DDR5 memory: 48 GB SO-DIMM modules are coming, upgradable laptops profit

These days, there is a clear dividing line in the laptop market: Upgradable laptops that have at least a single SO-DIMM socket for expandable memory, and laptops where the RAM is completely soldered. Soldered memory has conquered more devices in the last few years, but upgradable RAM still hangs on. Laptops typically have either one, two or sometimes four sockets.

Up until now, this meant that a device with one socket could take up to 32 GB in that socket. A notebook with two sockets was capable of taking in 64 GB, and a four socket laptop, which often are thick and heavy workstations, topped out at 128 GB. These numbers were in place because of the size of the SO-DIMM modules, the biggest ones measured 32 GB in capacity - those came out a few years ago in the DDR4 era.

We are safely in the DDR5 era now and the future of SO-DIMM looks shaky. The industry has recently approved a revised version of the CAMM standard designed to replace SO-DIMM, which could lift many of the technical limitations of SO-DIMM.

Still, there appears to be some life left in the old standard. Recently, Lenovo announced their new workstation ThinkPads of the P series, like the new Lenovo ThinkPad P16v. The curious thing about this model and the other workstations Lenovo announced: The maximum amount of RAM is listed at 96 GB in the spec sheet. Such a weird number could be achieved by combining a hypothetical 64 GB module and a 32 GB module - or by using two 48 GB modules.

The appearance of 48 GB SO-DIMM modules means that every DDR5 laptop with a socket will soon be able to be upgraded to a larger memory capacity - 48 GB for single socket models, 96 GB for dual socket notebooks and 192 GB for the big workstation kind. An example of an upgradable DDR5 laptop from 2022 is the HP EliteBook 840 G9, which was originally sold with a maximum of 64 GB of RAM. With two 48 GB modules, up to 96 GB should be possible for this model.