CAMM memory preview: The Dell SODIMM revolution

[Redaktion]

The pros and cons of CAMM. We take a firsthand look at the technology that Dell has been pouring years of work into to replace SODIMM. If all goes well, future laptops will drop SODIMM altogether much like how M.2 has effectively replaced the 2.5-inch SATA slot.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/CAMM-memory-preview-The-Dell-SODIMM-revolution.658666.0.html

[Husky]

Don't see how this is better than SODIMMs if the connection still has a thick middle piece separating the ram and the motherboard on the Z axis. Effectively takes up the same amount of space. Well-placed SODIMM slots don't even take up much space in the first place. Overall kinda confused why they're spending their time on this other than having more junk to upcharge their business customers for.

[toto1234]

Most consumer laptop use soldered memory anyway.

That leaves high end gaming and workstation laptop, therefore it is just niche product.

[Anonymousgg]

Most consumer laptop use soldered memory anyway.

That leaves high end gaming and workstation laptop, therefore it is just niche product.

If it's better than SODIMM in all the ways that matter to the manufacturers, maybe cheaper laptops can eventually come with CAMM instead of soldered.

[Vadim]

Looks like Dell wants sell more waste. This device large double so-dimm module and haven't any benefit.

[Anonymousgg]

Looks like Dell wants sell more waste. This device large double so-dimm module and haven't any benefit.

Guess you didn't read the article.

[Dom Pedro II]

We've passed the point where thickness matters years ago. There's nothing to gain from making laptops even as thin as some are with SODIMMs

[Joel]

I do think it can be a good alternative. Sure the module is big but it's no different than slapping two SODDIM. But if rate of speed and transmission is as good or surpass SODDIM then it could be a good alternative for laptop RAM. Kinda wanna see where this goes.

[ET1 Gulf War Vet]

If they don't make it an open standard for everyone else to use it is DOA!

[thehinac]

Ultra thin laptops are all surface mount, they're low power and want all the speed they can get for the wattage. Direct surface mount gives you that because of the less EMI and latency. Companies like Apple and Microsoft love this. They don't want you to upgrade. Large companies love planned obsolescence. Microsoft gave the excuse it's because people can Liquid Nitrogen the ram modules then copy the data while in sleep mode. While true how many people are going to do that exactly?
SODIMM is mostly used in Gaming and Mobile Workstations. Where thickness of the laptop doesn't matter at all. With so much horse power that the speed of the system is completely reliant on the thermal solutions used. Even then a lot of companies put lower speed half density one sided SODIMM modules anyways to slow the system down so they meet battery time targets for the laptop anyways.
Because in today's systems being so limited by thermals SODIMM has always been the last thing on laptop makers minds. The ram speed hasn't been the limiting factor. With AMD and Intel doing full bore on thermals now it's probably not going to change anytime soon.
This is like when Intel's thunderbolt was largely rejected when it came out. Wasn't open standard and had large royalties and was brand locked to Intel. While USB4 is planned to replace it now.
Most consumer laptops have small margens, paying royalties for something else at this point would only make sense on business line laptops which are usually way overpriced.

[Luis Wang]

As working for 25 years in this industry, it´s easy to know that if the standard is not open, also, Dell price for their memories were always expensive. This project will die. Don´t think that this move will work and think that the users are stupid enough to use an close standard.

[Joe]

I like the idea of camm.
Yes the module was large, but it was also 128gb, something few people would need and the same as 4 32 gb sodimm modules.
I wouldn't be surprised if there are two sizes, half size and full size so that smaller laptops could use smaller modules. Kind of like atx and itx desktop motherboards.

[Ivy]

In terms of thickness it doesn't seem to be a huge win when compared to a single SODIMM slot as seen in Zephyrus g14. And upgrade path is a bit blurry, does this Precision laptop need a bracket to support a smaller CAMM?

[_MT_]

We've passed the point where thickness matters years ago. There's nothing to gain from making laptops even as thin as some are with SODIMMs

You or I might think so but that doesn't change the fact that manufacturers believe that consumers want thin laptops. The disadvantage of soldered RAM, from manufacturer's standpoint, is that every CPU-memory combination requires a separate motherboard which complicates logistics. CAMM could give them modularity without giving too much leeway to end users (cheap upgrades). Also, if SODIMM really has a hard bandwidth limit, its only a matter of time before it gets obsolete, at least at the higher end. Without a successor, the memory would have to be soldered on all high-end machines.

[_MT_]

Of course, it's entirely possible that the industry will decide to simply solder the RAM, even in large workstations. It seems that some people at Dell believe in modularity, at least for certain models. They demonstrated it before with GPUs. And since there are no readily available standards, they roll their own.