I kinda love modular laptops. The ability to swap parts in and out like a regular desktop, yet also pop it in your backpack is an incredibly attractive idea, and a brand called Firebat has just shown off a great little machine to rival Framework, the top dog of modular machines. However, the thing that sets this apart may also be what makes it a bit of a risky sell.
As spotted by Wccftech, Firebat has announced the Huan 16 Air, which is a laptop with an upgradable GPU. The graphics card is discrete, which means that, unlike some laptops and the best handheld gaming PCs, it doesn't use an integrated GPU alongside the CPU.
This isn't uncommon for gaming laptops of course, but what makes this specific model stand out is that you can essentially buy a new, specifically made graphics card and slot it in for better performance.
At just $780 (before tax) for the RTX 4060 model, this is a bargain price, especially when you consider you would be partially purchasing it as an investment piece. Whereas other laptops only degrade with age, this one's upgradable GPU means that its shelf life is a little better. However, as of right now, it seems it will only launch in China. This means you will pay a lot more to import it or have to hope a bigger store starts stocking Firebat models.
Comparing it to the Framework, which we previously gave a positive review, the Huan 16 Air isn't quite as customizable. Firebat has only announced you can swap out the GPU and not the rest of the laptop, like Framework. As is the case with many laptops, the SSD may be upgradeable too but we'd have to actually open it up and take a look to find out.
However, it being less upgradable than the Framework isn't the biggest downside to the future of this model. Instead, you need to look at previous upgradable designs to get the bigger picture.
The Alienware Area-51M launched back in 2019 and was pitched as an upgradable gaming laptop. Just two years after that, Alienware found itself in the middle of a class action lawsuit for false advertising over just how upgradable that machine is.
When you buy an upgradable machine, you are buying a promise of it staying relevant and supported by the time you want to upgrade, and this is the major problem with a machine like the Huan 16 Air.
You may be able to swap out that RTX 4060 now but if you want to upgrade with the arrival of the RTX 5070 next year, your chances of doing so seem pretty slim. Because you seemingly can't upgrade the amount of power this thing gets, even if it somehow supports next-gen cards, it would have a very low TDP, which negatively impacts performance.
Firebat has not proven itself as a brand that can promise long-term support and even Alienware, one of the biggest in the world, seemingly couldn't manage it. I'm excited to watch what Firebat do with this machine but I'll be keeping my distance for now.
