Replacing Mobile CPUs?

So, I'm not as familiar with mobile computer hardware as I am with desktop computer hardware. I know that only some laptop brands allows\ you to upgrade your CPU, but I was curious to know - do laptop motherboards work like desktop motherboards? That is, there's a specific chipset that only covers ~2 generations (for Intel CPUs), and after that, new CPUs are incompatible on that motherboard? For example, a mobile Broadwell CPU being incompatible in a laptop that previously used Ivy Bridge?

 

With laptop motherboards and Intel mobile chipsets one is - historically speaking - usually limited to single generation of CPUs.

For example, a Haswell won't work on an Ivy Bridge board, and an Ivy Bridge CPU won't work on the Sandy Bridge board...

 

... and of course, that's assuming your CPU isn't soldered to the motherboard in the first place.

 

Ah, okay good to know.

I've had seen posts of some people discouraging particular brands of laptops because they weren't upgradeable for the CPU/GPU, but it if they're all that limited I don't think I'll let soldered components factor into my decision in the first place.

 

Well, many a times you can upgrade the CPU within the same platform, GPUs are generally upgradeable on gaming rigs and some workstations.

However, soldered RAM is a huge turnoff for me personally.

What were the laptops you were interested in to begin with, and with what general purpose?

 

I was looking into getting a new gaming laptop, and some of the ones I was looking into in particular were the Asus G750 series or something like the Sager NP7358/7378. Something like the 860M seems like a decent price/performance point, and I was looking at Maxwell since supposedly it'll be a little cooler than Kepler. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all Maxwell 860M's are soldered to their respective motherboards? The Asus series looks like it'll be cool and quiet, but looks extremely unfriendly to user maintenance, and it's not upgradeable. The Sager seems a bit better in that respect, but I'm still trying to figure out how much heat/noise I'll be dealing with.

 

That disqualifies silly old me from continuing this conversation, since my knowledge of the subject matter is insignificant at best.

Hopefully someone who is well-versed on the machines that you're interested in will chime in.

Good luck.

 

Yeah currently Maxwell 860M only comes in the soldered version. I'd stay away from the G750 if you plan on upgrading, since the CPU is soldered as well.