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I'm a big fan of the idea of CAMM in general. It's this, or we end up with locked-in amounts of RAM as per things like the M[1-3] Macbooks. The connectors won't
by tech2 3y ago
I'm a big fan of the idea of CAMM in general. It's this, or we end up with locked-in amounts of RAM as per things like the M[1-3] Macbooks. The connectors won't be cheap, so I suspect uptake for laptops might not be so common, but this is a big help for desktops going forward.
- tommiegannert 3y agoThickness seems to be a major selling point here. I wonder why there aren't any board-to-board edge connectors that would allow placing RAM expansion boards next to the motherboard, instead of on top of it. Given how small laptop motherboards are nowadays, it feels like there would be some room for this.
- gbin 3y agoThe issue is that the RAM needs to be close to the CPU and the edge that is the closest to the CPU is probably where designers want to put the cooling exhaust and radiator.
- vladvasiliu 3y agoThat's not always the case. My last three laptops have the RAM hanging off the edge of the mainboard. The SO-DIMM connectors are where the board stops, and there's "nothing" under the modules. The CPU is actually in the middle of the MB, close to the two edges (top and bottom), but the cooling fan and heatsink are to one side, connected via some heat pipes.
- jeffbee 3y agoSO-DIMMs are regular DDR, not LPDDR.
- tech2 3y agoI think that one of the issues with edge-connectors (beyond thickness and distance as mentioned in another comment) is capacitance, which is one reason why CAMM is structured the way it is.
- ksec 3y agoFor something like MacBook Air it would be a problem. But MacBook Pro which has a fan and added thickness, CAMM2 would be about the same thickness.
- sheepshear 3y agoI guess they could make a horizontal DIMM socket.
- seritools 3y agoit's super flat, so maybe on the back of the board? can't make the way to the CPU shorter than that :^)
- Tuna-Fish 3y agoThe biggest selling point is signal integrity and routing length. CAMM(2) is designed to be much better at that than DIMMs, which is why if this ends up being successful we will probably see it (or something similar) on desktop and eventually server too.
- bonki 3y agoWhatever room there is left is used for battery/ies today and I would bet money on that if you asked customers whether they wanted RAM-sockets back or increased battery life the majority would sadly (?) pick the latter.
- GeekyBear 3y agoI agree. LPDDR that no longer has to be soldered onto the motherboard is a great step forward for flexible memory options in laptops.
- jacooper 3y agoI doubt apple is going change it's approach when CAMM2 arrives, they soldered memory even before ddr5.