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Uncategorized Wednesday, June 13th 2012 at 11:35 am

The New MacBook Pro’s RAM is Soldered Onto the Motherboard, Cannot be Upgraded

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Unfortunately, like the MacBook Air, the new MacBook Pro line that Apple announced Monday at WWDC 2012 that has everyone abuzz contains RAM that is soldered onto the motherboard, and thus cannot be replaced or upgraded.

This might better explain the 16 GB RAM configuration that everyone’s been so keen to bring up when discussing the new line of Pros. Though we are barreling through time each passing second and computer specs seem to climb higher at a perpetually increasing speed, 16 GB of RAM, especially in a laptop, still seems pretty unnecessary, as half that amount of RAM is still quite a bit and more than enough to handle, for example, modern day high-end gaming. However, since we cannot modify the RAM on our own, it would seem that purchasing the 16 GB RAM model would make more sense if you’re trying to get the longest amount of life possible out of your brand new MacBook Pro, considering you cannot pop the bottom off and throw in some better sticks of RAM when they’re cheaper in a few years from now.

Though this might frustrate would-be purchasers of the new line of Pros, remember, this isn’t exactly foreign territory for Apple products. Sure, the RAM was always the one thing Apple was fine with their customers easily replacing, but think about their line of mobile devices: iPhones and iPods don’t allow us to change the battery, or even provide a slot for an SD card. With the last line of MacBooks (that the Air replaced), Apple required us to pop the entire bottom off in order to even access the battery, whereas the old PowerBook G4 line had a simple battery release that, when turned, would pop the battery out.

It’s been pretty clear for quite some time that Apple hasn’t wanted much to do with third party hardware or storage media being shoved into their units, and the soldered RAM making its way to the Pro line only solidifies that stance. If you want to future-proof your new MacBook Pro as much as possible, it seems like you should probably shell out the extra cash for the maximum amount of RAM.

(via iFixit)

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  • Jack Bond

    But wait, I thought the new Pro came with 8 GB and was expandable to a max of 16 GB.

  • http://twitter.com/IM_SH IMSH

    Before you know it you will have to go to the Apple store to use your device because it will be soldered to a bench there.

  • ezgeez

    I rang Apple in the UK earlier today and was told that, while the Retina model can be  spec’d to 16GB at the factory, the non-Retina 15” models are maxed out at 8GB. I’m surprised this hasn’t attracted more attention as it seems utterly bizarre to me, since the processors are the same.

  • Anonymous

    Apple may not offer the option, but the non retina MacBook Pros can go up to 16gb RAM.

  • http://www.play-this.org/ Elliot S Volkman

    Correct – They can be modded to 16GB. Also it’s cheaper to do that yourself than through Apple.

  • ganymeder

    Or you could opt for a non-Apple product.

  • Jack Bond

    Trust me. Once you go Apple you never go bapple.

  • http://www.facebook.com/xhockwave Joey Melford

    I’m a PC, bitch.

  • Anonymous

    PC all the way. You can build a PC, better than any mac for half the price.

  • Asdf

    If it’s soldered to the motherboard, though, how do you upgrade it? Pay a professional solderer to remove and replace the RAM? so ridiculous.

  • Jack Bond

    But the trackpad will be about 10 times smaller and will freak out if you think about touching it.

  • http://twitter.com/felixwcf Felix Wong

    This article is OUTDATED. The Retina display Macbook Pro’s RAM is modded into motherboard, thus you can only upgrade in Apple store. The rest of the models, you can upgrade by using the normal SODIMM which is available in the market, which is PC#12800 1600 DDR3. Get your facts right before you post it stupid website.

  • Jon

    Hence why Apple is so motivated to find ways of preventing 3rd-party upgrades. Purchasing a ram stick from a local store for $40 instead of $150 from them makes them butthurt. Their reckless greed, attempting to make money the fastest way possible, is already losing them customers. Taking away the possibility to wait a few years on upgrades such as ram/hard drive is a big mistake, according to those that went Mac to SAVE money.  Solid construction and reliability allowed users to enjoy a Mac computer for 5-8 years, but only when we could upgrade the specs along the way without emptying our wallets.

  • http://www.facebook.com/garvey.na Nathan Garvey

    Ok so its soldered in….. where can I get the modules so I can unsolder the old one and solder in new ones?

  • http://www.facebook.com/garvey.na Nathan Garvey

    Solder isnt perminant. Where can I get new modules? I’ll just do a self solder upgrade