"Buyer beware: Just like in the MacBooks Air and Retina, the RAM in the XPS 13 is soldered to the motherboard, and cannot be replaced. When you're picking out your new laptop, configure what you think it'll need...forever." - https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Dell+XPS+13+Teardown/36157#s...
I don't think you can really avoid it when trying to pack everything as densely as possible. A few years down the road, I believe, an SoC will probably contain not only the CPU, graphics, audio, etc., but also RAM. Probably stacked onto the CPU connected with through-silicon vias. All you'll see in an ifixit teardown is a single chip made entirely from nanoscale silicon structures. There'll be nothing a user can even see. The upside, however, is that such a level of integration gives you a power advantage, a price advantage and a size advantage.
Just recently, when Broadwell was released, Intel boasted how small their chips have become. This is necessary to make the as-thin-as-possible design of Ultrabooks and it's a trend that's not going to go away because having an Ultrabook in your bag is so much better than any other kind of laptop.
I don't really know how it would be possible to make an Ultrabook at that size still modular like a tower PC.
> I don't really know how it would be possible to make an Ultrabook at that size still modular like a tower PC.
Nobody is asking for that, notebook CPU and GPU haven't been replaceable in years, and peripherals or the PSU are very much non-replaceable. Being able to replace the SSD (still possible so far through new-ish low-profile formats) and RAM (less and less possible these days) is not even remotely close to "modular like a tower PC", it's barely two steps above from "as unmodular as a cell phone".
I like the power and price advantage of paying only the retail price for storage and memory upgrades and installing them on my own. Size is a very distant third, and mostly a cosmetic issue at this point.
You may be right about the long-term trend (but I hope not). In the short term my annoyance at this has me considering something other than a Macbook Pro as my next machine, which I never would have believed if you'd told me it a few years ago.
Actually, the price (for the OEM) of buying completely integrated components is lower than buying separate ones. However, OEMs don't like to show that to customers. So each step in upgrading RAM or SSDs or whatever is worth $100 or more, which makes it way cheaper to just buy separate components...
I'm envious of your attitude for not really caring about your laptop's size. That makes it a lot easier :)
> I'm envious of your attitude for not really caring about your laptop's size.
Well, it's not that I don't care at all, but I'd much prefer an up-to-date processor, GPU, etc in a 2011 13" MBP chassis - with the ability to expand RAM & storage - over the slimmer MPB "retina" offerings.
The Ars review included a similar remark:
> The year is 2015. 8GB of RAM should be the baseline, with 16GB as an option. 4GB is barely enough to run Chrome.
but noted that the CPU supports 16GB, so unless the RAM is soldered you can reach 16GB aftermarket.