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Firebat's new Huan 16 Air gaming laptop debuts with what appears to be a modular design

Firebat's Huan 16 Air gaming laptop seems to have a modular design similar to the Framework laptops (Image source: 孤城Hardware - edited)
Firebat's Huan 16 Air gaming laptop seems to have a modular design similar to the Framework laptops (Image source: 孤城Hardware - edited)
Chinese company Firebat has launched a new gaming laptop with a rather interesting internal design. The Huan 16 Air has a separate, and what appears to be modular, GPU board, which hints at user upgradability.

One of the main highlights of Framework laptops is the modular design. On the Laptop 16, for example, you can swap out the AMD Radeon 7700S graphics module with an Expansion Bay Shell if you want a lighter and slimmer setup. The mainboard is also swappable, allowing you to upgrade the processor.

However, it seems that Framework has a new competitor. It's Firebat, and the Chinese brand's new Huan 16 Air has a separate GPU board. While the company didn't explicitly mention modularity, the boards connect via a bridge, and there are contact points, both of which hint that the GPU may be user upgradable.

Of course, Firebat doesn't appear to have listed any of the GPU boards that can be switched to, but the case isn't any different for Framework's offering. The Laptop 16 has no graphics module available other than the Radeon 7700S.

As for the Huan 16 Air, it ships with pretty decent specs. The gaming laptop features the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS, paired with the Nvidia RTX 4060 Laptop GPU rated at 140W (Dell G15 curr. $899.99 on Best Buy). On the front, it features a 16-inch display with a 240 Hz refresh rate, 2560x1600 pixels resolution, and 100% sRGB coverage.

The build also appears to be good, with the laptop featuring a slim chassis and a decent number of ports. As for the price, the Huan 16 Air is listed at CNY 6,999 (around $970). Firebat isn't a brand that officially sells its products outside China, mind you. However, 孤城Hardware reports that other Chinese companies will adopt the same internal design soon, which makes sense simply because the design was developed by Tongfang - one of the OEMs that make their living by producing almost complete laptops for several dozens of companies all over the world to customize and sell to actual consumers. Schenker, Tulpar and Medion are but three example of such companies.

The internals of the gaming laptop (Image source: 孤城Hardware)
The internals of the gaming laptop (Image source: 孤城Hardware)
The mainboard (Image source: 孤城Hardware)
The mainboard (Image source: 孤城Hardware)
The GPU (Image source: 孤城Hardware)
The GPU (Image source: 孤城Hardware)

Source(s)

@realVictor_M on X (tweet embedded above), JD.com孤城Hardware via: Wccftech

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2024 11 > Firebat's new Huan 16 Air gaming laptop debuts with what appears to be a modular design
Abid Ahsan Shanto, 2024-11-11 (Update: 2024-11-12)