Framework’s new Chromebook is upgradable and customizable

Framework and Google have introduced the brand new Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition. As the title implies, that is an upgradable, customizable Chromebook from the identical firm that put out the Framework laptop computer final yr.

User-upgradable laptops are uncommon sufficient already, however user-upgradable Chromebooks are nigh unparalleled. While the scale of the viewers for such a tool might stay to be seen, it’s actually a step in the precise route for repairability within the laptop computer area as a complete.

Multiple components of the Framework are user-customizable, although it’s not clear whether or not each half that’s adjustable on the Windows Framework may be adjusted on the Chromebook as nicely. Each half has a QR code on it which, if scanned, brings up the acquisition web page for the half’s substitute.

Most excitingly (to me), the Chromebook Edition contains the identical enlargement card system because the Windows version, that means you possibly can select the ports you need and the place to place them. I don’t know of another laptop computer, Windows or Chrome OS, the place you are able to do this, and it’s simply my private favourite a part of Framework’s mannequin. You can select between USB-C, USB-A, microSD, HDMI, DisplayPort, Ethernet, high-speed storage, “and more,” per the press launch. HDMI, specifically, is a handy choice to have on a Chromebook.

You may also improve reminiscence and storage — I don’t essentially anticipate the necessity to bump RAM and storage to be as excessive for many Chromebook customers as it’s for Windows customers, however the possibility can be there for people who need it.

The bezels are additionally swappable — they connect magnetically to the body. All Framework bezels are appropriate with the Chromebook Edition, that means there are a few different colors available and you must fairly simply have the ability to snap them on and off.

Those are the one upgradable components listed within the press launch Google despatched me. I’ve requested if the remainder of the chassis (the processor, specifically, as that’s an enormous draw of the Windows laptop computer) can be upgradable. In response, Framework founder Nirav Patel stated that the Chromebook Edition is “directly compatible with most of the parts in the Framework Laptop ecosystem.”

Elsewhere, the Chromebook features a 2256 x 1504 3:2 show and weighs 2.87 kilos (1.3kg). Inside is a twelfth Gen Core i5-1240P (the processor is upgradable within the Windows mannequin, however there is no such thing as a point out of that right here). There’s a privateness swap to chop energy from the digicam and microphones. But the principle cause to purchase this laptop computer, if earlier Framework fashions are any indication, can be that you simply, because the consumer, can restore it.

Preorders start right now within the US and Canada with a beginning value of $999. Products are slated to ship in early December.