The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Can you upgrade laptops?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by overandunder, Apr 1, 2009.

  1. overandunder

    overandunder Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    16
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I'm totally new to this. Can you change certain parts of a laptop? I want to get the Asus N80 with Geforce 9650M GT. Can I upgrade the video card later on? What about the cpu?
     
    overandunder, Apr 1, 2009
    #1
  2. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

    Reputations:
    2,962
    Messages:
    8,231
    Likes Received:
    63
    Trophy Points:
    216
    You can usually upgrade the CPU, memory and HDD, but usually not the video card. There are plenty of exceptions to the latter, but I don't think the N80 is such an exception. Here is a short thread about the N80 GPU: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=351989
     
    Commander Wolf, Apr 1, 2009
    #2
  3. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    4,982
    Messages:
    34,001
    Likes Received:
    1,415
    Trophy Points:
    581
    A very few select notebooks notebooks can upgrade the GPUs, but I don't believe is the Asus is one. The CPU can be upgraded, but most likely void your warranty. The most common upgrades are the CPU and the memory, which will not void the warranty.
     
    ZaZ, Apr 1, 2009
    #3
  4. es0teric

    es0teric Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    56
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    cpu + ram are usually your best bet when upgrading a laptop
     
    es0teric, Apr 1, 2009
    #4
  5. sgogeta4

    sgogeta4 Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    2,389
    Messages:
    10,552
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    456
    IMO hard drive upgrade usually gives the best performance boost as they tend to be the limiting factor for performance. Memory upgrades are the easiest and cheapest, while CPU upgrades give minimal results at a high cost.
     
    sgogeta4, Apr 1, 2009
    #5
  6. stevezachtech

    stevezachtech Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    14
    Messages:
    348
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I'm afraid you can't expect much upgrade ability when it comes to laptops..
     
    stevezachtech, Apr 7, 2009
    #6
  7. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

    Reputations:
    4,412
    Messages:
    8,077
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    205
    On pretty much every laptop, the memory, harddrive and processor are upgradeable. (Most ultraportables use FCBGA processors which are generally not upgradeable since you need a soldering station to remove the processor)
    All FCPGA Systems have a simple socket which the processor fits in. The processor can be removed and upgraded very easily.
    A lot of high end laptops have mobile graphics cards as well as a fair share of medium range systems. For example my E1505 is not a gaming laptop but it has a removable and upgradeable graphics card.

    I do not know much about your ASUS, but in the past ASUS generally allows for some sort of graphics upgrade. However I think on yours the only option was the 9650, 9600 and 9500 from nVidia

    K-TRON
     
    K-TRON, Apr 7, 2009
    #7