Encrypting SSD on Alienware 17 R1

As we know there's no TPM on Alienware 17 R1 motherboard.
Hence a question. Is there a motherboard replacement for R1 that has TPM on it?
If I upgrade to R2 motherboard, I'm not sure if it has the TPM on it. If it does, there's the problem of I would have to upgrade my CPU as well (I've got i7-4700MQ at the moment).
17 R3 seems to have TPM but can I upgrade to that motherboard? What about RAM and CPU? Would they have to be replaced too?

Maybe there's a way to sidestep the issue.
When you don't have a TPM, you can still do bitlocker but each time you boot it requires you to enter the bitlocker password to decrypt the SSD, which is an annoyance.
My Samsung SSD has some internal encryption but it requires some steps (like reformatting the SSD and reinstalling Windows 10). If I were to take these extra steps, I want to avoid the situation where I still have to enter disk password with bitlocker in addition to the regular Windows password.

My question is how did you guys solve the problem. Also, do you know if I will need to enter that extra password while using Samsung SSD internal encryption option.

I've got a thought. So it's possible to use an USB as a security key with Bitlocker but then it's clunky to carry it around with you. So maybe what you can do is to re-purpose the small capicity SSD that comes with the laptop as security key.

In other words, what I want is I want system SSD encryption and I want to only enter the passwords on the WIndows logon screen.

 

17 R1 is the only motherboard you can fit in that chassis/

 

What are you putting on your laptop that needs encryption...

 

Well, it's a common sense thing to do.
Your Windows session is protected by a password.
But esentially someone could take your SSD out and copy your files. Could be work files, for example, or internet banking passwords.
That's why you need protection of some sort.

 

Windows session password?

 

Your regular password you enter at windows login screen
The idea is that the contents of the drive are encrypted with this password

 

Who would realistically do that? At the same time, if you plug the drive into another PC you need to enter the password onto it assuming its your boot device

 

Ive got maybe hundred passwords for all the stuff but I remember just one - for the excell file containing all of them

If someone is going to steal my pc and go find the right file and then crack it open (I honestly even dont know how well encrypted such a excell file is) then fk, let him have it

 

No one would do that even if it was possible lol

 

So it crossed my mind to use Bitlocker without TPM.
To accomplish that you can use a removable drive.

I've got a local disk that I want to use as a key.

The only problem is that local hard drives don't appear in the list of available flash drives in the Turn Bitlocker on window because they are not removable.

I searched the internet and couldn't find a way around this problem.

Basically, I need one of my hard drives to appear removable to appear in the list of flash drives.
Using a flash drive is not an option since I want it to be integrated into the computer, as it were, rather than plugged into a USB port.

Any suggestions as to how would I make one of my drives removable?
lexar_usb_format's flip the removable bit doesn't seem to work.

Has anyone else accomplished this?
I have a feeling that you need to do some tinkering in the registry but I'm not sure how.