If you have fond memories of being able to upgrade your laptop's components, I'm here to tell you that I'm right there with you. Except, in 2026, my view on that has changed, and I totally understand why companies stopped building user-upgradable laptops—and that's okay.
Upgrading laptops used to be a requirement
They just never shipped with enough RAM or storage
I still remember buying my first 13-inch MacBook Pro in 2012. It was the pre-Retina model, which means it had a CD drive and a spinning platter hard drive as well as user-upgradable RAM. Just a few months later, the non-upgradable Retina version came out, and I was very happy to still have my non-Retina 2012 model.
Why was I happy to not have the latest? I was able to buy a base model MacBook Pro and then upgrade it myself. I added more storage, I upgraded the RAM, and I even replaced the disk drive with a second hard drive for even more storage—all things that the new non-upgradable Retina model wouldn't allow me to do.
Eventually, I upgraded from my 2012 non-Retina 13-inch to a 2012 non-Retina 15-inch with a dedicated graphics card. I specifically chose to go non-Retina so I could move my hardware upgrades I made to the 13-inch over to the 15-inch.
Back in the early 2010s, laptops simply didn't come with a ton of spec upgrade options. If they did have those options, they were astronomically priced. Many laptops, even higher-end models, shipped with 8GB of RAM and it was rare to find an affordable system with any form of solid-state storage.
Upgrading a laptop back then used to be a necessity, not a side benefit. I honestly couldn't imagine buying a non-upgradable laptop back in the 2010s at all. It just wasn't feasible for an enthusiast to do.
Modern laptops actually have some oomph to them
While upgrading would be nice, it's no longer necessary in most circumstances
Cianna Garrison / How-To Geek
Most laptops today actually aren't that user-upgradable at all. It's fairly rare to find something that's not ultra-high-end with user-upgradable RAM or storage. Storage is definitely easier to find, as NVMe is the leading storage medium and it's simple to make it user-swappable.
RAM, on the other hand, is rarely user-upgradable —and that's okay. 16GB seems to be becoming the standard for RAM across the board, which is definitely fine for the average user. Enthusiasts might want to get more, but there are actually a lot of laptops that now come stock with 32GB or even 64GB of RAM, whereas those used to be extremely rare.
The other thing is that laptops are simply lasting longer with fewer resources. Take the M1 MacBook Air, for instance. Launched in 2020, the M1 MacBook Air had 256GB of storage and 8GB of "unified memory." There are so many people today still using this base-model laptop because it works great for what they need.
Back in the early 2010s, that simply didn't exist. If you wanted a great laptop, you'd have to upgrade it every few years just to keep it still usable.
Non-upgradable laptops are thinner and lighter
And that's really what matters for most people at the end of the day
Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek
The move toward non-upgradable laptops might have a lot of reasons behind it. But one of the main ones, I'd say, is the form factor it delivers.
Moving away from 2.5-inch hard drives, DVD drives, and user-upgradable RAM allowed manufacturers to make computers more robust and thin. The robustness comes from fewer moving parts. Most computers these days just have one moving component—a fan. Some don't even have that.
I love that I can now bring a desktop-class computer with me everywhere I go without having to worry about it weighing a ton. One of the main reasons this is now possible is the sad reality that the computer is not user-upgradable.
If we go way back, some laptops actually had user-upgradable processors in them—and that's awesome, but it adds extra complexity, weight, and parts that could break during normal use, things that people simply don't want to deal with today.
So, I'm perfectly fine with the trend of laptops becoming less and less upgradable. There are times when I wish I could swap my MacBook's RAM out for 64GB, because I bought it with 32GB, but I am totally okay with not being able to because of all the other benefits it comes with.
A non-upgradable future might not be as bleak as you may think
While individual components might not be upgradable or replaceable, not all hope is lost. Apple's new MacBook Neo, which is a technological marvel, is actually super user-repairable. You can't swap the RAM or storage, obviously, but, there's a chance that Apple (or third-parties) could sell replacement logic boards to fix the laptop if something breaks on it.
While it would be nice to be able to upgrade RAM or storage in a laptop, I just don't see those features coming back to most systems at this point. It's easier for manufacturers to deliver thin and light computers by making them non-upgradable. So long as companies make the laptops repairable, I think it's a worth tradeoff.
