing the laptop computer, the corporate went so far as to say the Framework 12 is its “most repairable” mannequin but.
(Credit score: Michael Kan)
However for now, Framework shunned giving the press an inside take a look at the PC. (Often, we get to see the Framework machines parted out with motherboard, battery, detachable bezels, and different elements splayed round.) Additionally, Framework notes that the Laptop computer 12’s particular configurations should not but finalized, so we’ll want to attend for extra particulars.
(Credit score: Michael Kan)
Pricing stays a thriller, too. Based mostly on my hands-on expertise, I would not be stunned if the Laptop computer 12 landed for round $600, or a bit cheaper, as a base-model beginning value. Within the meantime, the corporate plans on opening pre-orders for the product in April, with shipments slated for the center of the yr. Come again to PCMag later this yr for a full overview as soon as we get a Laptop computer 12 into PC Labs.
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About Michael Kan
Senior Reporter
