Acer Extensa 4230/4630 and Travelmate 4730 Owner's Lounge

Acer Extensa 4230/4630 and Travelmate 4730 Owner's Lounge

All the models uses the same casing, the same BIOS, the same motherboard; but different configurations.

So, whats the difference?

Acer Extensa 4230 is powered by Intel Celeron processors,
while Acer Extensa 4630 is powered by Intel Core 2 Duo (low range) or Intel Pentium Dual-Core and a option of a dedicated graphics cards. Same for Travelmate 4730, but with more powerful processor and fingerprint reader options.



The most popular variant is the Extensa 4630Z

All the models, except 4230 has either the type "Z" or "ZG" or simply "G" behind of the model type.
("ZG" only applies to Acer Extensa 4630 while "Z" and "G" appiles to Acer EXtensa 4630 and Travelmate 4730. The Acer Extensa 4230 simply does have a variant.)

Z - The most common of them all. It means low to mid range CPU laptop (like Core 2 Duo, Celeron or Pentium Dual-Core) without a dedicated graphic card, but a less powerful Intel integrated graphic card (GMA).

G - Also very common. "G" means having a dedicated graphic card. (Sometimes also known as 'gaming', although the 9300M GS isn't suited for resources intensive game.) It has a dedicated graphic card, in which case for this family; a Nvidia GeForce 9300M GS. Without "Z" means without low to mid range CPU. This variant has the high-class CPU with Centrino 2 platform. The "G" variant also has a HDMI port.

Z G - The rarest of them all. (Which I happen to have it ) As usual, the "Z" means low to mid range CPU while the "G" means having a dedicated graphic card. The "ZG" variant also has a HDMI port.

Mods and improvment
(Mod can make your computer brick, anything goes wrong and its not my fault)

CPU overclock:
This Acer has a PLL clock-generator of 'ICS9LPRS387BKLF'
This is the same PLL as the Alienware M11x, so you can use the same method (TME unlock) to unlock the PLL to overclock your CPU.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/547341-how-pinmod-further-overclock-m11x-r1-slg-hardmod-only.html#post7049385

Changing the CPU
I manage to change my CPU from a Intel Pentium Dual-core T3400 to a Intel Core 2 Duo T9300. (I will post some photos later) A user Kisetsu17 also change his CPU from a Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 to a Intel Core 2 Duo T9600
http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/417217-acer-extensa-4630g-aka-acer-travelmate-4730g-cpu-upgrade-pics-56k-warning-nifty-surprise-inside.html

Changing the GPU
(Not for those without a dedicated graphic card)
As what I said, the Nvidia GeForce 9300M GS is not powerful to play modren Direct X 10 and 11 games. The Nvidia GeForce 9300M GS uses the MXM I standard. It should be compatible with the MXM II standard (like the GeForce 9600M GT). No gurantees though. I'm planning to try it soon. (Thanks to TehSuigi.)
http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/396320-acer-mxm-models-cards.html

Overheating laptop?
When I upgraded my CPU, I was shock to see hardened thermal paste on the CPU and GPU. This caused normal temperature to be around 50-60 C° degrees. The best way to solve it is to open it up and changing the paste. If you are afraid of opening, try using a cooling pad, although it manage to reduce temperature only by 2-3 degress.



So THANKS for reading



Little tip
Notice you press the Fn + Up (or other hotkeys) and notice an old-fashion volume indicator?
Download the Acer Extensa 5635G launch manager @ http://global-download.acer.com/GDFiles/Application/LaunchManager/LaunchManager_Dritek_3.0.02_W7x86W7x64_A.zip
It will automatically replace the old want and see your new indicator.

(More guides like BIOS modding and lcd screen changing coming

 

Picture of CPU Core 2 t9300



GPU: (MXM I )



Heat sink



PLL controller:



WHAT IS THIS?


Bluetooth and Modem card: