Desktop RAM is easy. Laptop RAM is a puzzle.

Installing RAM in a desktop is almost trivial. Laptop RAM is more annoying but still doable if you’re careful.

Desktop you open the side panel, push the clips down on the slot, line up the notch, press the stick in until the clips click. That’s it. No screws, no ribbons to break, no prying. Takes thirty seconds. Hardest part is maybe figuring out which slots to use for dual channel, but the manual tells you.

Laptop is different. Some have a dedicated access panel held by two screws. Those are fine. Others make you take off the entire bottom cover or even remove the keyboard. You’re dealing with tiny screws, plastic clips that snap if you look at them wrong, and maybe a ribbon cable or two in the way. The RAM itself installs the same way (push in, push down), but getting to it is the pain.

I’ve done both. Desktop you can do blindfolded. Laptop you need a YouTube video and maybe a guitar pick to pry the cover open without cracking it.

If you have a desktop, just do it. If it’s a laptop, watch a teardown video first.