Do people ever upgrade laptop processors?

OK so a n00b question here. I just ordered a VAIO FZ with a T7250. The new FW has a P8400. Obviously the new Montevina kicks the T7250's butt.


Question is if I get the laptop with the T7250 can I, say a year from now, go to BestBuy and upgrade the processor to something like a P8400 or can the laptop (and drivers and stuff) only function with the original processor?

 

Yes, you can upgrade laptop processors as quite a few on here have done so. However, I don't know much about the specifics (i.e. which processor you can/cannot upgrade to), but it can be done.

 

Depends on whether the processor is soldered on or not..

 

Theoretically you can upgrade the processor since they both use Socket P. However you need to think of a few things:
1) will the latest BIOS of your Sony support the P8400, likely not
2) will your MB be able to handle the FSB increase (800->1066)?, probably not.
3) where will you get the P8400 from? You won't get it from BestBuy that's for sure.
4) do you likely want to void your warranty*
5) can you upgrade your laptop? The CPU may be soldered onto the MB.

*I say likely since some places may allow you to upgrade the CPU without voiding the warranty. However, damage caused by the upgrade or while doing the upgrade aren't covered.

 

Which processors would be compatable/able to replace the T7250.

 

well T7250 -- i965GM/PM -- Socket P
SO any T8xxx or T9xxx....!!
try out the T8300 or the T9300..!! they are good value for money..!!
The only thing that may hold you back is the BIOS....so do update it to the very latest version before upgrading..!!
+ apply AS-5....

 

Yes wait till your warranty runs out. And no the T7250 will not be soldered on to the FZ mobo. But I am sure sony will have a bios supporting T8xxx/9xxx since the new FZ uses them. As mentioned above, don't forget about thermal paste.

 

The P8400 and other PXXXX processors won't work because they use socket B processors. Any T8xxx and T9xxx will work as long as they're socket P processors.

 

Well iv upgraded an old zv5000 ( the one in my signature ) from a 2.66ghz pentium 4 to a 2.8ghz HT pentium 4 and i attempted to upgrade another zv5000 from an athlon xp to an athlon 64 but i the laptops bios saw the new cpu as an 82watt. Just make sure the cpu is the same socket and you have the most up to date bios and it should work.

 

Hi, i'm new here i need help .i have a dv6418 with t2450 intel and 945gm graphics.i bought a t7500 runs at 2.2ghz,800 mhz fsb,can i upgrade my loptop?by the way the t2450 runs at 2.0 ghz and the motherboard is for 533,667 mhz fsb.pls help with the options

 

if you have a i945 chipset based system, then it is using SOCKET M CPUs

the T7500 is a SOCKET P CPU so it will not work in your system,,, the chip will not physically fit in the socket... (you'll find its has one pin that doesn't fit your socket since your socket is a SOCKET M.

you could use a T7200, T7400, or the EXPENSIVE T7600,,, but ANY SOCKET M CPU should work

 

Are you sure? Newegg has the P8xxx for sale and claim them to be Socket P.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819111009

 

The new P series are actually socket P, but won't work in a Santa Rosa laptop due to higher fsb speed.

 

I did CPU upgrade in few laptops. Some are/were mine, and others are/were belonging to friends or relatives:

Gateway MX3050 upgraded from Celeron M360 to Pentium M735 then downgraded again before I sold last July.

Dell D510 downgraded from Pentium M715 to Celeron M360 + pinmod

Dell Inspiron 1300 downgraded from Pentium M735 to Celeron M360 + pinmod

Dell precision M20 upgraded from Pentium M740 to Pentium M715 + pinmod

Acer TM 290 upgraded from Celeron M360 to Pentium M740

Fujitsu siemens V2010 upgraded from Celeron M360 to Celeron M360 + pinmod. chipset Via vn800 ... the pin mod had no effect.

Gateway MX3101 upgraded from Celeron M420 to Core Duo T2500

Gateway ML3108 tried to upgrade from a Sempron +3400 to a Turion MK36 an to a Turion X2 TL50. With the MK36 I had memory problem, and with the TL50 the computer boot but stops with an error message just past the boot/bios screen.

 

Won't work? or will down clock?

 

Should downclock (just as the Pentium Ms did). But it depends if the BIOS has the micro-codes for the new Penryns, otherwise if you install one with an incompatible BIOS, the BIOS won't know what instructions to implement and would just stay blank.

 

Andy in the post I refere to a Gateway that I tried to upgrade and I felt.
I tried to upgrade from a Sempron to a Turion X2. With the Turion X2 the laptop boots, and the BIOS recognises/identifies the Turion X2 correctly.
Infortunately that was it. When I try to boot in windows, I get a message saying the I'm using the wrong CPU and that I need to replace it.

My questions are:
1-As the BIOS identified the CPU correctly does this means that it has the Turion X2 micro-codes?

2- What happens if the micro-codes are missing? Does the computer turn ON? Does it turn ON but the BIOS fails to identify the CPU? Or what?

 

1. Dunno much about how the BIOS thing goes with AMD. I've seen that CPU is supported, but doesn't install in Windows; CPU is not recognised in the BIOS - giving an incompatibility msg in the BIOS (but the computer does POST)..and now your msg ?! (Dunno)

2. I am pretty sure about intel, that if the BIOS does not have compatibility and the codes for a particular CPU, the computer will not POST and there will be no beeps. Sometimes, some BIOS have strings that reject certain CPUs.
For instance, in my notebook's BIOS, there was a string that rejected dual-core processors, if the chipset was a UMA.intel 940gm (940GML). I couldn't edit it, so I just went for a mobo with a 943GML chipset to get dual-core support !!

I have seen two guys trying the 2nd Gen Penryns on a M1330 and the P-6860FX -> Failed due to BIOS incompatibility.

The micro-codes can be accessed only by the CPU engineer, and is written during the CPU design. Hence, there are new codes, with a new design. Machine Assemblers often implement the same BIOS on a new notebook model (with added H/W codes and tweaks), hence the BIOS retains the backward compatibility for old CPUs and also has compatibility for new CPUs. (E.g. Lenovo SL series.)

 

Any idea what was the error message for them?

And when was this message showing exactly? was it inside the bios or past the bios screen?

 

No POST, blank screen as I mentioned in the intel scenario....The FAN runs for about 10-15 seconds then the mobo is like dead (silent). Nothing works.

(I'll look for those posts)

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3780783&postcount=1
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3690362&postcount=17

 

thanks Andy

 

I did once in my life. Replaced Pentium M 750 (1.86 GHz) with Pentium M 770 (2.13 GHz).

 

i replaced a Celeron M530 with a T5450 and it was a noticable difference!!

 

I have a M1530 processor T7250 (2.0 GHz) and would like to increase it to the max,

Can I change my processor?

 

Please do not revive old threads
The XPS M1530 uses socket P processors.
Your system can use processors like the T8100, T8300, T9300, T9500 processors.
The T9500/X9000 are the fastest processors the XPS 1530 supports.

I would go for a T9300/T9500 since they are very good bang for the buck processors.

You can also upgrade the memory to a whopping 8Gb if you upgraded your bios to the latest revision.
I know their are users here with 6Gb in their XPS1530's
The memory type your system uses is PC5300/PC6400 DDR2 Sodimm memory
It has a maximum capacity of (2 x 4Gb) or 8Gb of memory.

K-TRON

 

I noticed that the specs of older FW series (for example FW140) says that the maximum RAM is 4GB, while the newer FW series have max RAM of 8GB. Does it mean that if I upgrade the BIOS of the older FW using the new BIOS, I should be able to install 8GB RAM? Is there any limit of maximum RAM that a PM45 chipset can support? And do we have DDR2 RAM with speed 1066MHz? If so, can I use the RAM although my laptop uses 800 MHz RAM (PC2-6400)? Thanks.

 

You can upgrade the bios to the latest revision to support 8gb of memory
Your chipset can only make use of Pc4200, Pc5300 and Pc6400 sodimms, so buying the higher clocked 1066mhz memory will not work.

K-TRON

 

thanks K-Tron..