One of the most sneaky and at the same time oldest tactics in the world of hardware is the fact of modifying standards to create unique versions that bind the user to the abusive conditions of the brand that makes them. This is what Dell has done with DDR5, that is, the RAM of its laptops. What is the trap that they have made and how does it affect us users?
When we buy a laptop with DDR5 memory and not LPDDR5, the first thing that we are very clear about is that there are expansion capabilities for it and, therefore, we can choose one of the SO-DIMM modules that are on the market. Especially for the future when it is necessary for us to expand said essential memory in the system to gain performance in our daily use.
There is a business model called Razor & Blades, which is based on selling the cheap razor and the expensive razor blades. It is the same model as the printers and ink cartridges. But this does not occur in hardware in general. The problem is that for some time now, aesthetics have been betting on in exchange for going over the standards that have been adopted by the rest of the industry. At the end? Make users jump through hoops so that they pay more for options that do not provide greater value than the standard versions.
Dell is using proprietary DDR5 memory in its PCs
The trend of integrating more and more components into fewer chips has made possible certain industrial designs and thus form factors that were previously impossible. However, although from the headline of the news it may seem that we are facing one of those cases. If not, this time we are faced with an artificial limitation, which will lead to DDR5 upgrading on Dell laptops will be limited.
What is the reason? Dell has created a proprietary variation of DDR5, which is the same in specifications, but with a different form factor. What does this mean? Well, they have created a proprietary PCB that you can only connect its expansion modules and that does not correspond to the classic SO-DIMM. In which teams have they done it? Well, at the moment Dell Dimension Precision Pro 7670. Moreover, the image above these lines corresponds to said DDR5 module owned by Dell. Which they have baptized as CAMM.
Dell’s idea is join all the circuitry of two SO-DIMM modules in a single piece, thereby saving space, but also getting a single piece of hardware that they can control the price of Dell’s proprietary DDR5 modules. Moreover, among the configuration options is the ability to have up to 128 GB of DDR5-4800 memory and at a price that, as you can guess, will not be cheap. Although, for the moment, we do not know the price of the computer and its different configurations. These tactics remind us of Apple’s with the SSD storage memory of its computers, but this time with RAM.
