Framework collabs with DeepComputing to bring RISC-V motherboard to its DIY Laptop 13 ^↺

Motherboard options for the Framework Laptop 13 will soon see a new addition, thanks to the collaboration with DeepComputing. At the moment, you can get the laptop with AMD Ryzen 5 7640U or Intel 13th Gen or Meteor Lake processors. However, there will be a new RISC-V option in the future.

The RISC-V mainboard for the Framework Laptop 13 will bring a StarFive JH7110 processor. It's a 64-bit CPU with four SiFive U74 cores with up to 1.5 GHz of max speed. For the graphics department, it brings BXE-4-32, which offers support for up to 1080p video encoding and 4K video playback.

Worth noting that this isn't the most powerful RISC-V processor around, and with the new mainboard released, it won't be setting Framework ahead of the competition. However, the motherboard will allow the Laptop 13 owners to get their feet wet with the open-source architecture without purchasing a completely new machine.

Framework also admits that the RISC-V mainboard isn't meant for the general public. After all, the architecture still has a limited level of support. So, it's more for the developers and hobbyists who want to test or develop things in RISC-V.

Also, it's not just the processor that will likely be limiting the performance of a Framework Laptop 13 with the RISC-V motherboard. The board will come with a soldered memory, which means you can't upgrade it in the future. Moreover, it has a microSD card slot for storage expansion and uses eMMC, both of which are much slower than NVMe SSDs.

While there's no word on the pricing yet, RISC-V products tend to be on the affordable side. For example, you can get a Waveshare VisionFive2 SBC with the same StarFive JH7110 processor at $76.99 on Amazon.