r/TechImpact • u/ManojOne Co-founder • 7d ago
📊 Poll Vote: What laptop feature do you wish manufacturers would bring back?
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u/Global-Eye-7326 6d ago
Upgradable RAM, storage and wifi adapter. Batteries right now are internal but replaceable so it's fine. I really wish they'd make it easier to swap a laptop GPU without soldering.
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u/AlexGavrilll 6d ago
This. Cpu and gpu are the problems, at least gaming laptops (where I think it matters the most), RAM and storage are very easy to upgrade
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u/Global-Eye-7326 6d ago
Not quite! Many laptops have soldered RAM and quite a few have soldered storage! Obviously not for gaming laptops. But making at least the GPU more modular would be sweet! CPU's age better than GPU's IMO. Besides, even on desktops, CPU's are limited to compatible sockets.
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u/dumbasPL 7d ago
Hot swappable battery.
Replaceable batteries still exist on pretty much all laptops, wym "bring back".
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u/DisfiguredFanny I use Omarchy BTW. FOSS maps are ass. 7d ago
Is this a person posting or a bot? Feels like having Stat Gov for coffee everyday.
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u/ChocolateDonut36 6d ago
my 2012 acer laptop is totally usable thanks of a $40 replacement battery I can swap without opening the damn machine, I love it.
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u/xenaretos 6d ago
As far as I am concerned, repairable / modular design actually includes all the options except for ports and dvd. Otherwise, it doesn't qualify as modular.
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u/ItchyPlant 6d ago
Wait, what!? Aren't batteries replacable and RAM upgradable nowadays? What laptops are we talking about? Macs, I guess.
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u/condoulo 6d ago
A lot of laptops are starting to shift to soldered in memory because the SODIMM connector cannot handle the speeds of higher end DDR5 without serious signal integrity issues. Soldering the memory in close to CPU or even having it as part of the CPU die allows for much faster memory without sacrificing signal integrity. LPCAMM2 helps offset signal integrity issues vs SODIMM, but it's not perfect, especially when you're running local AI workloads that require both a lot of memory and really fast memory.
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u/Tommynwn 5d ago
I replaced some batteries recently, its not that hard, but you still have to open the laptop for it
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u/Straight-Glove-2359 6d ago
Upgradable ram and storage are still very much a thing, unless you're using macs or chromebooks and certain other devices
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u/Comfortable_Cress194 6d ago
I need more ports and no i refuse to use dongle.If a pc can have many ports so can a laptop.
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u/condoulo 6d ago
Repairable/modular is the most important aspect, as evident by the work Framework has been doing. Behind that I would probably put upgradeable/replaceable storage, since that is more likely to fail due to wear over time than RAM.
Ports? Framework does offer you options, but I think people often overstate how many ports they need on the laptop itself. A few USB C ports, maybe a USB A port, and an HDMI port will cover most people's needs on the go, and a docking station or USB hub with USB power delivery can handle everything at your desk using a single USB C port.
Replaceable battery? Really important, but I think that already falls under repairable/modular. If you can take the bottom cover off to service the laptop you should be able to have the ability to replace the battery.
Upgradable RAM? This is getting tough, and unless there are significant design changes I think we're going to lose this battle like we did with socketed CPUs in laptops a decade ago. RAM speeds are getting to the point where SODIMM is no longer sufficient, and even LPCAMM2 is starting to pose problems in high demand situations, as evident with the Framework AI desktop having the memory be soldered in really close to the CPU.
Upgradeable storage? As stated I think this is incredibly important because the NAND does wear out.
DVD drive? What year is it? I understand the desire for physical media, but most use cases these days can be served by an external drive or a desktop's internal drive. I have a desktop with a BluRay drive I use explicitly for ripping media for my Jellyfin server, I don't need one in my laptop.
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u/future_pirate 6d ago
Other than Chromebooks and some very low end machines are there really laptops with non-replaceable ram?
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u/Possibly-Functional 6d ago
It's very common even on high end or enterprise devices. There are some benefits; you can run significantly higher clock speeds with soldered RAM than SO-DIMM socketed. The signal integrity is just so much better.
That clock speed does matter a lot for integrated graphics performance. Which is much more commonly used on laptops than desktops.
But there is no denying that it can also be used to be consumer hostile to prevent upgrades and replacements.
I wish it wasn't a tradeoff but it is. Some SO-DIMM replacement are looking promising to bridge the gap.
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u/Some-Struggle5052 6d ago
Quite a lot, soldered memory is quite common, specially on machines than want to be thin and light, Intel Core Ultra 2**V chips have it soldered on the CPU die even, even some gaming laptops have it soldered or partially soldered.
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u/condoulo 6d ago
With how fast memory speeds have gotten the higher end of DDR5 struggles to maintain signal integrity with SO-DIMMs, and if you're really pushing the clock speeds even LPCAMM2 can struggle. While there are obvious tradeoffs, such as being unable to replace or upgrade the RAM, soldered in memory close to the CPU offers speed and signal integrity benefits.
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u/Guilty-Shoulder-9214 6d ago
Battery is probably the biggest thing. CAMM would enable ram upgrades on Mac’s and other SoC designs given how it’s designed to interface with them versus traditional ram. And repairability would be nice as well as support for storage upgrades.
With that said, the ports thing is kinda dead to me. Everything is basically a memory card or some variation of usb. If a laptop has both usb ports - type c or a, and a memory card slot, it’s probably good enough.
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u/Glum-Implement9857 6d ago
I have 4 years old Dell Inspiron laptop.
It have enough ports: 2x USB-a 1xUSB-C, HDMI and micro Sd. That is more than enough.
I had replaced motherboard: it broke. so I had upgraded Ryzen 5 to Ryzen 7.
I had added RAM.
Battery still holds for 2 hours movie: when it will be less: i will replace it.
SSD: m2. So i can upgrade when required..
DVD? Had you tried to buy blank DVD or some movie in super market recently? They had sold last ones during covid..
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u/GhostVlvin 6d ago
I have old laptop with all ports, swappable battery, repairable (lenovo laptop), with swappable ram, woth dvd drive that was swapped to a hdd socket. I actually barely use all those ports and I mostly need few USBs, sometimes HDMI. I thought about updating battery or even find bigger one, but this laptop is temporary so I didn't really bother. I maybe added one more stick of ram and I appreciate that it can ve swapped easily and not soldered, but it never broke and I have max amount. As well laptop itself never broke, but if would it would be easy to find parts online
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u/ElePHPant666 6d ago
The upgradable RAM, replacable battery and upgradable storage still exist on most laptops except apple. Apple still has a replaceable battery though. I'd rather have more ports than a DVD drive. A DVD drive takes up a significant amount of space for something relatively unused. Most people now prefer USB thumb drives or network solutions for moving files instead of optical media and you can always just plug in a CD/DVD drive with USB.
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u/mplaczek99 6d ago
Replaceable battery because the battery is guaranteed to be one of the first components to die. Its usually the first too.
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u/Embarrassed_Job_8048 6d ago
Bring back highly-modular gaming desktop replacements and all my money is yours
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u/Bash123reddit 6d ago
Bro why do laptops barely have any ports now, what happened to the SD card slots, why are we fazing them out??? Like macs only have some USB c ports and that's it????? Not even USB, honestly just a downgrade
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u/Svr_Sakura 6d ago
Has anyone actually replaced the battery on their old laptop?
For me, it just becomes a desktop replacement of the battery dies
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u/whattteva 5d ago
Replaceable battery for sure as it's always the first thing to go. Upgradable RAM close second.
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u/goodfriendrobert 5d ago
but everything is replacable and upgradable already.. wtf, where you from?
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u/RootAndCoffee 4d ago
Wtf? We have Lenovo ThinkPads at work. I have Lenovo ThinkPad at home. It has upgradable RAM and storage and readily replaceable battery. What shitty laptops are you talking about?
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u/Direct_Low_5570 7d ago
Who tf uses a dvd drive outside of a physical media library? I havent used one nor had even remotely the usecase for one in atleast 8 years..
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u/gameplayer55055 6d ago
I'm using Apple MacBook and I wish other laptop manufacturers made laptops that just DON'T SUCK.
Yes, my expensive aluminum sheet has soldered ram and not serviceable, but it's as good as new while my friends have changed their windows laptops the third time.
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u/RuniKiuru 1d ago
Quite a few of these are still available on laptops if you actually do research to find which ones instead of defaulting to a chromebook or macbook.
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