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Apparently it's a limitation of the chipset. It can only support 8GB when soldered onto the board (16GB when unsoldered).

Can't find the reference for it on Intel's website but it was discussed at length on the Accidental Tech Podcast (atp.fm) by John Siracusa.

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It's worth noting that, for some reason, Intel's specifications are almost always wrong when it comes to how much RAM you can use with a given processor.

I've had a number of computers (one Apple, one non-Apple) where all the docs claimed that the max RAM was $X GB, when in reality it would work fine with $2X GB.

I suspect Intel's listed max RAM specifications are based on some other engineering considerations than what is actually possible.

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