The Framework Laptop 13 is about to become one of the world’s first RISC-V laptops

What if your laptop didn’t need a processor from an established brand like Intel or AMD? What if it didn’t even rely on proprietary paid architectures like Arm and x86? RISC-V is one of the answers to those questions — it’s free for anyone to use! — and modular computer company Framework has just decided to welcome RISC-V into its laptop lineup.

Specifically, Framework has partnered with DeepComputing, the company behind the very first RISC-V laptops, to build a mainboard for the Framework Laptop 13 as well. Framework already sells Intel and AMD mainboards that easily slot into its 13-inch chassis, and DeepComputing has now independently designed a new one you could drop into Framework’s laptop or even this $39 Cooler Master case that turns those boards into mini-desktops.

While it’s exciting to see the open-source RISC-V become so accessible, you should know it’s pretty early days. Framework warns that the performance and features aren’t on par with Intel and AMD:

This Mainboard is extremely compelling, but we want to be clear that in this generation, it is focused primarily on enabling developers, tinkerers, and hobbyists to start testing and creating on RISC-V. The peripheral set and performance aren’t yet competitive with our Intel and AMD-powered Framework Laptop Mainboards. This board also has soldered memory and uses MicroSD cards and eMMC for storage, both of which are limitations of the processor. It is a great way to start playing with RISC-V though inside of a thin, light, refined laptop.

And when Framework says they “aren’t yet competitive,” that may be something of an understatement: Phoronix’s Michael Larabel points out that even a Raspberry Pi 4 mini-computer is likely faster than the quad-core 1.5GHz RISC-V StarFive JH7110 SoC you’re getting here.

But this is still an intriguing step in bringing more competition to the chip market, especially now that we no longer live in an age where “native” x86 chips and native Windows are required to run decades of legacy applications decently well. The Steam Deck, Apple Silicon, and now a wave of Qualcomm and Arm-powered Windows laptops are all here to prove that native isn’t always best and that we deserve more.

And RISC-V isn’t such an outlandish choice as all that: the “R” in Arm stands for “RISC,” after all, and RISC-V chips are already in use in embedded and server applications. The Framework Laptop 13 even technically already has a RISC-V chip — it’s in the fingerprint reader.

There’s no release date or price for the Framework RISC-V mainboard yet; it’s “in early development,” and you can sign up for updates here.