My very sad 2310 travelmate

Hey guys,

I have a Acer 2310 travelmate and just wanted to ask how far I can aftermarket upgrade this laptop and if it'll be worth it.

I read quite a few "dummy guides" and "ultimate resource" threads and the laptop seems pretty useless thus far but i'd rather mess with it then a more expensive laptop later on.

Im a laptop NOOB but i know my desktop hardware so I kind of need help with the transition.

Thanks in advance!

 

It would be better if you had posted the specs of your laptop and what you intend to do with it.

Ram and HDD can usually be upgraded. HDD capacity depends on the bios version and whether there is a limit.

 

The specs are:

Celeron M 1.4 Ghz
1x256mb DDR333
40gig HDD
DVD/CD-RW

Im hoping to put the ram up to 2 gigs (though ive seen some sites say it can go up to 2 gigs others say only 1 gig), Im also not sure if i can put DDR400 ram in and like a PC it'll just underclock to DDR333?

I want to put a Samsung IDE 2.5 inch 160 GB 5400 rpm 8MB HDD in... again clarification if that'll work would be nice

I can also get a Intel Core 2 Duo Centrino Mobile CPU 2.20GHz from someone though I highly doubt it'll be able to go into the laptop. Would like to know if that would work and if not how can check what cpus can fit into the laptop and which ones you'd recommend.

If I can get enough ram in I'd also like to put 32bit windows 7 on it... not sure if that's such a great idea with DDR 1 ram running at the speeds it does.

 

You cant use core 2 duo, maybe you could put in Pentium M proc.

Check in everest whats the maximum supported speed for memory and max capacity for chipset. Your motherboard might not support it completly but it can give you some guidelines what to look for. You can check that under motherboard > chipset > northbridge (3rd and 4th line if it has the info, some older chipsets didnt give that info).

Disk would probably work but you might need to update bios.

 

You forgot to mention the lousy SiS chipset. I wouldn't invest much money into this laptop.

According to Kingston.com, 1GB (2x512 MB) is supported. Normally, you can indeed use DDR400 modules that are then "underclocked" to DDR333.

Shouldn't be a problem normally.

You need to find out what CPU was the most powerful that was shipped with 2310 series Travelmates. You have to keep in mind, that the cooling system must meet the demands of the CPU installed. With low-cost Celeron systems, there is often not much headroom. In short: forget it.

It's not the DDR-1 vs. DDR-2 (or -3) thing.
I guess this combination of slow Celeron, max. 1GB RAM and sluggish SiS chipset has the performance level of cheap Netbooks with Atom CPU.

Unless you get the parts for your upgrade for free or very cheap, I wouldn't invest any money into this system.

Michael

 

Actually Michael, celerons tend to be quite hot, leaky chips so getting a propper pentium M which should be relatibly cheap could improve thermals (also during idles the pentium M will actually power save.

 

Well I've decided to invest very lightly in this laptop... sell it (probably wont get much) and then get a new one.

What exactly is the PC2700, PC25300 etc. referring to?

 

PCXXXX = DDR
PC2XXXX = DDR2
PC3XXXX = DDR3

Higher the number, faster the clocks.

You need either PC2700 or PC3200

Note these are both DDR, since only 4 numers.

Beware latencies.

 

This is a bit delayed but thanks for the help guys

 

Lol, you're welcome. What did you do in the end?

 

Well I kind of gave up on it thinking it wasn't worth it and started saving money for a new laptop. However I got an HD monitor instead (which I really don't regret as my previous 17" was faulty and working on my nerves).

I haven't thought about laptops in a while until I stumbled on someone selling the old Ram that I needed for really cheap so I googled "can I use DDR400 for my 2310" just to make sure and what do you know... I'm back at the thread I made nearly a year earlier. So now I have the 80 gig hdd (my budget is really strict since if I cross it I might as well get another laptop) and 1 gig ram lined up and am just trying to find the processor.

I just had to thank you guys because this thread is like the perfect set of notes for upgrading this specific laptop

Oh and I forgot... some time during the last year my dad got an i3 laptop for himself which I've been using and that sort of cooled my enthusiasm for getting my own (until now).