It’s because AI needs a not a ram. I think Apple did not expect or plan for ai which shows in the fact that only the latest pro phone can have Apple intelligence. It’s because that phone has enough ram.
Now they will boost ram across the board because Apple intelligence will not run well without it.
Depending on pricing, I may actually buy a MacBook in 2025.
I’ve wanted one since the m1, but I’ve held out until 16gb was the starting amount of ram.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but most things and light laptops have had soldered ram for many years now. There are exceptions, but they’re few and far between.
What? Lol nah plenty of laptops have removable RAM. It tended to show up often on the “Ultralight” tier, but outside of that and Chromebooks it’s been by no means the norm
It has kind of come with newer laptops being driven to be thinner, and for newer devices, because the old SODIMM format is no longer capable of the throughput/latencies needed for higher speed memory.
From memory, 2.1Ghz DDR5 is where it caps out. Anything faster, like 2.8 GHz either requires it to be soldered, or one of the new formats like the one Dell has started using.
The replacement you’re talking about is called [CAMM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAMM_(memory_module\)) and personally I’m excited about it. Not only does it support faster speeds than SO-DIMM, it takes up less physical space. And I believe you can’t even put LPDDR on a SODIMM, so CAMM should also use less power?
But RAM on the non-mac side is plentiful and relatively cheap. For the same cost of that base model 16GB Mac you can get a PC laptop with 64GBs of RAM and plenty of storage
With all that RAM and storage you can slap Linux on it and run Windows on a VM for that work software that doesn’t work under alternatives such as Wine
Or alternatively run a hackintosh-VM then you can have MacOS without supporting Apples user-hostile decisions
I looked into it, yea current gen chips aren’t compatible with SODIMM
Because they’re compatible with the brand new removable RAM standard, CAMM2. It is confusing though, as everywhere I’ve looked both soldered and CAMM2 were listed as LPDDR5 which is what makes you think it’s just soldered RAM. So far it looks like if a spec sheet lists LPDDR5x it should be a CAMM2
CAMM2 is also very very new, so I’m sure a few manufacturers in their rush to get the new/current gen chips out the door just used soldered RAM.
CAMM2 is very exciting, it basically eats into all of Apples listed pros for having soldered in RAM as close to the CPU as possible while still being user removable. (Performance, efficiency etc)
Is Intel Core Ultra Series 1 current gen, or is it a gen old by now? Framework has them, but I suppose you technically can’t get them since they’re currently on preorder
I really don’t know where you’re looking because I only see that in business-class laptops and even then not all of them have soldered RAM.
And I’m already counting the ones with one expansion slot with the soldered bunch.
Of course, if you paid attention only to HP, Dell and Lenovo, then I’d see why you’d think so. But beyond those brands, you don’t have that soldered nonsense everywhere.
At the very least, you have things like Clevo, Framework and the like to sell you laptops without soldered ram.
I bet there are even websites that let you filter laptop models without soldered ram. Personally, I only know about Germany-based websites like that, though.
E.g. for Framework, you’re looking at APUs like the 7840U, which is not current gen. It’s two generations old. (7840U/Phoenix > 8850U/Hawk Point > AI 9 365 (awful naming btw AMD)/Strix Point).
Like I said, all current CPU gen laptops cannot use SODIMM. I really hope that changes though.
And let me be clear here, I’m not exaggerating for effect; I do not mean most of them. I do not mean the vast majority of them. I do not mean practically all of them. I literally mean all of them. 100% of them. Every single one that exists.
AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm do not currently have compatibility with SODIMM on their newest gen mobile CPUs.
I hope that changes, and I expect it eventually will, but as it stands right now, no you cannot have SODIMM modules if you are buying any laptop with the newest gen CPUs.
Well fudge me sideways. Every day is a school day.
They’ve all got LPDDR5, so yeah, you’re unfortunately right. It feels kinda weird having to consider the 7000 and 8000-series last gen already; true as it is, though.
Don’t worry, the latest chips were just built to only handle CAMM2, a new removable RAM standard that replaced SODIMM
It’s a bit confusing though because both soldered and CAMM2 are listed as LPDDR5 on spec sheets, from what I’ve looked at it appears if there’s an x at the end of the LPDDR5 it should be CAMM2
It’s also brand BRAND new, so I’m sure quite a few manufacturers rushed out the door with the new chips just soldering on the RAM because they couldn’t get CAMM2 in it in time for whatever reason
It’s because AI needs a not a ram. I think Apple did not expect or plan for ai which shows in the fact that only the latest pro phone can have Apple intelligence. It’s because that phone has enough ram.
Now they will boost ram across the board because Apple intelligence will not run well without it.
Depending on pricing, I may actually buy a MacBook in 2025.
I’ve wanted one since the m1, but I’ve held out until 16gb was the starting amount of ram.
Or you could just get just about any other non-mac system that lets you upgrade RAM easily when you need too…
Just stop supporting Apples soldered in BS
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but most things and light laptops have had soldered ram for many years now. There are exceptions, but they’re few and far between.
What? Lol nah plenty of laptops have removable RAM. It tended to show up often on the “Ultralight” tier, but outside of that and Chromebooks it’s been by no means the norm
It has kind of come with newer laptops being driven to be thinner, and for newer devices, because the old SODIMM format is no longer capable of the throughput/latencies needed for higher speed memory.
From memory, 2.1Ghz DDR5 is where it caps out. Anything faster, like 2.8 GHz either requires it to be soldered, or one of the new formats like the one Dell has started using.
The replacement you’re talking about is called [CAMM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAMM_(memory_module\)) and personally I’m excited about it. Not only does it support faster speeds than SO-DIMM, it takes up less physical space. And I believe you can’t even put LPDDR on a SODIMM, so CAMM should also use less power?
I know what you mean, but I’m tired of window’s bullshit too.
I’d keep pc hardware if my work could happen on Linux, but it’s sadly not an option at the moment.
But RAM on the non-mac side is plentiful and relatively cheap. For the same cost of that base model 16GB Mac you can get a PC laptop with 64GBs of RAM and plenty of storage
With all that RAM and storage you can slap Linux on it and run Windows on a VM for that work software that doesn’t work under alternatives such as Wine
Or alternatively run a hackintosh-VM then you can have MacOS without supporting Apples user-hostile decisions
Bad news: literally all current CPU gen laptops use soldered RAM.
All of them. Every single one. No exceptions.
Hopefully that’ll change, but as it stands right now, if you want newest gen, you cannot get replaceable RAM.
And even before current gen, the vast majority of Windows laptops were soldered too.
E: idk why you’re downvoting, it’s true lol.
I looked into it, yea current gen chips aren’t compatible with SODIMM
Because they’re compatible with the brand new removable RAM standard, CAMM2. It is confusing though, as everywhere I’ve looked both soldered and CAMM2 were listed as LPDDR5 which is what makes you think it’s just soldered RAM. So far it looks like if a spec sheet lists LPDDR5x it should be a CAMM2
CAMM2 is also very very new, so I’m sure a few manufacturers in their rush to get the new/current gen chips out the door just used soldered RAM.
CAMM2 is very exciting, it basically eats into all of Apples listed pros for having soldered in RAM as close to the CPU as possible while still being user removable. (Performance, efficiency etc)
Is Intel Core Ultra Series 1 current gen, or is it a gen old by now? Framework has them, but I suppose you technically can’t get them since they’re currently on preorder
I really don’t know where you’re looking because I only see that in business-class laptops and even then not all of them have soldered RAM.
And I’m already counting the ones with one expansion slot with the soldered bunch.
Of course, if you paid attention only to HP, Dell and Lenovo, then I’d see why you’d think so. But beyond those brands, you don’t have that soldered nonsense everywhere. At the very least, you have things like Clevo, Framework and the like to sell you laptops without soldered ram.
I bet there are even websites that let you filter laptop models without soldered ram. Personally, I only know about Germany-based websites like that, though.
You are looking at previous-gen platforms.
E.g. for Framework, you’re looking at APUs like the 7840U, which is not current gen. It’s two generations old. (7840U/Phoenix > 8850U/Hawk Point > AI 9 365 (awful naming btw AMD)/Strix Point).
Like I said, all current CPU gen laptops cannot use SODIMM. I really hope that changes though.
And let me be clear here, I’m not exaggerating for effect; I do not mean most of them. I do not mean the vast majority of them. I do not mean practically all of them. I literally mean all of them. 100% of them. Every single one that exists.
AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm do not currently have compatibility with SODIMM on their newest gen mobile CPUs.
I hope that changes, and I expect it eventually will, but as it stands right now, no you cannot have SODIMM modules if you are buying any laptop with the newest gen CPUs.
Well fudge me sideways. Every day is a school day.
They’ve all got LPDDR5, so yeah, you’re unfortunately right. It feels kinda weird having to consider the 7000 and 8000-series last gen already; true as it is, though.
Don’t worry, the latest chips were just built to only handle CAMM2, a new removable RAM standard that replaced SODIMM
It’s a bit confusing though because both soldered and CAMM2 are listed as LPDDR5 on spec sheets, from what I’ve looked at it appears if there’s an x at the end of the LPDDR5 it should be CAMM2
It’s also brand BRAND new, so I’m sure quite a few manufacturers rushed out the door with the new chips just soldering on the RAM because they couldn’t get CAMM2 in it in time for whatever reason