I'm thinking about buying the 16 as I want a new Linux-compatible laptop and I like the whole idea behind Framework. I do a little bit of gaming but honestly just what my Steam Deck is capable of, so I was planning on buying it without the GPU for the moment.
Looking at the two processor choices, they seem very similar on performance. I'm not sure I can justify the $200 price difference, especially with the hope of a future upgrade to a newer generation.
I ended up going with the base CPU since it seemed identical. Now I'm trying to figure out what sort of eGPU setup to go with to minimize bottlenecking (setup will be replacing my desktop).
Portability, mainly, and I want to leave the slot available in case they add other uses for it, like an extended battery. I may regret that choice and end up getting the GPU anyway, but for my use case it seems like it might be perfect.