replace T7500 with T9300?

Is it a direct swap or will i need to do anything special?

 

Direct swap.

 

Depends on your machine cuz not all the current laptops support the penryn processors, maybe a bios update.

 

It will be a direct swap for any of the Dell XPS notebooks that were shipped with a T7500, just make sure you update the BIOS first.

 

ok i have bios 11 for my M1330 so i should be good with just a direct swap?

 

Yeah, if its newer than the A10 then you can do a direct swap.

 

Is it possible to upgrade from a T8100 processor in an XPS that hasn't arrived yet?

I don't mean any time in the future but eventually faster chips are going to become cheap, they won't be in demand but its a good cheap upgrade in a year if you can find one on Ebay in new / good condition.

 

Here's a reference from the old days

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=214889

 

No, you won't be able to upgrade past the current line since the second generation Penryns and future Nehalems will have a different CPU socket. Plus old chips usually don't become that cheap due to low demand, just look at the older Meroms (the T7E00, where E is even number) vs. the newer Meroms (the T7O00, where O is odd number).

 

I can't imagine why you'd want to upgrade, aren't T9300s fairly expensive for a performance increase that will be barely noticeable in most situations? Unless you're encoding things and time is of extreme importance, I have a T7500 in my 1530 and I've never once though that I'd like a faster processor because it hasn't been the limiting factor in a single thing I've done. I think the power consumption on the T8xxx/T9xxxx processors is lower, but are the 10 or whatever extra minutes on battery worth the 300 dollars that I see these processors going for on ebay?

 

For laptops like the M1330 upgrading to one of the newer Penryns make a difference due to a much lower heat output because both the GPU and CPU are on the same heatsink therefore this lower heat generation can make a big difference. The M1330 is known to overheat or run pretty hot so this upgrade would drop temps a bit.

 

yeah it is dan, especially when i am getting it for free...

 

Haha, well in that case enjoy the new processor! Can't do better than free

 

And what of the T7250 to T8300 or T9300?

 

thats the same socket so it would be a direct replacement too... i just did it and it does seem to run cooler.. haven't seen effects on the battery yet though...

 

T7250->T8300, how much?
T9300 how much?

if diff b/w T8300 and T9300 is below $100, might be worth it....

 

Sorry I didn't mean a processor that isn't out yet. What I meant to say was an XPS laptop that has only just been ordered, hence it may have a different mobo to one ordered a year ago...If that makes sense?

What would be the highest CPU it could be upgraded to in the future from a T8100? Not that I will need to for ages, but in the future at least i'll know what the options are.