Micro DIMMs replace SO-DIMMs
IDF Spring 2008 RAM you like
MOVE OVER SO-DIMM, the new SFF memory standard is here, welcome our new micro-DIMM overlords. Yup, time for a new form factor, and Qimonda is the first one showing them off.
Micro-DIMMs are made for the new ultra-small PC class like the EeePC and it's brethren. They are much smaller than laptops, lets call them crotchtops, don't have the room for a big bulky socket, much less two. A new standard had to be made.
That is where micro-DIMMs come in. They are not vastly smaller than SO-DIMMs, probably about a third less area, the size being most likely dictated by the memory chips vs anything more esoteric. The biggest change is that it moves from the edge connector that dictated memory connections since the first SIMM in the mid-80s to a surface mounted low profile connector. I am not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but it does save space.
Qimonda had the micro-DIMM pictured above at IDF, it is 1G of DDR2-800 memory. This makes me hopeful that you will get decent performance out of the crotchtops, memory this small is usually much slower than the prevailing standard. µ
Comments
I'll bet a fiver...
...that these new memory modules will be inherently faster than prior portable implementations. It's the connector. The old edgecard connectors are the single worst signal integrity barrier in the entire (a) Intel bridge chip-to-memory and (b) AMD processor-to-memory data path. The Qimonda folks are bright thinkers. I cannot imagine that they would develop a new module interconnect and make it less functional than the old style. (In fact, it would be a challenge to design a smaller interconnect having worse S.I. characteristics.)- The Garret
Unless there's actually a new ratified spec...
I believe the term Micro DIMM has been used for sometime.Crotchtops be sacked as pants knickered
git a spanner tool to pry the zip stuck to me crotchtop afore a kerfuffle erupts.Great girters and sweet fardel nook! These are the days of marrow dangling, passing the splod, sardine racing, conger cuddling, rhubarb thrashing, and dwile flonking. Now you lappys'll have me flogging crotchtops? I blame mad mike magee!