Can you still add memory to a laptop?

Key numbers

Laptop models

14,585, with firmware from 2005 to 2024

All memory in slots

91% of all models; 75% of models from 2020 on

Soldered plus a slot

1% of all models; 4% from 2020 on

All soldered

8% of all models; 22% from 2020 on

Most socketed, 2020 on

MSI: 90% of 313 models keep all memory in slots

Most soldered, 2020 on

LG: 84% of 75 models have it all soldered

Download the yearly table: laptop-memory.csv (CC BY 4.0, credit PCUpgradeDex and the Linux Hardware Database).

Method and limits

Each laptop model on PCUpgradeDex rests on hardware reports that owners sent to the Linux Hardware Database (CC BY 4.0). The firmware's memory table says, for every machine, which memory sits in a slot and which is soldered to the board. A model counts here when its reports agree on one layout (how we check). The year is the earliest firmware date seen for the model, so a model sold for several years sits in its first year.

The reports come from people who run Linux, so business laptops, gaming laptops and older machines are over-represented and the cheapest and newest models under-represented. The shares describe laptop models in the reports, not laptops sold. Memory soldered plus one slot is counted on its own because it can still be added to, up to the slot's limit.

Some firmware reports soldered memory as if it sat in a slot. Those machines land in the "in slots" group, so read "in slots" as an upper limit and "all soldered" as a lower one: the real share of soldered memory is somewhat higher than shown.

Updated 11 Nov 2026. Cite as: PCUpgradeDex, "Can you still add memory to a laptop?", pcupgradedex.com/studies/laptop-memory/.