Upgrade potential of the equipment itself.
In addition to the aforementioned Microsoft Surface Pro series tablet 2-in-1 devices, there are many ultra-thin notebooks, such as Lenovo ideapad 720s, HP ENVY 13, Dell XPS 13, ASUS Ling Yao X, Huawei MateBook X, and Xiaomi Notebook Air.
In order to pursue slimming, the above products all adopt the design of on-board memory particles. Only SSD and wireless network card with M.2 interface can be replaced by users. When you encounter such a product, don't expect to increase the memory capacity. In addition, there are a few thin notebooks with only 1 memory slot built in, so if you want to upgrade the memory, you can only "trade in the old for the new".
Relatively speaking, a new generation of ordinary "thin books" that are positioned above 14 inch generally have excellent DIY upgrade potential, and most of them have 1 turn-2 memory slots, 1m. 2 SSD slots and 1 2.5 inch SATA slots.
A few products even provide 4 memory slots or 2 M.2 SSD slots to upgrade more memory or more hard disks.
Before the release of the fourth-generation Core platform, many early notebooks kept the design of built-in optical drive, which can be expanded by replacing the original optical drive with a bracket with a hard disk.
It should be noted that many mid-to high-end notebooks are also equipped with MSSATA slots, which can be used to install SSD of MSSATA standard.
Compared with the familiar M.2 SSD, the mSATA SSD is wider and the two interfaces are incompatible with each other.
Many high-end business notebooks also reserve WWAN special slots, similar in style to M.2 slots, for installing 3G/4G network card modules. However, if you want to install WWAN network card, you need a special antenna. If the notebook manufacturer doesn't have an embedded antenna, we need to buy it ourselves and install the antenna in the designated location, which is more difficult. Considering that the 4G number with unlimited traffic is already very cheap, users who need to connect to the Internet at any time still suggest sharing Wi-Fi hotspots with their mobile phones at a lower cost. WWAN slots of some notebooks also support M.2 SSD of SATA channel, through which additional hard disks can be installed to expand capacity.
User's own hands-on ability
If you want to upgrade your notebook, it will inevitably involve disassembly, and the difficulty of disassembly depends on your practical ability. Some notebooks have extended hatches on the D surface for memory and hard disk respectively. Just unscrew a few screws to remove the hatch cover and replace the hardware inside.
The disassembly structure adopted by most notebooks is to unscrew all the screws on the D surface, and then slowly remove the whole bottom cover along the surrounding gaps with a crowbar.
The difficulty of this structure is not too high, just pay attention to whether the fixing screws are hidden in the foot pad, and don't use brute force when removing the bottom cover, and be careful not to damage the hidden buttons inside.
Relatively speaking, the most difficult structure is to remove the keyboard cover on the C surface after all the screws on the D surface are unscrewed. During this period, it will involve plugging and unplugging the cables of the keyboard touchpad, and may also turn over the entire PCB motherboard. If you are not a DIY enthusiast, you should turn to after-sales or professionals if you want to upgrade your notebook with this structure.