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Comment by zamadatix | Hacker News Reader

The statement above is that one would expect Framework to have chosen a platform which does not require soldered RAM, not that Framework kept such an option by choosing this AMD part.

All that aside, I absolutely can't wait for desktops to decide to go the same route of having 4 memory channels instead of 2. Right now the only way to have >2 channels is to buy workstation/server class stuff or an APU.

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Sadly there's no alternative if you want 256 bits wide at the moment. Well a previous generation threadripper with a huge increase in power consumption and requiring a discrete GPU.

BTW, careful with "channels". Todays normal desktops and laptops (besides the strix halo and apple pro/max/ultra) are 128 bits wide. But in the DDR4 -> DDR5 transition they doubled the number of channels to 4. However the strix halo biggest advantage is the extra memory bandwidth going from 128 bits wide to 256 bits wide.

Finally the technology of the ps5 and XboxX comes to laptops, tablets, and small desktops.

From their LTT video, it looked like they chose to do Desktop because of the AMD platform (and not the either way around, where they planned a desktop product and then chose AMD strix halo). Apparently setting up the manufacturing pipeline for laptops built on strix halo is expensive as of now and there are only two laptops in the whole market using it. So Frame.work choose to go the desktop route to save on cost while still making the platform available for everyone.

But think of it this way, anybody who specifically wants this chip (Ryzen strix halo) now has a way to buy it in a somewhat modular platform.

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