Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by hammock 2206 days ago
Is it easy to install your own RAM in MacBooks these days? I used to do it all the time 20 years ago and I know times have changed.
3 comments

The RAM has been soldered onto the logic boards for quite a while now. Probably approaching 10 years for the first models without removable RAM.
impossible. It's soldered on the mainboard.
Never say never, sometimes someone with a hot-air workstation could swap chips for denser ones. Never an easy job.
Normal DIMM's have a SPD flash chip soldered to the board which identifies the ram/timing parameters for the firmware/OS. At least on phones, to save a penny they forgo this and frequently the RAM capacity is tied to the model via hardcoded tables in the firmware. It wouldn't surprise me if at least on some of these "laptop" devices with soldered on ram something similar isn't being done.

So, at a minimum your flashing new ram parms to a SPD, or hacking the device model number somewhere. AKA, even with a rework station its likely a lot more than just swapping the chips, if there is sufficient PC/etc linage you might be able to swap the SPD chip as well, otherwise its going to be more than a mechanical heat it up, clean the pads, and drop/heat the new chip.

A lot of Apple hardware is locked down nowadays via hardware identifiers and the T2 security chip; it’s likely the RAM modules are not replaceable by the user even if you had the skill to solder a BGA.
Sure. But I don't consider this be a "user installing their own RAM". That's more of a professional doing a delicate operation.
no Ram or Storage upgrades on Macbooks for many years now.