Help with upgrading laptop CPU

The_B_Man

My laptop is getting on in years. I've just bought 2GB of RAM on ebay for under 20 euro so RAM is sorted. The processor is currently clocked at 1.8Ghz which does the job for browsing, MS Office, watching films and most other things. However, not everything. So, I'm thinking of getting a new CPU. I've seen a few cheap ones on eBay. Works out cheaper than upgrading anyway!

So, I've 2 questions.

1. Is it that hard to replace a mobile processor? I've done lots of PC builds and had to apply thermal paste a couple of times.

2. Can someone who knows more about this than me confirm what the fastest processor my laptop can take, based on this info:

Currently I have the Intel Pentium M processor 750 (Dothan). Its a socket 479 mPGA chip, and according to that site, the highest it goes to is the Penitum M 780 (2.26Ghz).

Some HP PDFs (PDF1 and PDF2) that I found say its limited to the chip below that, the Pentium M 760 (2.13Ghz). I've also read in other places that in fact I can go even higher than that, to the Yonah core chips, or even something like this: T7500 Core 2 Duo 2 x 2,2GHz

Can anyone help me sift through all this and maybe give some advice? Or tell me what other info I'll need to be able to accurately gauge what chips will fit?

Thanks.

ricman

it would be easier to just sell the laptop, on adverts.ie, buy a secondhand dual core laptop ,at least 2.oghz.Its not usually economically viable to upgrade laptop cpu,s ,most laptops are not upgradeable apart from ram and hardrive upgrades.Most pcs can be upgraded if you buy a cpu thats compatible with the motherboard,and the cpu socket type.If you are a gamer you may want to get a laptop that has a nvidia or ati grahics card at least 200meg video ram.Unless you are a gamer ,or doing 3d design,or video conversion, its hard to notice any difference between a laptop that has 1.5ghz vs 2.2 ghz cpu if both have 2 or 3 gig ram with plenty of free hardrive space .Most people just buy another laptop if they find their cpu is too slow.
put in 2gig ram and see is it faster,close down ,stop windows services that you dont need eg bluetooth etcThere are many ways to speed up windows.
i dont think any non professional person could upgrade a laptop cpu, most are simply not upgradeable.
from your specs your laptop should be able to do anything except play certain games eg
crysis , cod4 etc cos the processor or grahics card is not fast enough.

The_B_Man

Thanks for the reply.
Gaming on it would probably be bottom of the list of things to do. Its basically for browsing, watching video, but also for programming for work.

The emulators for Android and Blackberry take up huge amounts of RAM and its a pain in the arse waiting for them to load up, hence the RAM upgrade. But I saw some compatible processors while I was looking on eBay for the RAM and thought I'd have a look into it. Tbh, if I can find the fastest CPU that'll fit into my laptop, I'll weigh up my options then, ie upgrade for €30 or so or buy a better all round laptop.

GarIT

The_B_Man wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.
Gaming on it would probably be bottom of the list of things to do. Its basically for browsing, watching video, but also for programming for work.

The emulators for Android and Blackberry take up huge amounts of RAM and its a pain in the arse waiting for them to load up, hence the RAM upgrade. But I saw some compatible processors while I was looking on eBay for the RAM and thought I'd have a look into it. Tbh, if I can find the fastest CPU that'll fit into my laptop, I'll weigh up my options then, ie upgrade for €30 or so or buy a better all round laptop.

I've never done it but someone that works in another department has done a few cup upgrades and 8 out of 10 times it breaks the laptop, if you go for a very similar processor your fine but whats the point in that. The power supply in a laptop is different and I don't think you can change the cpu voltage like in a desktop so that might be your first problem when trying for a more powerful cpu. Laptops are very well designed only for the processor that comes in it, the cooling will be the biggest problem, with a new processor, im sure you know usually you add better cooling to deal with the extra heat, with a laptop you cant change it and heat becomes a big problem. Some laptops are designed for more powerful processors than yours and would be completely fine to upgrade. Like if you were buying a dell and you chose an option with a lesser processor you could then go and put the more powerful on in without much problems.

Im also selling my Dell Inspiron 1720 for €300 if your interested, 17inch screen, 1.86ghz centrino dual core cpu, 4GB ram, 250GB HDD, and an nVidia geforce 8600m gt 256mb graphics card. Looks new aswell I took good care of it :P

I've done CPU upgrades on laptops before but you're very limited in what you can put in, you're often limited to what the manufacturer shipped that model with and little more. I recently upgraded an Acer Extensa 5230E from a Celeron 900 to a Core 2 Duo T6400, but only because I knew that processor was supported by the system.

The nc4200 has an Intel 915 chipset which doesn't support dual core processors, even if you managed to get one in. Which means the Pentium M 780 is as high as you'll get and it depends on whether the BIOS and/or motherboard can take one at all.

The_B_Man

Ye I'd say thats the best i can hope for. Theres no mention of it in the BIOS revision history though. Must Google it tomorrow and see if anyone else upgraded successfully, though since that chip was released 19 Jan 2005, and the initial BIOS was 13 Jan 2005 I'm guessing it should work after 11 BIOS updates!!

I wonder is the 400mhz (1.86ghz -> 2.26Ghz) worth it? Would I notice much?

GarIT

The_B_Man wrote: »

Ye I'd say thats the best i can hope for. Theres no mention of it in the BIOS revision history though. Must Google it tomorrow and see if anyone else upgraded successfully, though since that chip was released 19 Jan 2005, and the initial BIOS was 13 Jan 2005 I'm guessing it should work after 11 BIOS updates!!

I wonder is the 400mhz (1.86ghz -> 2.26Ghz) worth it? Would I notice much?

Mathimatically it should be 21.5% faster, I don't know if you'd actually notice a difference tho.