Laptop upgrade - is it possible?

[bigcahunak]

Hi.

We have a Dell latitude with p3 500mhz in our office. Its fairly fast enough for what it does, but lately its user (not me) started asking about upgrading option...

Since I had no answer prepared, I promised to check, so here I am.

I already added 256mb of 100mhz ram to the original 128mb that came with it, making it a total of 384mb.

The big question is: Is it possible to upgrade the CPU in these machines? If it is, than whats the fastest I can find for this machine? And... does it worth the trouble.

finally, if it does worth it, then - any recommendation of where to buy such a cpu?

Thanks.

[Greg Hess]

"The big question is: Is it possible to upgrade the CPU in these machines? "

 

No. Most of the time their physically soldered into the board. (Sockets take up too much vertical space)

 

Additional Note:

 

On some laptops it may be actually possible to replace the cpu. (About 1%). However this involves removing virtually EVER part of the laptop, voiding every last bit of warranty, and also making it extremely difficult to get it back together...in a working fashion.

 

If you succeed in putting in a new cpu, and get the whole thing put back together, you've still got the problem of convincing the laptop what speed proc its got in it. Some laptops have it hardwired in, and its unchangable without hacking the bios.

 

Needless to say, treat laptops like mac's. When its time to upgrade, buy a new one.

 

[ October 29, 2002, 06:26 AM: Message edited by: Greg Hess ]