Framework is working on a giant haptic touchpad, Trackpoint nub, and eGPU for its laptops

Today, Framework announced the second-gen Framework Laptop 16 with 2 manufacture firsts: the first Nvidia graphics paper upgrade you tin execute astatine location successful conscionable a mates minutes, and the first implicit 240W laptop charging solution implicit a USB-C cable.

But the company’s also revealing immoderate intriguing upgrades that didn’t rather marque the chopped — including an extra-large haptic touchpad a la Apple’s MacBooks, and the company’s archetypal external graphics module (eGPU).

Not everything successful the video beneath is really coming to market, and immoderate of it won’t beryllium aimed astatine mundane consumers. Framework CEO Nirav Patel says he’s moving to bring the fan-favorite ThinkPad Trackpoint nub to its keyboards, but keeps failing due to the fact that the squad can’t find a abbreviated capable nub that it doesn’t poke into the Laptop 16’s screen.

But helium says a wide haptic touchpad is genuinely successful development, 1 that won’t request the Framework Laptop 16’s modular spacers to springiness you a full-width palmrest. And if your main interest is conscionable removing those spacers (I occasionally recovered the uneven aboveground annoying in my review), Framework says it’ll merchandise 3D files truthful you tin people your ain full-width palmrest for the existing touchpad, successful immoderate colour you like.

Here’s a look astatine that 3D-printed one:

Framework besides says an eGPU is really successful improvement that uses the Framework Laptop 16’s GPU modules, but not arsenic a user product. Patel says that would marque it excessively costly to fulfill the team’s main goal: “We privation to marque definite determination is simply a pathway to reuse graphics modules coming retired of the Framework Laptop 16, truthful they’re not sitting successful a drawer oregon worse going retired into a landfill somewhere.”

So it won’t look similar the prototype you spot below, but alternatively thing targeted astatine makers, helium says — possibly we’ll person to 3D people the lawsuit for that 1 ourselves arsenic well.

Patel besides says Framework’s One Key Modules for gathering your ain customized keyboards are inactive successful improvement — “we’re moving hard to bring up the manufacturing output truthful we tin marque it disposable astatine a tenable price” — and expects he’ll beryllium capable to connection 64GB RAM modules earlier long. A transparent bezel for the Framework Laptop 16 didn’t marque the chopped due to the fact that it turned retired excessively brittle, though the team’s inactive looking for polycarbonate oregon resin blends that’d enactment better.

As for wherefore it’s shipping a caller Nvidia RTX 5070 graphics module with conscionable 8GB of RAM, Patel says successful a Q&A that’s however overmuch is disposable with a mobile 5070, and that’s however overmuch could acceptable into the existent design, which lone has abstraction for 4 representation packages connected the front.

While they could person gone with a much almighty GPU, “we’d person to turn the thickness of the graphics module by putting them connected some sides of the board,” which would summation the thickness of the graphics bay, which would summation the thickness of the laptop, among different adjustments.

“For this generation, 5070 8GB is it,” says Patel.