[ac29]

> Especially when you look at high end (g)DDR5 frequencies for APUs and what Apple is cooking with the Mx chips. There's no way you can easily get that using DIMM slots, so soldering it is.

Apple's latest M3 processors use LPDDR5-6400. There are systems with socketed memory that do DDR5-6400, so I am not sure what you are talking about. In the server space, Intel's latest Xeons support MRDIMMs at 8800MT/s, which is even faster.

[rangestransform]

M3 Max has 8 memory channels, where are you going to put 8 SODIMM slots in a laptop?

Also LPDDR has lower power requirements than DDR

[ac29]

Yeah, this is where Apple has an advantage. It doesnt use special RAM, but what it does do is give you more than 2 channels in a laptop (on Pro/Max/Ultra).

LPDDR5 does use less power than DDR5, but what I was specifically referring to is the claim that Apple gets higher frequencies than you could get with slotted memories. This isnt true.

[Rinzler89]

Interesting. Is there any comparisons on the difference in latencies at which those memories operate? I assume Apple's memory operates at lower latency due to it being directly on the CPU package rather than in a socket on the motherboard.

[ac29]

I'm not sure if Apple is able to run tighter timings with on package memory. Maybe?

The main advantage I am aware of with on package RAM is lower power consumption. Shorter traces means the memory controller PHY uses less power.