Meet LPCAMM2, the fast and efficient new laptop RAM of the future

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Apple users, of course, will point out that M3 Max in the highest-end MacBook Pro features an impressive 512-bit wide memory bus with the LPDDR5X chips mounted directly in the CPU package. To do that with LPCAMM2 would require four modules, much more space, and is likely impossible in a thin laptop.

Our dig at Apple, however, is the basic M3 features a 128-bit memory bus which would pair nicely with LPCAMM2. Rather than lock its customers into a miserly 8GB of RAM, adopting this standard could allow MacBook Air or smaller MacBook Pro users to upgrade to, say, one of Micron’s new 32GB LPCAMM2 or a 64GB LPCAMM2 modules which I’m sure every low-RAM MacBook customer would appreciate. Right? Right?!

LPCAMM2 itself has been on a slow burn news cycle for months now. Samsung initially announced it was making LPCAMM modules months before the standard was even released. SK Hynix is also aboard the LPCAMM2 train but Micron gets to toot its horn to be the first out the gate to actually show off working modules in a soon-to-ship laptop.

Repairability-rights advocate iFixit actually got to take apart the Lenovo P1 with the Micron module in a video which you can eyeball here.

It’s actually quite different from Dell’s initial CAMM proposal that we got to finger more than a year and half ago. Dell basically did the homework on CAMM to replace the antiquated 20-year-old SO-DIMM concept and then handed it over to JEDEC to ratify as an industry standard. Dell actually hoped CAMM would support both DDR5 and LPDDR5 but it’s not clear if that vision made it out of the committee.

CAMM turned into CAMM2 as the formal standard and adopted two mounting standards–a stacked design using two single-channel CAMM2 modules, or a single-module design mounting a dual-channel CAMM2 module. From examining JEDEC’s technical documents, the dual-channel features 128-bit using four 32-bit subchannels and looks to possibly be mechanically compatible with LPDDR5X–but it’s not quite clear to us yet. We can say JEDEC’s technical documents indicate CAMM2 modules using a square shape while the LPCAMM2 modules use the smaller notched module you see above.

The future is here!

The important part of the Micron and Lenovo news is we’re finally on the way to replacing SO-DIMMs — and we’re also likely to see a nice improvement in power conservation in laptops that typically don’t receive it.

For example, the ThinkPad P1 is a workstation laptop and usually would be paired with bulkier and more power hungry conventional SO-DIMMs. With Micron’s LPCAMM2, the P1 should provide you with much better standby time and do so without using soldered down, and non-upgradeable RAM which should be celebrated by all.