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Soldered RAM isn't the dealbreaker it used to be
But the laptop market has changed dramatically over the past decade. Modern devices ship with far more memory than they used to, RAM speeds have increased significantly, and many buyers simply never upgrade their laptops anyway. While upgradeable RAM still has clear advantages in some scenarios, soldered memory is no longer the dealbreaker it once was.
Why everyone hated soldered RAM
In fairness, many still do
In the recent past, laptops shipped with limited memory, with budget machines frequently shipping with less than 4GB RAM. Sometimes, it was barely enough for a modern operating system, let alone heavy multitasking or demanding applications. If that RAM was soldered to the motherboard, the laptop was essentially stuck with that limitation for its entire lifespan.
However, in those days, soldered RAM wasn't as common, and upgrading your memory was one of the easiest and cheapest ways to improve performance. You could pop the back off your laptop, install a new RAM module in just a few minutes, and give yourself a nice little performance upgrade. Before the 2025 RAM shortage and subsequent price increases, it was also one of the most cost-effective upgrades, too.
Why soldered RAM isn't a problem anymore
Slimmer, faster, more battery
The first widely adopted laptops with soldered RAM hit the market back in 2012, with that year's MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models becoming the leading hardware using this design. Now, it's found everywhere, especially in premium and ultrabook designs such as the Dell XPS line, various Lenovo laptops, Asus Vivobook and Artbook models, HP EliteBooks, and so on.
You'll note that all the laptops mentioned share one major feature: ultra-thin designs.
That's because soldered RAM is much slimmer than a traditional SO-DIMM module, which requires a socket on the motherboard for connection. Removing the socket and the module cuts down the height required for this, leading to slimmer laptop designs, larger batteries, improved cooling, and better overall performance.
Soldered RAM is typically faster
It's not just about making slimmer devices. Soldered RAM also has significant performance advantages over traditional laptop RAM.
LPDDR stands for low-power double data rate, and is typically always soldered to the board using a ball grid array (BGA) as close to the CPU as possible to cut down on signal transmission and reduce interference. The resulting performance boost between traditional and soldered RAM is considerable:
Memory Type | Typical Speed |
|---|---|
Faster transfer speeds, higher memory bandwidth, and better memory controllers all play into it, but soldered RAM is clearly the faster option.
Modern laptops ship with more RAM
I remember buying my first laptop with 8GB RAM. It felt like an enormous moment. But today, that amount of RAM is basically paltry, with 16GB RAM quickly becoming the de facto standard.
My current laptop has 32GB soldered LPDDR5X 5600MHz RAM, keeping up with hardware trends... and is all the faster for it. While hardware requirements are increasing, 32GB RAM is enough for the foreseeable future, especially for someone like me whose workflow doesn't involve high-quality video editing, modelling, or similar.
For most folks, 16GB RAM is more than enough. Even light creative work, such as photo editing or occasional video editing, runs comfortably within that memory range.
Furthermore, remember the table in the previous section? It's another reason laptops with seemingly smaller amounts of soldered RAM can still perform at a very high capacity. Those speeds continue to increase, adding more bandwidth in the process.
Most folks aren't looking to upgrade, either
Another reality that often gets overlooked in discussions about soldered RAM is that most people simply never upgrade their laptops at all. Even when RAM slots are available, many owners never open their devices or install new components.
Upgradable RAM isn't gone; it's just not as popular
How much RAM should you buy up front?
None of this means upgradeable RAM has become irrelevant. In certain situations, having memory slots is still extremely valuable.
Long-term ownership is one example. If you plan to keep a laptop for five years or more, the ability to expand RAM later can help extend its useful life. Workloads can grow over time, and additional memory can delay the need to replace the entire system.
Specialized workloads also benefit from upgradeable RAM. Tasks such as running multiple virtual machines, software development environments, large datasets, and high-resolution video editing can quickly consume large amounts of memory. In those scenarios, the option to expand to 32GB or 64GB later can be very useful.
Repairability is another concern. If soldered RAM fails, it usually requires replacing the entire motherboard, which can make repairs significantly more expensive. Upgradeable memory modules are generally easier and cheaper to replace.
So, the real question becomes how much RAM does your laptop need?