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Laptop Upgradability in 2026: Which Laptops Still Let You Add RAM/Storage

September 22, 2026 · Burooj

Soldered RAM has spread across the laptop market, but storage often remains upgradeable even when RAM isn't. Here's what to check before buying.

Soldered RAM and, increasingly, soldered or non-standard storage have spread across a growing share of the laptop market, making the question of which laptops still let you upgrade after purchase a genuinely important buyer-protection issue rather than a niche enthusiast concern.

Why Soldered Components Have Spread

Soldering RAM and sometimes storage directly to the motherboard allows manufacturers to build thinner chassis designs and can offer minor power efficiency benefits over swappable modules, which has driven adoption particularly in thin-and-light and ultraportable laptop categories. This is a genuine engineering tradeoff, not purely a cost-cutting move, but the practical effect for buyers is the same regardless of the manufacturer's underlying motivation: the RAM configuration you buy is often the RAM configuration you're stuck with.

What Typically Remains Upgradeable

Storage, specifically the M.2 NVMe SSD, remains upgradeable on a meaningfully larger share of laptops than RAM does, even in thin-and-light designs where RAM is soldered, since storage modules don't face the same signal integrity constraints that have driven RAM soldering. This means a laptop with soldered RAM isn't necessarily locked down entirely; checking storage upgradeability specifically, separate from RAM, is worth doing rather than assuming one implies the other.

RAM is usually soldered while the M.2 storage slot usually stays openWhat is still a slot, and what is notRAM, increasingly solderedfixed to the boardSignal integrity at current speeds, plus thinnerchassis, is what drove this. The effect on you isthe same whatever the reason: what you buy is what you keep.M.2 storage, usually still a slotremovableStorage does not face the same constraint, so itsurvives even in thin-and-light designs where thememory is soldered down.So a soldered-RAM laptop is not necessarily a sealed one. Buy the RAM you will still want inthree years, and treat the drive as the part you can fix later.

Why This Matters More as Software Grows

As baseline RAM needs for comfortable everyday use have crept upward, a laptop purchased with a RAM configuration that felt adequate at the time can become genuinely constraining years into ownership, and a soldered design means there's no path to address that short of replacing the laptop entirely. This makes getting the RAM configuration right at purchase time more consequential than it was when upgrading later was a viable fallback option.

What to Actually Check Before Buying

Check a specific laptop model's teardown or manufacturer specifications for whether RAM and storage are soldered or socketed before buying, rather than assuming based on general product category. If RAM is soldered, buy for your needs several years out rather than your current needs, since there's no upgrade path to fall back on later.

Winner

Check upgradability model by model rather than assuming based on laptop category. If RAM is soldered on your target laptop, treat the purchase-time configuration as permanent and buy accordingly.

Pros and Cons

Laptops with upgradeable RAM and storage: Provide a genuine upgrade path if your needs grow, protecting your purchase against future software demands.

Laptops with soldered RAM: Often thinner and sometimes more power efficient, but require buying the right configuration upfront since there's no upgrade path later.

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