I know what you're saying. When I bought two Inspiron desktops last year for my parents, Dell's site wouldn't give actual model numbers until you added them to your cart and checked the detailed info button.
Adobe Creative Suite would like a word with you. :^)What are you using this computer for where you need 32+ GB of RAM?
I'm sure there is some software that needs lots of RAM, but the question is what it the OP going to be running on it that needs 32+ GB?Adobe Creative Suite would like a word with you. :^)
Some of the thin laptops can't even be serviced, they are glued together.thin models do not have ram slots, or just having only one... rest is soldered....
The memory controller (MCH, previously handled as part of the Northbridge package) has been folded into the CPU by both Intel and AMD for a very long time, I believe Intel's first was Nehalem, around 2008. My Westmere in my Mac Pro has the on-die MCH as part of the CPU package for example. This appeared in the consumer space with Lynnfield in 2009 (i5/i7). The mobile version was the i7 Clarksfield, based on the same architecture, also launched in 2009.
My Mac is exactly one of those computers with "soft" limits I mentioned earlier. When it was released, the maximum memory was thought to be 32GB. There are guys who have now managed to get 96GB working in the single CPU systems.
Some laptops, I think the vast majority built in the last few years are not RAM upgradeable. They actually solder the ram chips onto the motherboard. That's the case with the one I'm typing on right now which was a (near) top of the line Dell when I bought it. I didn't put as much RAM in it as I could have, because I figured I could always add more later. When I decided it was time to add more I realized that wasn't an option. If your laptop does have socketed RAM, both the CPU and the motherboard could be limiting factors based on how it is set up.
Some of the thin laptops can't even be serviced, they are glued together.
After issues with my laptop this last week, I started looking for a replacement. I was hoping to get it to last another year but at this point I'm not optimistic.
OK, when looking at new units, I am finding it hard to see the max allowable/upgradeable RAM limits, because sometimes the sites don't give the full model number (Dell is notoriously bad for this, giving me only something like "Inspiron 15" that won't let me know a specific model number to look up at crucial.com).
I have always thought that the max allowable RAM was determined by the motherboard. But when I went to the Intel site to compare their chips, they were giving RAM maximums there.
So my question: can I determine the max RAM for my new laptop by simply identifying the CPU and then looking that info up?
Crucial has an app that can tell you what ram is compatible, did you try that?
Unless you have a bunch of tabs open, that’s really high RAM usage. My Asus has 16Gb of DDR4 in it, with Steam, a game, and Firefox streaming music in the background I still struggle to hit 9Gb+. Granted that’s using Windows 10.Just having a web browser open and nothing much else important my computer running windows 11 is using 9gb, 16GB is about the minimum you need in a system these days. I've used an old core2 duo latop with 4gb of ram about a year ago with an SSD running the cut down "embedded industry pro" version of Windows 8.1 and it wasn't' very fast and you couldn't really multi task, it was clearly running very low on ram, maybe you're just very accustomed to the very slow old laptop and if you had to use a newer machine for a few weeks when you went back to the old one you'd see that it's not quite as useable as you think it is.
Although I understand the need for RAM, I must ask WHY the need for these massive amounts of RAM? I'm currently using an ancient HP laptop with a measly 4GB of physical RAM and have my virtual ram set to a minimum of 2500 and a max of 25000 MB. That's using a 250GB SSD which has about 75 gigs of free space.
My system runs flawlessly, other than when it gets extremely hot after extended periods of YT streaming while being starved of airflow as it sits on my lap.
modern OS will use extra ram as file cache.Although I understand the need for RAM, I must ask WHY the need for these massive amounts of RAM?
Not sure why maximum RAM is so important to you, but the amount of RAM is hardly a limiting factor for normal computing needs these days and has been for a while now. 16GB is more than enough and 32GB is overkill, unless the laptop is used for specific tasks like CAD design or video editing. Even gaming doesn't require 32 gigs of RAM. RAM timings and latency are actually quite more beneficial, and even then the gains are very small.
Having said that, I can't imagine a half decent laptop not being able to support 32GB of RAM, unless one is looking at the very cheap models, in which case RAM would be the least of my worries. The only concern to me would be if the RAM is soldered on to the motherboard or not, but realistically speaking, if you get 32GB of RAM, that will be enough for the life cycle of a laptop, so weather it is soldered on or not would not matter to me.