Framework's now selling the soul of its modular laptop and the potential for PC projects are endless

pcgamer.com:

Ever wanted to build your own laptop from the ground up? Or mini PC, all-in-one, or even handheld gaming PC? Now, I'm not talking about picking some parts from a custom list over at Derek's SuperGood System Builders, or Origin PC, or whatever. I'm talking about actually grabbing a mainboard PCB, a chassis, some ports, memory, displays, the whole lot, and sticking it together yourself. That's what Framework is now offering in the US and Canada (via Ars Technica) right now, as it's offering up its Intel Tiger Lake-based mainboards to buy on their own.

We've written about the Framework Laptop before, essentially it's a machine specifically designed to be as open as possible for the user to upgrade or repair themselves, using only a screwdriver for help. The smart part about it is that everything is fully modular, offering not only repairability but user customisation, too.

It's good timing, too, given all the Right to Repair conversations that have been going on. 

But this is the first time it's actually made the core mainboard itself available, and not just replacement modules and keyboards, etc. That's important because the mainboard is basically a machine all on its own. As the recent Framework blog post states: «All you need to do is insert memory, plug in a USB-C power adapter, and hit the tiny power button on-board, and you’ve got a powered-up computer.»

And it means you're not restricted to just building a laptop around it, either. You could build a mini-PC, hook it up to the back of a monitor for a tasty all-in-one PC experience, or even build yourself a little Steam Deck-a-like handheld.

Sure, you can grab a wee Raspberry Pi board and build yourself a tiny system based on that—with its own enthusiastic community