If you buy a laptop today, it will be difficult for you to expand or change its RAM. Most manufacturers solder the modules to the motherboard, so that option is usually enabled as standard.
The funny thing is that Dell has decided to do something about it. They have created a proprietary DDR5 memory module called CAMM with good news and bad news. The good news is that it gives you the option to change it and thus expand that section. The bad news is that the only one who can change it is Dell.
It is not welded, but almost as if it were
A Twitter user nicknamed iGPU Extremist (@Emerald_x86) leaked some screenshots on this network about the Dell Precision 7670, a workstation with a very special feature: its memory.
Instead of the traditional modules, Dell has created the so-called Compression Attached Memory Module (CAMM), a new proprietary format that probably serves to replace the traditional SO-DIMM format.
These modules have two zones with eight integrated circuits in each one of them, and according to Tom's Hardware, that configuration would allow those two zones to function as two dual-channel SO-DIMM modules would.
This type of module seems to allow Dell to simplify the design of its equipment and even make it thinner and lighter, and although it is indeed an interesting implementation in part because it does not use soldered modules, we return to the same problem as always: this type of module owner will prevent the end user from being able to expand or change the memory if they wish.
It is not known if Dell will end up allowing other manufacturers to offer this type of module, but the truth is that many manufacturers solder these modules, although in other models – not so many – they do offer that option. At least we've been largely spared the doom of the 8GB RAM laptops we complained about a while back.
