Upgradeable laptop memory is back – and a ThinkPad gets this RAM module first

Remember when you could upgrade the RAM in your laptop? As manufacturers moved to thinner and lighter setups, they shifted from RAM modules that fit into sockets on the board to modules soldered directly to the motherboard.

This means if you want to upgrade the RAM, or have some problem with it, you are out of luck and have to buy a new laptop.

That’s good for laptop makers, but bad for customers’ wallets

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Hopefully, this will be changing soon with the introduction of LPCAMM2 — RAM modules that are not only upgradable but provide a raft of other benefits.

Let’s begin with how easy it is to remove and replace an LPCAMM2 module: All you need is a Phillips screwdriver to loosen the three captive screws that cannot be lost, lift the old RAM module out, pop in the new one, and tighten up the screws.

Simple!

The design offers a 64% space saving compared to DDR5 SODIMMs, making it perfect for modern laptop designs.

LPCAMM2 utilizes LPDDR5X memory, which consumes up to 58% less active power and provides up to 80% savings in system standby power compared to DDR5 SODIMMs — a significant reduction in power usage.

On the performance front, users will experience speeds of up to 7,500MT/s, which is 1.3 times faster than DDR5 SODIMM. This improvement is possible, in part, because a single LPCAMM2 module fills all 128 bits of the CPU bus width, enabling it to better handle AI workloads. According to synthetic benchmarks using PCMark 10, it will offer up to a 7% performance boost for digital content creation workloads and improve productivity workloads by up to 15%.

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The good people over at iFixit have a teardown of the ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 the first laptop to ship with LPCAMM2. The teardown shows just how easy it is to upgrade the RAM in the unit. 

LPCAMM2 is available in 32GB and 64GB densities exclusively through Crucial and comes with a limited lifetime warranty.