Any way to upgrade a P-6831fx CPU without voiding the warranty?

The stock t5450 is definitely becoming a bottleneck on my laptop, and id like to upgrade...without voiding my warranty as recently my GPU and CPU fans crapped out, and i had to send my laptop in for repairs, fixed now of course, but who knows how long before some other stuff may go down.
So am i just going to have risk losing my warranty in favor of performance, or is there a workaround?

 

Hanging onto the old CPU and throwing it back in should it need service is one option, but if you take apart your machine you're putting yourself at risk for voiding the warranty. I guess it's a matter of whether you can live with it. They may never notice, but if they do you're hosed.

 

yeah what ZaZ said.

Basically you just keep the old CPU and if you need to send it in for repair you replace your shiney new CPU with the old cruddy one and no one will ever know.

Its not like you would be able to sell teh t5450 for much anyways, so its cheaper to keep it as a security issue than to sell it and gateway take your upgraded CPU or tell you your warrenty is void so your SOL

 

Or take it to your local Best Buy and see if the GS Agents there are comfortable installing it, let them know and see how simple it is(open back cover and say look its right there), I know a couple of guys at my store are OK with it(as long as the GS Manager isn't there lol), that way you spend another $49.99 but you don't void your warranty.

 

Yeah but you'd be paying someone $999.80 an hour for tech work. Even when i hire out techs theres no way i would pay ANY of them a thousand dollars an hour. (price calculated by the 5 minutes it takes to actually install this thing)

Its really a five minute job, and honestly it still "technically" voids your warrenty. Best buy might still honor it, but even then its pushing the bar.

 

Having the Geek Squad install it "technically" voids your warranty? No it does not, Geek Squad Precint's are authorized to work on all laptops that we sell.

 

I like how they are called Precinct's

So your telling me that I can get the Geek Squad to do ANYTHING to my computer and if something screws up Gateway still has to honor the warrenty?

I understand if your saying that Best Buy has to honor the service/replacement that you buy through them, but i'm pretty sure that Gateway doesnt have to if you break their terms.

 

i see, looks like ill be making a decision soon.

 

TLDR version: Yes you can. Don't damage anything when you swap the CPU and keep your old one until the warranty expires.


In the USA the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act applies to all consumer products. Swapping the CPU in your notebook does not void the notebook warranty. Now if you cause any damage to the notebook while doing the swap or if they can prove the CPU you used caused damage to the notebook then you are SOL as far as the affected parts are concerned. Also obviously your new CPU is not warranted by the notebook manufacturer but the remainder of the warranty remains in effect for the rest of the notebook.

So legally you are in the clear. Now if you want to keep the PITA factor down I would keep your old CPU until your warranty period expires. This way if you send it in you can keep the BS to a minimum. Legally you could send it in with your new CPU but the point here is to keep drama to a minimum.

The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is the same that allows you to say use a NAPA brand oil filter with your Toyota engine. Toyota doesn't have to warrant the oil filter you install but unless they can prove the oil filter damaged the engine they cannot void the warranty on the engine simply because you installed your own oil filter. This applies to pretty much any aftermarket upgrade in any product including replacing the CPU in your notebook. Also the fact that Intel made both your old and new CPU is meaningless. If it was not supplied/installed by gateway then it is not an OEM part so the act still applies as written.