Dell Inspiron 11 3162 can't be upgraded?

I picked up the Inspiron 11 3162 in white from the Dell website. I opted for the 2GB RAM/32GB wannabe on board storage because I thought it could be upgraded.

Right after I completed that transaction, I went to http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Dell/inspiron-11-(3162), which says that the laptop can be upgraded with an SSD and more RAM.

I went to Newegg and snagged a 128GB SSD and an 8GB stick of RAM.

The laptop and the upgrades showed up on my step at about the same time. Before even firing it up for the first time, I pulled all of the screws out of the bottom and opened it up.

I've been pulling laptops apart for a very long time now, and so I'm pretty sure I'm not mistaken, but there is absolutely nowhere for an SSD/HDD or a stick of RAM.

Be forewarned. If you're going to pick one of these up, the configuration you buy is the one you're going to be stuck with. There's a microSD slot, but even the fastest one of those is a far cry from an actual SSD.

On a positive note, I'm pretty happy with the little notebook. Even when running on the battery, it's relatively snappy.

If I'm missing something, please let me know.

 

Are you sure you got the 3162? The service manual seems to indicate you can replace both the memory and the storage (though this shows a hard drive not SSD).

 

Thank you for your reply.

Yes. I have spent a good amount of time in the BIOS, and there's a line in there that says it.

It doesn't matter now anyway because the laptop is being returned. I started getting a "no bootable devices found" error. That, and the fact that it cannot be upgraded is enough for me.

 

Just adding information..
There are 2 configurations that i found on dell websites about inspiron 3162 regarding its storage device.
- one with 500gb hard drive [ref: http://www.dell.com/id/p/inspiron-11-3162-laptop/pd ; dell 3162 service manual] ;
- one with 32 gb eMMC [ref: http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-11-3162-laptop/pd ; youtube.com/watch?v=lxmxSHalJMY. ]

It seems that you got the second configuration, therefore you can't upgrade storage and RAM.

 

I bought one of these because the sale person at Dell reassured me their $60 external hd could replace the internal tiny one. Now I found out from a Dell tech support person this was not true. I'm stuck with a useless door stop that doesn't even have enough room for window updates. Very unhappy with Dell. After many years of buying their products this will probably be my last Dell computer. Being on Social Security I can't afford to replace it.

 

hello yes you can upgrade to 8gb memory here the video hope it helps

 

I can confirm that the 32GB emmc model cannot be upgraded. The video above is for a different version that has a 500gb HDD.

If you have the p24t001 11-3162 and open it up, you will notice there are no slots for HDD or RAM. That is because it is on-board ram and on board hard drive (it is not a true hard drive though, not in the old sense of the word).

So again, no RAM or HDD/SDD upgrades to it. I suppose you could plug in a USB storage (external) drive to it if needed.

 

What size USB do you recommend and how do you direct upgrades etc to the USB.

 

From what I understand looking at my wifes 11 3000 2 in 1, that cannot be upgraded in ram. Only HD.