Some questions regarding L501x

My whole life, I was made to believe that laptops come with an integrated/soldered motherboard, GPU, CPU, heatsink et al that cannot be replaced individually, which was definitely true until I owned a stupid HP. (yeah i know, its a sad story). After shifting to dell, I realised I was wrong and I would like to know more about the extent of upgrading that I can do to my DELL L501X.

Currently, its having an intel (HM 57 chipset). Do you think its possible to change the motherboard, possibly a L502X (HM 67). I know.. if I do that, I will have to change the processor and GPU as well, which I am willing to. Not too sure about the RAM, may be it should work. Alternatively, If this is possible, I would rather wait for the L521X and 3rd gen processor . So my question is, DO YOU THINK IT WILL WORK ?

If the above bit is not possible, I would definitely like to upgrade to i7-920 QM and 8GB DDR-3 RAM, and a 64GB SSD (in place of the optical drive). I am sure this is possible. Please let me know your views about it.

Pardon me for my naive question, not too familiar with the laptop hardware bit and an answer would be highly appreciated.

 

Many laptops do come with soldered CPU and GPU. I think in the next few years (maybe even now), socketed parts will be the exception rather than the rule.

That being said, the CPU in the l501x is socketed and replaceable. I'm not sure that you can actually use the 55W 920XM, but you should be able to use the 45W quads.

I'm also not sure if you can do the l502x mobo swap; I thought there was a thread about it, but I can't find it and am unsure what they concluded (if anything).

 

CPU can be changed. The highest you can upgrade to is (I think) the i7-640m which is only dual core. The CPU is a bit expensive though, not sure if it's worth it.

 

Thank you for the reply. Just for the record, I am currently having an i7 - 740QM 1.73 GHz quad. So the highest I can upgrade is i7 - 940. Although, I wouldn't go for a 940 since its priced exorbitantly high and to be honest, I am a little skeptical about going for 920 as well. I would say that the 740 suffices my needs, but I like to keep my self upgraded. Altho, getting a 920, even a 940 won't make me feel like getting the newest thing since the third gen is out already lol. God! I miss desktops. I will send an email to DELL asking them whether it is possible to upgrade the motherboard or not.

Btw, can someone suggest me some good websites to buy laptop parts. I can only find it on ebay.