Post #2075660
2026-05-04 16:17 UTC
Replies (2)
-
@aoanla@hachyderm.io 2026-05-04 16:20
@bhtooefr @oddtail yes, as I was getting to with the fairphone post, it's a bit depressing that (especially "thin") laptops are getting increasingly "phone-like" over time. Obviously, yes, it has trade-offs in resilience and manufacturing costs... but I like having hardware you can actually alter *some* parts of!
-
@bhtooefr@snack.social 2026-05-04 16:23
@aoanla @oddtail there's a few reasons I can think of for everything (even, on some laptops, RAM and storage) being soldered down on laptops, FWIW: soldered connections are lower resistance and impedance/capacitance than socket connections. this means higher speeds for lower power consumption. (this is actually why CAMM is replacing SODIMMs in some high-end laptops - it gets you similar speeds to soldered RAM, but a user-serviceable package, by using similar technology to LGA CPUs.) sockets are themselves points of failure, especially when a device is jostled. sockets add thickness and weight. when laptops all used 18650 cells, and the laptop was a minimum of ~20 mm thick not including the screen, that wasn't a problem, but now it is more of a problem. ...and the lack of upgradeability *does* have benefits for the manufacturer, unfortunately.