I'm just surprised the Framework doesn't provide a customizable graphics card slot. Or offer a dock that can support an external desktop PCI GPU.
It's a laptop for enthusiasts offering flexibility and repairability and future-proofing, and I think that overlaps with people who want to swap out GPUs and not rely solely on the CPU-integrated one.
Perhaps they are waiting for USB-C pass-through GPU enclosures to become a thing.
A discrete GPU comes with thermal and power requirements that change the form factor for the entire laptop. It doesn't make sense to have the same chassis for the with and without GPU use cases.
That is why I suggested a compatible dock with eGPU capabilities. That they haven't considered any way to support it all (even if it's only in the future) is a bit baffling.
Perhaps they will come out with an eGPU enclosure that can just be plugged into an existing swappable expansion bay, and won't need any special design changes? One can hope.
It's a laptop for enthusiasts offering flexibility and repairability and future-proofing, and I think that overlaps with people who want to swap out GPUs and not rely solely on the CPU-integrated one.
Perhaps they are waiting for USB-C pass-through GPU enclosures to become a thing.