Part of the reason may be cost, but I think mostly it's to save space. Internally that is a very crowded laptop. Eliminating connectors/slots for many components in favour of soldering them to the board saves space.
It's for two reasons: space saving as noted (you can't build a system as slim as the XPS 13 if you have to account for the depth of a memory socket and soDIMM) and for electrical (RF) emissions issues (soldering the RAM reduces the antenna effect of a socket, reducing the need for shielding and therefore feeding into reason #1). Reason #3 is either the "follow Apple" mantra or the "planned obsolescence" mantra, take your pick; the two overlap.
Expect to see more and more systems come with soldered-in DRAM, not fewer.
Personal opinion is it's built in obsolescence, apple style, times move on more memory is needed and the ability to move from 8gb to 16 gb or similar means that devices that could be upgraded are condemned to be effectively less likely to be re-used. was looking at XPS 13 9305 such as https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09HDC4LVD but now that I know it's not upgradeable, it's a firm no for the XPS 13 series.
filbert
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1.8K Posts
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July 10th, 2022 06:00
Part of the reason may be cost, but I think mostly it's to save space. Internally that is a very crowded laptop. Eliminating connectors/slots for many components in favour of soldering them to the board saves space.
ejn63
10 Elder
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30.7K Posts
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July 10th, 2022 08:00
It's for two reasons: space saving as noted (you can't build a system as slim as the XPS 13 if you have to account for the depth of a memory socket and soDIMM) and for electrical (RF) emissions issues (soldering the RAM reduces the antenna effect of a socket, reducing the need for shielding and therefore feeding into reason #1). Reason #3 is either the "follow Apple" mantra or the "planned obsolescence" mantra, take your pick; the two overlap.
Expect to see more and more systems come with soldered-in DRAM, not fewer.
stuartsmiles01
4 Posts
0
July 10th, 2022 10:00
Personal opinion is it's built in obsolescence, apple style, times move on more memory is needed and the ability to move from 8gb to 16 gb or similar means that devices that could be upgraded are condemned to be effectively less likely to be re-used. was looking at XPS 13 9305 such as https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09HDC4LVD but now that I know it's not upgradeable, it's a firm no for the XPS 13 series.