The reason why laptops are increasingly having their memory soldered in

[thewayne]

I knew Apple was one of the first to start doing this around 2015, and it really annoyed me as it forced you into maximizing buying the beast to start with. Now Dell is doing it with some lines, and I expect others will be following.

The reason? Space. Gotta make everything thinner! There's also an advantage in performance, which leads to lower power consumption.

Personally, I'd have no problem with laptops being a little thicker in exchange for being more serviceable and upgradeable! But they don't ask my opinion, so my voice doesn't get heard. I think there's a limit as to how thin things should be: I regularly use a Dell laptop at work, and while it isn't remotely an ultra-thin, you have to use two hands to open it because the hinge stiffness versus the weight in the lower case is too much. Ridiculous and bad design.

End of rant.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/why-laptops-in-2024-use-soldered-ram/

Comments

[kaishin108]

It seems all about their profits, sigh.

[pondhopper]

I agree 100%. The rage for thinness is all about portability and less weight but they have the worst designs...
and mostly, it's all about profit.

[thewayne]

On my 2015 MacBook Pro, I can replace the solid-state drive.  Also the battery, fans, some other components.  But the drive is the only 'upgradeable' component that I can touch.  After the 2015 model year?  Everything's soldered in.  Very frustrating.  Fortunately desktop PCs are normally not so bound.  I haven't even taken the back off my 2023 MacBook Pro!  Maybe I can replace the battery?  Not completely sure on that score!  I should check iFixit.... SMH  "Remove the screws".  Yeah, standard.  "Disengage clips".  HUH?  Get the back off.... remove various screws.... REMOVE TRACKPAD ASSEMBLY!  I think I might let a shop handle it when my laptop needs a battery replacement.  I've done it three times in a '15 MacBook Pro, but this is getting a little ridiculous.

[disneydream06]

I agree with you.
Give me something with a little body or weight to it. :)
Hugs, Jon

[arlie]

There's a long list of reasons to avoid laptops, unless you actually want to use the same computer in multiple locations, and either set up multiple external monitors/keyboards/etc or find the atrocious ergonomics acceptable.

[armiphlage]

Also, ball-grid-array connections have a far lower defect rate during initial assembly than gullwing connector terminations. By a factor of 25. Far better yield rate, less time and money spent reworking solder joints.

(bias note: the factory I work in has seven SMT lines; connectors cause me far more headaches than BGAs)

[richardf8]

From an electrical standpoint, the solder joint is far and away superior to any mechanical connection. You don't have issues of unwanted capacitance across the connector and the connection is stable to higher speeds.

[moxie_man]

Agree all the way with you.

[murakozi]

I'd rather have a thicker, heavier laptop that could hold a larger battery and be easily upgraded.

[garote]

Bike tourist here. Weight is important… I’m one of those weirdos who wants whapple to bring back the 12 inch retina MacBook as an m-series device.

[thewayne]

I certainly appreciate that there are definitely needs for very lightweight devices.  When we did our river cruise from Prague to Berlin in '15, I bought a Chromebook.  Got it both for the weight and I didn't want to risk the possibility of theft of my MacBook.  I just needed something for viewing/posting pix and copying flash cards, I didn't want to spend any significant time editing.  That thing finally died a couple of years ago.  It needed a new battery, but it won't power up when plugged in even.

[garote]

Not a bad strategy! I had similar paranoia during an Australia trip, and ended up bringing an iPad and a portable keyboard instead of a laptop. This was in 2010 so iPad software wasn't nearly as supportive of keyboard input. It worked okay until I tried to plan the next day's riding using Google Maps. :/

https://mile42.net/2011/01/distant-touring-with-the-ipad/

Hmm I suppose I should update this...

[silveradept]

This is why I hope that the Framework idea can take off and become something other than a high-end laptop situation. I would much rather have modularity and the ability to replace my components as needed, easily, than to have to make a decision between e-wasting a device that still has plenty of capacity left on it or suffering a device that is increasingly unable to keep up with the demands that are being thrown at it. Big Grumble energy here. But then again, I've also always been a person who wants desktops because of their ability to replace components, and who likes trying to find ways of squeezing the last bit of performance out of old technology until it can physically no longer do anything any more.