In recent years PC makers had two choices when it came to laptop memory. They could include SODIMM slots with support for user-replaceable DDR memory or LPDDR memory which typically uses less power and takes up less space, effectively trading repairability and upgradeability for longer battery life and/or more compact designs.
Now LPCAMM2 has arrived to offer the best of both worlds.
Companies including Samsung and Micron have tapped into the new CAMM2 memory standard to affix LPDDR memory to a removable card, making it possible to get the benefits of LPDDR memory without sacrificing the ability to upgrade or repair a laptop. And now the first LPCAMM2 modules are available for purchase… although their appeal will likely remain limited for a while.
Last month Lenovo announced that its new ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 mobile workstation would be the first laptop to support LPCAMM2 memory. The 16 inch notebook isn’t available for purchase yet, but now you can buy the memory that Lenovo is using.
Micron says the Crucial LPCAMM2 memory that it unveiled earlier this year is now available in two configurations:
Those prices aren’t exactly cheap… but spending a few hundred dollars on replacement RAM could be a lot cheaper than replacing an expensive laptop due to a memory failure. And hopefully prices will fall in the coming years if and when more PC makers adopt LPCAMM2.
Micron says its new memory modules use 58% less active power than DDR5 memory, and up to 80% less standby power. With support for speeds up to 7500 MT/s, LPDDR5 memory is also up to 34% faster than DDR5-5600 memory. And measuring just 74.9 x 34 x 9.3mm, the LPCAMM2 modules take up 64% less space than two SODIMMs of DDR5 memory.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that it’s still early days for the LPCAMM2 standard. At this point there’s only a single laptop that uses LPCAMM2 memory. There’s only one memory manufacturer making the modules. And right now that company only offers 32GB and 64GB modules.
Eventually we could see 16GB or 128GB modules, but they aren’t available yet. And we could also see modules with support for even faster speeds: Micron says its LPCAMM2 modules should theoretically support for up to 9600 MT/s.
Will it be possible to place two such LPCAMM2 modules in notebooks? Is this not possible?
There’s no reason besides physical constraints, but also it’s worth noting that a single module does provide dual channel so the only real world gain you’d see from stuffing more modules in a laptop is just capacity since A. quad channel memory support isn’t really a thing in any laptop form factor and B. doesn’t really matter for the workloads a laptop would be doing.
I think this is a good move. If we can return to the days of laptops with upgradable memory, we will keep more electronics out of the landfills. I hope the new “standard” sticks!
I’m sorry, but I need to say this is meaningless and stupid for laptops in particular.
Firstly, anything non-soldered means bigger size. Yes there is a certain maniacal fruit company that loves making non-repairable devices based on that logic but there’s also a point, or several points:
1) If “future upgrade” seems logical – it does and will not. If you buy a laptop with too little memory then it’s a bad purchase. If you upgrade it then you waste the older memory AND it’s assumed you’re capable of doing that. In my 20+ years of building desktops as a hobby I was always the “PC weirdo” who knew how to do basic plug and play off the shelf components… most people don’t, and won’t bother.
2) So okay, you are competent and there’s a reason why you do it. What in today’s ever-changinh standards is very true is that every couple of years there comes a new standard: new memory class/speed, new connectoe of some sort, new chipset, new processor with corresponding socket/chipset, new processor achitecture (ARM PCs are breathinh down x64’s neck as we speak!). So do you want to upgrade the machine you should have bought with bigger/faster memory and waste money that way, or can you hold on to your shorts and wait until some new standard of something gets to the market and spend your money on something actually faster?
3) Last issue – now here a completely new form factor was introduced. Yet. Another. Standard. Just as we once and for all dumped everything and your momma when it comes to cables and settled for USBC/TB imagine if you’d have some new useless shit standard… looking at you, OcuLink, and your ilk. Do you or does the market need more or less standards? Does it nees more or less complexity? At the very least “old” laptop memory vs boards are backwards compatible. And here a niche standards is out to please a niche crowd.
Main issue with laptop upgrades was “what to do with the old hardware”. First gen Framework solved it pretty nice, with an option to repurpose old board as small desktop PC, or sell it to someone who wants to repurpose it. GPU expansion on their 16″ model looks awful though.
So, if they could now make their boards smaller, it will fit more form factors, like tablet and handheld formats. Currently, memory modules take a lot of space, so this new form factor should allow board to be small small enough for tablets. Another part that should be upgradable is SSD, and M.2 is already very small. As for GPU I’m after external solutions there, since its, as you said, too limited with connectors and thermal design to be inside laptop.
And there is no issues with new standard for memory modules as well. Remember SIMM memory, DIMM, DDR2/3/4? They all different. No issues with having new physical standard if technology is not compatible anyway.
I agree on OcuLink to some degree though, due to lack of hot plug. It maybe nice was to connect GPU docks, but not very useful for portable devices.
“In my 20+ years of building desktops as a hobby I was always the “PC weirdo” who knew how to do basic plug and play off the shelf components… most people don’t, and won’t bother.”
I think you underestimate the general public, and there’s a big grey area between “completely uninterested” and “PC weirdo”.
e.g. until a year ago, I didn’t know how to build a PC with off-the-shelf components, or much about PC hardware at all. But before then, I could still do simple jobs, like replacing my old laptop’s failed battery, or removing its optical drive and putting a 2.5″ SSD in its place (with a bit of duct tape to stop it rattling about).
Also, device repair stores exist. Most people don’t have the tools to replace a smashed smartphone screen, failed USB port, etc. So they’ll pay someone else to do it. Of course, sone people are rich enough to just buy a new phone. Or the replacement parts may be so expensive that they might as well buy a new phone. But those repair stores evidently manage to stay in business.
Someone can take their slow laptop to a store. They might not be confident opening it up, or may lack the necessary fine motor control. Or they may only suspect the problem is too little RAM based on some googling. Then the store can figure out the cause, whether it be excessive paging/thrashing from too little RAM, malware, a corrupted filesystem, or just outdated hardware. Hopefully they’ll be honest and not sell the customer an unnecessary RAM upgrade. But that’s not too different from the current situation, where Apple (and increasingly, other manufacturers) overcharge for extra soldered RAM that the customer may never need.
Unfortunately, CAMM2 will add some cost vs just soldering to the motherboard, so very price-sensitive shoppers will stick with budget, unupgradable junk. Even if they end up paying more in the long run, as with Sam Vimes’s “boots theory” in the Discworld novels.
Like I said it’s “doable” vs “do you bother?”. I know… just a small handful of people who bother.
And a non-trivial example: I have 5 laptops and 3 tablets lying around. None of them can get latest Windows due to the retarded “lock” windows has on “outdated” hardware, and even if I go ahead and put Linux on them they are a) slower than a modern phone, b) have pathetic battery life, c) have old screens with either “pre-retina” pixel density and/or bad color gamut, so bad even colorblind me can see it’s s***, and d) are just too slow for even menial tasks not to mention anything serious like video compression etc.
So like I said: doable – yes, but to do it there has to be a clear advantage. And the advantage is not clear enough, especially if for every say 5 years the new gadget (be it phone, tablet, laptop, dekstop etc) outpaces the “old” so much you feel like you downgrade from a premium machine to a casio calculator.
I guess to each his own, but me personally I don’t bother. The last major build I did was a gaming desktop about 2 years ago, still runs like a clock and exactly zero upgrades needed. If and when the time comes I won’t even keep the cabinet… the entire machine will be built anew.
Sounds like a lot of bellyaching over an objectively good thing happening in the laptop space. Do you kvetch professionally?