RISC-V notebooks really arrived this year

Buried in the inner how your laptop works is a secret blueprint that determines the set of instructions your computer can execute and acts as an interface between hardware and software. The instructions are immutable and hidden behind proprietary technology. But from 2025 you can buy a new and improved laptop whose secrets are known to everyone. This laptop will be fully customizable, with hardware and software that you can customize to suit your needs.

RISC-V is an open source instruction set architecture (ISA) ready to make personal computers more, well, more personal. Although RISC-V is still early in its life cycle, it is now possible to buy fully functional computers with the technology inside – a key step in providing a viable alternative to
x86 and Arm in mainstream consumer electronics.

“If we look several generations down the (software) stack, we’re starting to see a line of sight to consumer-ready RISC-V in something like a laptop or even a phone,” said Nirav Patel, CEO. notebook maker frame.

Patel plans to release a laptop in 2025 that can support a RISC-V motherboard. Although still aimed at early adopters and developers, it will be the most affordable and advanced RISC-V notebook yet, and will be delivered to users with the same look and feel as the Framework notebooks they use
x86 tokens.

RISC-V is coming to a laptop near you

The ISA is a rulebook that defines the set of valid instructions that programs can execute on a processor. Like other ISAs, RISC-V contains dozens of instructions, such as loading data into memory or floating-point arithmetic operations. But RISC-V is open source, which sets it apart from closed ISAs like them
x86 and Arm. This means that anyone can use RISC-V royalty-free. It also allows for easy customization of RISC-V hardware, as there are no licensing restrictions on what can or cannot be modified.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley’s Parallel Computing Laboratory began developing the RISC-V ISA in 2010 based on established reduced instruction set computer (RISC) principles, and it is already being used by companies looking to design low-cost, specialized chips: Alibaba gave RISC-V for edge computing chip development platform work, and Western Digital used RISC-V for storage controllers.

Now, a small group of companies and enthusiasts are laying the groundwork to bring RISC-V to mainstream consumer devices. Among those pioneers is software engineer Yuning Liang, who was drawn to the idea when he was sidelined by the COVID lockdown in Shenzhen, China.

I can’t continue the previous work, “I had to ask, what can I do here?” says Liang. “Mark Himelstein, former CTO of RISC-V (International), mentioned that we should build a notebook on a 12nm RISC-V test chip.” Since the 12nm node is an older manufacturing process than CPUs use today, each chip costs less.

DeepComputing released the first RISC-V laptop, the Roma, in 2023, followed by the DC-Roma II a year later.Deep Computing

The project got off to a slow start due to supply chain issues related to COVID, but eventually led to the release of the world’s first RISC-V laptop, the Roma, in 2023 by DeepComputing—a Hong Kong company founded by Liang the previous year. It was followed in 2024 by the DC-Roma II, which came pre-installed with the open-source Ubuntu operating system, making it capable of performing basic computing tasks out of the box.

DeepComputing is now partnering with Framework, a laptop maker founded in 2019 with a mission to “fix consumer electronics,” according to the company’s website. Framework sells modular, user-repairable laptops that owners can keep indefinitely and upgrade parts over time (including those that typically cannot be replaced, such as the motherboard and display).

“The Framework notebook motherboard is where board developers can come in and build their own,” says Patel. The company hopes its notebooks can accelerate the adoption of open-source hardware by offering a platform where board makers can “deliver system-level solutions,” Patel adds, without having to design their own notebook.

Closing the price/performance gap

The DeepComputing DC-Roma II notebook marked a major milestone for open source work, and not just because it came with Ubuntu installed. It was the first RISC-V laptop to receive widespread media attention, particularly on YouTube, where video reviews of the DC-Roma II (as well as other RISC-V single-board computers such as the Milk-V Pioneer and the Lichee Pi 4A) received a combined total of over a million views.

Even so, Liang was quick to acknowledge a flaw that many online reviewers have found: the RISC-V chip in the DC-Roma II lags significantly.
x86 and ram-driven alternatives. DeepComputing wants to solve this in 2025 with DC-Roma III, according to Liang.

In the coming year, “the performance will be much better. It will still be 12 nanometer (processors), but we are going to upgrade the CPU performance to be more like Arm Cortex-A76,” says Liang. The Cortex-A76 is a key architecture for RISC-V comparisons, as it is used by chips in high-volume single-board computers such as the Raspberry Pi 5.

Liang is not alone in dreaming of high-performance RISC-V chips. Founded in 2018, Ventana designs high-performance data center chips that rely on open-source ISA.

Balaji Baktha, founder and CEO of Ventana, is confident that RISC-V chips will go x86 and Arm across various products. “There’s nothing specific to ISA that determines whether you can make something high-performance or not,” he says. “It depends on the implementation of the microarchitecture.”

DeepComputing also wants to make RISC-V attractive with lower prices. At around $600, the DC-Roma II isn’t much more expensive than a mid-range Windows laptop like the Acer Aspire or Dell Inspiron, but online reviews note that its performance is more in line with budget laptops that sell for much less . Liang says this is due to the notebook’s low production volume: The DC-Roma II was produced in the “low tens of thousands,” according to Liang. DeepComputing hopes to increase production to 100,000 units for the DC-Roma III, he adds.

If successful, it should make all DeepComputing laptops more competitive with those using it
x86 and Arm. This is important to Liang, who sees affordability as synonymous with openness; both lower barriers for newcomers.

“If we can also open up chip design, then one day even school and university students can come to class and design their own chips with open tools,” says Liang. “With openness, you can choose to build things yourself from scratch.”