Soldered RAM is mostly about thinness, not malice.

Both, but mostly thinness and cost.

Sockets take up vertical space and require a bit of board area. Soldering RAM directly saves a couple millimeters and lets manufacturers route the boards more tightly. That matters a lot for ultra-thin laptops and tablets. It also simplifies the supply chain — one less thing to test, one less part to inventory.

But let’s be real: once they decided to solder RAM for those reasons, preventing upgrades became a nice side effect. It locks you into a configuration, which means you’re more likely to buy a new machine or a more expensive spec upfront. That’s not the primary engineering driver, but it’s definitely a business decision that follows naturally.

Thinness is the genuine reason on flagship ultrabooks. On cheaper or thicker models, it’s harder to justify — that’s mostly cost savings and planned obsolescence dressed up as design.

If you want upgradable RAM, buy a thicker laptop or get a desktop.