How the RAM Upgrade Data Is Built
Where the data comes from
Every specification is derived from linuxhw/DMI, a public corpus of dmidecode hardware reports contributed by Linux users, licensed CC-BY-4.0. We pin a specific upstream commit (57b21bc6fd) so results are reproducible. This snapshot was generated on 2026-07-09 and covers 3,284 published models out of 12,711 grouped.
We do not scrape memory manufacturers’ compatibility databases. Where we needed to confirm an individual model, we read the manufacturer’s own published spec sheet by hand.
How we decide “soldered”
A model is soldered if its memory devices report a form factor of Row Of Chips, or a memory type beginning with LPDDR. The second test matters: some laptops report their soldered LPDDR4 memory as a DIMM, so form factor alone misses them.
Two numbers that look alike and are not
A machine’s BIOS reports a Maximum Capacity. On a laptop with slots, that is the upgrade ceiling. On a laptop with soldered memory, it is merely the largest configuration that model was sold in — not something you can upgrade to. Conflating the two is the single easiest way to tell someone to buy memory that cannot physically fit, so we store and present them as separate fields.
Likewise, the reported Number Of Devices is a slot count only on a socketed machine. On a soldered one it counts soldered chips. A ThinkPad X1 Carbon reports two devices and has zero slots.
When we refuse to answer
We publish a model only when at least five independent reports agree at 90% or better. Where reports contradict each other — usually because one marketing name covers several different hardware configurations — we withhold the answer rather than guess. Those models are still searchable; they simply tell you we could not verify them.
What this data does not know
- Whether a specific stick is validated for your machine. We answer capacity, slots, and upgradeability — not per-part compatibility.
- LPCAMM2, a new socketed LPDDR5 standard, can look soldered to our rule. Affected models should fall out as low-confidence rather than be mislabelled, but treat any LPDDR5 verdict with care.
- Coverage is uneven. Reports come from people running Linux, which over-represents business laptops and under-represents consumer lines.
- The upstream corpus is a snapshot. A laptop released after it was captured will not appear.