Soldered RAM is not worth the slimness.

Much harder. In fact, usually impossible unless you’re a microsoldering wizard with a hot air station and a steady hand.

Thin ultrabooks (think XPS, MacBook Air, Surface Laptop) solder the RAM directly to the motherboard. There are no slots, no clips, no upgrade path. What you buy is what you get forever. If you later need 32GB, you’re buying a whole new laptop.

Gaming laptops are the opposite. Most still use standard SO-DIMM slots behind a panel on the bottom. Pop the cover, slide out the old sticks, click in new ones. Takes five minutes and a screwdriver. Even some thicker “productivity” laptops (like a ThinkPad T series) keep the slots.

So if you’re choosing between a sleek ultrabook and a slightly thicker gaming laptop and future upgradeability matters, the decision is easy. The extra millimeter of thickness is a tiny price for not being stuck with your original RAM choice forever.

Future-you will thank present-you for going with the one that has slots.