Is this laptop hiding the future of PC memory?

For those who take a look at the outside of the Dell Precision 7670, you would possibly mistake it for a chunky company laptop computer from 15 years in the past. There’s nothing within the boring gray exterior that signifies it’s hiding know-how which may simply revolutionize the PC market. However crack that sucker open with Gordon within the newest PCWorld video, and also you would possibly simply be shocked at what’s hiding inside.

This laptop computer is likely one of the first fashions in the marketplace to make use of a model new commonplace for reminiscence, CAMM, which we’ve coated in depth when the idea was launched. That stands for Compression Hooked up Reminiscence Module, which replaces the DIMM and SO-DIMM commonplace that’s been utilized in laptops and desktops for many years. The brand new design has just a few benefits. Whereas it’s bodily bigger than a bit of SO-DIMM reminiscence, it’s extra unfold out, permitting for as much as 128GB of reminiscence on a single circuit board.

The reminiscence and connection plate are additionally far, far thinner, with electrical contacts that look extra like a processor socket than a conventional reminiscence slot. That’s an enormous benefit for laptop computer builders, which have been leaning into soldered RAM as an alternative of user-accessible SO-DIMM slots for years simply to avoid wasting just a few millimeters of Z-height. Dell’s design additionally minimizes the bodily distance between the reminiscence and the CPU.

The CAMM design is rather less user-friendly than typical RAM modules, because it requires you to take away six screws and a stiffening plate (at the least on this model) as an alternative of merely popping off a few retention clips. However for anybody who feels snug popping off the again of their laptop computer, it’s nonetheless pretty simple.

Whereas the CAMM system is a Dell patent and technically a proprietary format, the corporate is attempting to work with Joint Electron Machine Engineering Council (JEDEC) to license it as a reminiscence commonplace. Whether or not any of Dell’s rivals can be keen to hop on the bus (har har) stays to be seen. For extra explainers on the newest in PC know-how, be sure you subscribe to PCWorld on YouTube!