Inside the Elitebook Folio 1040 G1

I just got a memory module from HP and thought I would take the chance to post a picture of the inside of the Folio 1040 G1. One thing to note about the RAM module for this laptop: it is skinny, having chips on one side only.

Here is a comparison with another HP low-voltage RAM module ("regular" module on the left, G1 module on the right):

Front (looks the same)


Back (ah, now I see why the other one didn't fit!)


Taking the back off of the unit shows that everything is pretty easy to get to, but it's all packed pretty tight:


Bottom line: don't expect to be able to throw some third-party (even third-party ultrabook) RAM in here as an upgrade. Right now HP seems to be the only source, and by far the best price is to get the full 8 GB with the initial purchase.

 

Hi. Thanks for all this information. I was curious about the RAM. So there is only one (single-channel) memory in there? Or are there two slots? I can't deduce it from the picture. If it's a single-slot, single-channel, then I'm a little disappointed. For an ultrabook at this price, the least they can do, you know?

 

The other 4 GB is soldered on, so there are two channels.

 

Oh that is nice! ^_^ Hopefully the 8GB stick will get a bit more affordable soon

 

If they make one that fits. That was my idea, as I had some 8 GB sticks from a previous ultrabook. They were 1.5v, so didn't work. I picked up an 8GB stick of 1.35v., and while the system would boot, it did not see the stick at all (with chips on both sides of the board it didn't fit very well). Altogether I tried 4 different modules before the stock items became available from the parts store. I don't think I've ever seen a SO-DIMM with chips on just one side of the board before. Hopefully someone sill make one at some point for a reasonable price.

I did notice a marked improvement in performance with both channels in use. I'm just ticked that I didn't order it that way to begin with...