Choosing a RAM upgrade for my Laptop, do any of these brands/models matter?

[Cyber Akuma]

I want to upgrade a Lenovo L14 Gen 2 laptop to 32GB of RAM, I found four kits that are around the same price. Are there any real differences/preferences between these brands/models or are they all basically the same thing? Normally I prefer G.Skill, but they are the most expensive out of the four (Though not by much, roughly a $5 difference). PNY I am skeptical about, I haven't had good luck with their flashdrives but RAM can be a completely different story, I was surprised that they are one of the cheaper ones yet are CL20 when all the rest are CL22 and have heatsinks (Though I slightly worry if that would give me problems fitting them in the laptop.). Teamgroup I am skeptical on but I don't know if they are actually good, and the Crucial are suspiciously the cheapest.. though again, not by much.  
 
G.SKILL Ripjaws DDR4 SO-DIMM Series DDR4 RAM 32GB (2x16GB) 3200MT/s CL22-22-22-52 (F4-3200C22D-32GRS) 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KSGVZDZ  
 
PNY XLR8 Gaming 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz (PC4-25600) CL20 (MN32GK2D43200X)  
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094WBGZLP  
 
TEAMGROUP Elite DDR4 32GB Kit (2 x 16GB) 3200MHz PC4-25600 CL22 (TED432G3200C22DC-S01)  
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08T17RQ87  
 
Crucial 32GB Kit (16GB x 2) DDR4 3200 MHz (CT2K16G4DFRA32A)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08C4LXXCJ  
 
So any recommendations or opinions on any of these? I kind of want to get the PNY for the lower CL and heatspreaders if there is no reason not to go PNY, otherwise I am considering G.Skill unless again, no point paying extra for no difference in realibility.

[needshmeed]

You could also consider adding Kingston to your shortlist. I personally disfavour RAM with heatsinks, especially for the tighter confines of a laptop, let alone desktop. I'm not sure the difference between CL20 and CL22 would be something that would sway my decision, let alone be something tangible I would notice.

[Cyber Akuma]

Hmm, I also just noticed now that the PNY and G.Skill sets are being sold by third parties, and that the PNY is normally a lot more expensive. That's a little worrying, the seller of the PNY ram has a few 1/5 reviews despite only having a handful of reviews total.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

brand and model doesnt mean shit for laptop rams since theyre all jedec rams anyway

 

just buy some used oem samsung hynix like m378a2k43db2 or hma82gu6cjr/djr8n anything thats dualrank (double sided with 8 ics per side) as thats the best ram config you can buy for a laptop

 

ofc theres always trying to flash the spd with tighter timings but dont bother unless you have a secondary laptop or a sodimm to dimm adapter incase the timings you flashed dont work

[191x7]

3 hours ago, Cyber Akuma said:

Hmm, I also just noticed now that the PNY and G.Skill sets are being sold by third parties, and that the PNY is normally a lot more expensive. That's a little worrying, the seller of the PNY ram has a few 1/5 reviews despite only having a handful of reviews total.

You wantr dual rank over single rank; 2Rx8 instead of 1Rx16. It can have a large performance impact in some cases.

[Biohazard777]

4 hours ago, Cyber Akuma said:

So any recommendations or opinions

Not for your model specifically, but generally useful advice, have a read:

 

[porina]

Vast majority of laptops use JEDEC ram, and wont read XMP/EXPO if present. It's all standard timings so anything should work.

 

3200C22 is the most commonly used mid grade, with 3200C20 being the slightly more aggressive one. Personally I wouldn't go out of my way for C20 vs C22.

 

Rank can make a bigger difference. 2Rx8 is best, but can be harder to find. Kingston is the only company I know of selling it new. Below image is from their UK site showing the options. You'll have to find the equivalent one in your region if interested. Crucial don't offer that choice and I'd imagine if you're buying from them now it'll be 1Rx8.

 

[Cyber Akuma]

A single stick of those dual-rank Kingston sticks seems to cost about as much those entire 32GB kits.

[Timme]

Go with Crucial. CL22, usually the default OEM choice of RAM already inside. All the bells and whistles are irrelevant for the 3200MHz. 

[needshmeed]

13 hours ago, Cyber Akuma said:

A single stick of those dual-rank Kingston sticks seems to cost about as much those entire 32GB kits.

Current 3200 32GB SODIMM on Amazon Australia seems competitive https://www.amazon.com.au/Kingston-ValueRAM-KVR32S22D8-32-Memory/dp/B08K5H4HBQ but I noticed that generally Amazon tend to price other brands better than Kingston

 

 

[Cyber Akuma]

59 minutes ago, needshmeed said:

Current 3200 32GB SODIMM on Amazon Australia seems competitive https://www.amazon.com.au/Kingston-ValueRAM-KVR32S22D8-32-Memory/dp/B08K5H4HBQ but I noticed that generally Amazon tend to price other brands better than Kingston

 

 

Not available here in the US, it doesn't even list a price.

 

Also I don't think this laptop can handle 32GB modules.

[needshmeed]

10 minutes ago, Cyber Akuma said:

Not available here in the US, it doesn't even list a price.

 

Also I don't think this laptop can handle 32GB modules.

$79 Australian dollars here. The Crucial equivalent is slightly less at AUD $78 https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B07ZLC7VNH

 

Some laptops can handle more than what the manufacturer officially states. I checked my laptop here https://www.compuram.biz/memory/desktop-workstation-notebook/

All the official documentation said my laptop could only support 16GB sticks, but it could in fact support 32GB. I'm not quite sure how they work it out, otherwise I'd do it myself, but that website might be worth a look.

[Cyber Akuma]

11 minutes ago, needshmeed said:

$79 Australian dollars here. The Crucial equivalent is slightly less at AUD $78 https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B07ZLC7VNH

 

Some laptops can handle more than what the manufacturer officially states. I checked my laptop here https://www.compuram.biz/memory/desktop-workstation-notebook/

All the official documentation said my laptop could only support 16GB sticks, but it could in fact support 32GB. I'm not quite sure how they work it out, otherwise I'd do it myself, but that website might be worth a look.

Says that it should be able to handle 64GB, problem is though that the 64GB kits seem to cost more than double what the 32GB kits cost, that's a bit too much. I do use a lot of memory on my desktops but I doubt I am going to use more than 32GB on a laptop, and I suppose if I ever need to I can upgrade it later.

[needshmeed]

On 4/16/2025 at 11:13 AM, Cyber Akuma said:

Says that it should be able to handle 64GB, problem is though that the 64GB kits seem to cost more than double what the 32GB kits cost, that's a bit too much. I do use a lot of memory on my desktops but I doubt I am going to use more than 32GB on a laptop, and I suppose if I ever need to I can upgrade it later.

Yeah. In my case I have only one slot, so 32GB is my cut-off whether I like it or not. My other laptop has a painful fixed (soldered) 8GB with no RAM slot. I'm spewing I cannot make that more useful.

[Cyber Akuma]

5 hours ago, needshmeed said:

Yeah. In my case I have only one slot, so 32GB is my cut-off whether I like it or not. My other laptop has a painful fixed (soldered) 8GB with no RAM slot. I'm spewing I cannot make that more useful.

Ugh, I hate soldered RAM. Though I am surprised any modern laptop would have just one RAM slot period. I have heard of laptops having soldered RAM and one slot, but not of just one slot period.

 

Also, I had to return the laptop because it was defective, so this topic is a bit pointless now since I have a slightly different laptop on the way now, still a Lenovo L14, but this one is a Gen 3 AMD instead of a Gen 2 Intel, uses pretty much the same RAM though, but this one will come with 16GB already that is apparently a single stick (hopefully not soldered, most models I saw had two RAM slots but apparently some of the AMD models are soldered). So depending what RAM it comes with I might just have to buy one more a single 16GB stick instead of a 32GB set if the 16GB it comes with is already a good one.

 

This is actually a big part of the reason I was shopping for used Thinkpads, on top of budget, they are still some of the most repairable/upgradable modern laptops barring something like a Framework.