Framework Laptop 13 To See A RISC-V Motherboard Option

Framework Computer Inc announced today that they have been working with DeepComputing on a partner-developed RISC-V motherboard for the Framework Laptop 13.

Pricing information isn't yet available and the motherboard is in development still, but DeepComputing is working on bringing this RISC-V motherboard for Framework Laptop 13 as an alternative to the Intel and AMD options.

The DeepComputing RISC-V motherboard will use a StarFive JH7110 with four U74 RISC-V cores. The JH7710 SoC does have upstream kernel support and is used by other RISC-V single board computers like the StarFive VisionFive 2. But as I've shown in benchmarks with the VisionFive 2, this RISC-V board is much slower than even Raspberry Pi 4 computers with the ARM-based RPi4 typically being several times faster for various workloads.

Today's announcement from Framework Computer also acknowledges the performance will be slow as well as the features of this RISC-V board being behind that of the AMD and Intel motherboard options. Their announcement notes:

"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. The Mainboard will be able to drop into any Framework Laptop 13 chassis or into the Cooler Master Mainboard Case. DeepComputing is also working closely with the teams at Canonical and Red Hat to ensure Linux support is solid through Ubuntu and Fedora."

More details on today's announcement via the Framework blog. Again though right now it's still in development and no pricing information has yet to be revealed either. DeepComputing is the company as a reminder that announced a RISC-V laptop in 2022 with "AI", "NFC", "Web3" and other buzz words. DeepComputing is most recently also working on the DC-ROMA RISC-V Laptop II as their newest RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu support. Now they are also collaborating with Framework Computer to offer this interesting Framework motherboard option for those wanting to dabble with RISC-V and not minding the slow performance and limited feature set.