bigstrat2003 2 hours ago

While it's true that you can get better performance out of soldered memory than a socket, that's also not why vendors use it. Desktop computers, with their very much not soldered memory, get great performance after all. The laptop vendors solder the memory because it lets them make more money off selling units with more memory soldered in. That's all.

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Animats 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's partly a thickness problem. Sockets add height to boards.

Besides, since RAM isn't getting cheaper for a while, this isn't a big issue now.

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crote an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> Besides, since RAM isn't getting cheaper for a while, this isn't a big issue now.

I would argue the exact opposite, actually! My home machine has 32GB of RAM and is already over 7 years old. If it were to die right now I'd ideally go for an upgrade with 64GB so it would be good for another 7 or so. But that's completely unaffordable, and I could survive with 16GB for a year or two, so going for the bare minimum now and upgrading it later is looking very attractive...

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askvictor an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Are any customers asking for a laptop that is 1 or 2mm thinner?

	▲	vladvasiliu an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I don't know if they're asking for them, but they sure seem to appreciate them and see them as "better". At work, the standard issue laptop is some form of HP Elitebook. These have been getting thinner, and people seem to like that. We're not a tech shop, and even the IT dept. is mainly barely-technical project-managers. An 8th gen i5 would be plenty powerful for what they do, but fortunately for them we have to replace the laptops regularly because for some reason we buy them with the least amount of RAM possible (even before the prices exploded). Anyway, at the start of the year I was fed up with the ridiculous screen quality of the HPs and other annoyances, so I got myself an Lenvo p14 something-or-other. It's almost twice as thick and much heavier than the HPs, and everyone who sees it makes fun of it.

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dist-epoch an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

That's not all.

"Smartphone makers glue them because it's cheaper and they can make more money ..." No. It's what the consumers want. Thinner phones, water resistant phones, and thinner laptops.

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crote an hour ago | parent [-]

I can't recall the last time someone mentioned a phone or laptop being too thick as a downside in a review. Thin and light devices have been widely available for well over a decade, even to the point of caricature like the iPhone Air. It just isn't a feature worth caring about anymore.

Water resistant? Those ratings are lies anyways, and nobody is going to bring their expensive smartphone on a diving trip to take pictures - or even take it surfing without a waterproof case. In practice "water resistant" means "won't die from an occasional splash", and that can be achieved perfectly fine by repairable phones.

	▲	vladvasiliu an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		People seem to care about "thin and light" laptops, at least my colleagues do. But since they don't pay for these out of pocket, I can't tell how important it is to them, measured in currency. Now, I don't know about surfing, but I regularly strap my iphone to my motorbike's handlebars to use as a GPS. No case. I don't particularly enjoy doing this under pouring rain, but it does happen, and the phone gets drenched. However, to the point about people wanting this, yes, I do. I would also love a replaceable battery. My old Galaxy S5 had both features, so saying that waterproofing means non-user-replaceable battery is a lie.
	▲	dist-epoch 12 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I'm washing my expensive flagship phone with water and soap every week, for almost a decade now. Never had a problem because of this (except the USB port getting disabled for a few hours until it dries).