Now Framework takes us to 180 watts – and the CEO expects 240 watt chargers around the corner.
Today, the modular laptop company revealed that it will ship its upcoming Framework Laptop 16 with the former 180W USB-C PD 3.1 charger we’ve ever heard of, developed in collaboration with Chicony. It’s only twice the size of its 60W power adapter at 116.6 x 58.2 x 27mm, but packs three times the power, and the two-meter USB-C cable is still detachable.
But that doesn’t mean that the Framework Laptop 16 is an 180W laptop. The company says that at maximum performance, with a detachable discrete GPU module installed, it will draw from the battery as well as this 180W wall adapter – to avoid that, plug in one of the 240W USB PD chargers that Framework expects . come quickly from third parties.
“The silicon to make this possible is now available.”
“We haven’t announced any other 180W and 240W USB-PD 3.1 power adapters yet, but since the silicon to enable these is now available, we expect peripherals to launch them soon,” said Framework founder and CEO Nirav Patel. . The edge.
The company says it uses Weltrend WT6676F, ON Semi NCP1622, and JoulWatt JW1556 controllers, as well as GaN switching components from both GaN Systems and Navitas “with an amazing 93% efficiency” for this 180W adapter. Both those parts and the help of Chicony as a power supply manufacturer can of course also be used by other companies.
I wonder if this will push other PC manufacturers to go faster. While we’ve seen proprietary 240W and even 300W solutions for fast-charging phones, 240W USB-C laptops have been a no-show at CES and Computex from what I’ve heard. This new MSI Creator Prestige will apparently go to 140W, but it’s a year and a half after Apple already did.
