Framework Laptop 16 upgrades make it look less like an unfinished prototype

A lower-end Ryzen AI 340 CPU option will also bring the price down, for now.

The Framework Laptop 16 connected to an external desktop GPU via its upcoming OCuLink Dev Kit. Credit: Framework

When Framework launches a new laptop, it usually takes the opportunity to put out some other refinements to its designs. Although its updates for the Framework Laptop 16 aren’t as significant as the changes to the new Framework Laptop 13 Pro, they address a number of complaints and requests that will make the upgradeable workstation look and function better.

The Laptop 16 is getting one new CPU option, though it’s in the same Ryzen AI 300 chip family that Framework used in its late-2025 refresh. The six-core Ryzen AI 5 340 option slots in below the eight-core Ryzen AI 7 350 configuration, and it brings the Laptop 16’s current starting price down to $1,599 for a pre-built system or $1,249 for a DIY Edition (down from $1,799 and $1,499, respectively). Continued RAM or storage price increases could eventually reduce or nullify those savings, but they’re available for now.

Many of the Laptop 16’s other upgrades are primarily cosmetic. One is a new “Translucent Smoke Gray Bezel” option, which joins the existing black, orange, and lavender bezels.

More significantly, both the keyboard section and the trackpad area are now being offered as single pieces, rather than as modular sections that you need to augment with additional modules or spacers to create a complete top case.

One-piece keyboard and haptic touchpad modules will make the Laptop 16 look cleaner and more “finished.” Credit: Framework

The original design was created mainly so that buyers could decide whether they wanted a number pad or not, and if they did use a number pad, how they wanted the trackpad to be centered. As a result, the keyboard and trackpad needed a total of five or six different pieces, giving it an unfinished and prototype-y look that could be an acquired taste.

The new one-piece keyboard and one-piece trackpad modules help to fix that problem, at least for people who are happy with a centered number-pad-less keyboard and a centered trackpad. The trackpad module in particular gives the laptop a much cleaner look, given that (unlike the keyboard) its spacers could never be anything but spacers, rather than number pads or customizable LEDs.

The new trackpad module also uses the new MacBook-esque haptic trackpad from the Framework Laptop 13 Pro. Both the one-piece keyboard and touchpad can be preordered today and will be available in June.

Better external GPU support via OCuLink

The biggest functional upgrade is a new OCuLink Dev Kit, which exposes up to eight lanes of PCIe 4.0 bandwidth to external GPUs or other accessories.

Those who have wanted to attach an external GPU to a Framework Laptop 16 (or any other Framework Laptop) have been able to use their Thunderbolt/USB4 ports and an external dock, so OCuLink support isn’t exactly opening up new frontiers in GPU compatibility. The main benefit of OCuLink is that it’s a more “direct” PCI Express connection, without needing to deal with the “tunneling” that these ports need to pass PCIe data over a Thunderbolt or USB-C port—the encoding, transfer, and decoding of PCIe data over these connections can mean that much less than the rated 40 Gbps of bandwidth is actually available to the GPU.

Users will need to remove their Laptop 16’s GPU or Expansion Bay Shell spacer module and install an OCuLink Adapter Board in its place to expose the PCIe interface. That board then connects to either a Graphics Module OCuLink Dock that allows you to use the Laptop 16’s external GPU module via OCuLink, or to a PCIe OCuLink Dock that allows the usage of desktop PCIe cards, including external GPUs. For PCIe cards, you’ll need to bring your own external power supply with enough wattage to power whatever it is you’re plugging in.

“We designed this system as a kit, where we provide you with the core electronics, structure, and reference 3D-printable designs, and you can choose what to build around it,” writes Patel. The GPU, the enclosure, the power supply, and the overall setup are all up to you. We’ll have more to share on the OCuLink Dev Kit as we get closer to shipping it later this year.”

Framework didn’t announce pricing information for any of the components of the OCuLink Dev Kit.