Satellite M70 upgrade - hard drive and possibly CPU.

hi,

i was wondering if anyone can tell me if it was possible to replace the current 80gb SATA hard drive on my laptop to a larger capacity one with 7200rpm spindle speed? my concern will be heat generated if it was possible and if it would require fan change etc.

if so what reasonably priced drive brands/models do people recommend for this change over and what is a recommended size?

also, is it possible and worth it to do a CPU change on it or is it just plain not worth it? i was thinking the pentium m 770 2.13ghz to replace my pentium 750 1.86ghz one.

my laptop has been a real workhorse and has not missed a beat since buying new nearly 4 years ago. i know a lot of peope have mixed reviews of toshies but mine has been a real gem and im not really too keen on upgrading to a brand new one just yet even though prices are quite competitive.

below is links to show model of my laptop.

http://203.56.127.51/topic/pdf/DOWNLOADS/BROCHURES/Toshiba_Satellite_Range_Brochure_Q4_2005.pdf

Model Number of my laptop.... PSM71A-00S005.



many thanx.

T

ps. i am in oz incase the model numbers seem strange as i see the M70 was a little different in overseas models.

 

Hard drive installations are fairly quick and easy. Don't worry about faster and newer hard drives, most are efficient and do not produce much heat. I suggest Hitachi 7K320 or 5K500.B, depending on if you prefer a little faster or little more space - both should be under $80-90. As for the CPU, upgrades are costly with little benefit. How much memory do you have? That might be a more beneficial upgrade.

 

I agree. You could technically upgrade the processor, but I don't think it'd be worth it just for an extra 100-300 mhz (especially since you can't upgrade beyond a pentium M). A brand new 7200 rpm hard drive will give you a nice little speed boost, but it will run a bit hotter, though not by much, and it does not require a fan change.

Good luck on your upgrades! I recently upgraded my inspiron 8600 from a Banias 1.4 GHz to a Dothan 1.7, and I also added a new 160 5400 rpm hard drive in addition to the extra gb of ram that I bought a few years back, and its really improved its overall responsiveness.

 

Just as an example of how small the marginal value of upgrading the CPU is, my desktop had a AMD Athlon x2 3.0GHz CPU. I do a lot of Handbrake on it, which is amongst the most CPU intensive things you can do on a PC. I downgraded to a 2.6GHz Athlon x2 mainly for the power savings. The old CPU was about 1:1 to encoding, a two hour movie took about two hours to encode. The new CPU for the same two hour movie takes about 2:15. That's only for very CPU intensive stuff. Most of your every day tasks like Office and Internet aren't hard on the CPU. There the memory and hard drive are much more important.

 

I'll keep it short and simple. Get a pentium M725 from ebay. It run at 1.6ghz (100fsb). Then pin mod it. This will for it to run at 2.13GHz (133fsb). There is a tutorial in the forum on how to do the pin mod.

The success rate is quite high for the pin mod to work with Pentium M715 and M725. Besides you can buy either of them for quite a cheap price in ebay.

alternatively if you don't wont to try the pin mod you can get this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=120407257470

I'm not just talking. I pin moded two Celeron M340 to 1.86Ghz and a pentium M715 to 2GHz. The problem with your thoshiba is you'll have to take the laptop apart to access the CPU.

 

detailed guide to do the pin mod
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3226&article=pin+mod

 

thanx for the responses guys, much appreciated.

to answer someones post i already have the max 2gb memory and yes that has helped it out quite a lot.

i will be doing the hard drive replacement definitely as i think also that its the 2nd best upgrade for the money to go along with memory boost.

as for the pin modding, ive heard about this but dont know if i am willing to risk it. i havent done it before, even though i am able to do most things in terms of fixing when it come to electrical and electronic i dont want to go down that path.

even if i was to get a cpu off ebay they are all used. what are peoples experiences with these off ebay and how reliable are they and reputable the people selling them?

cheers.
PPg

 

I've bought and sold a few CPUs. I never had any issues, but eBay can be really hit or miss.

 

so out of the following drives which would be the best in terms of allround performance, makes the least amount of noise/vibration/heat compared to the current standard drive http://193.128.183.41/home/v3__product.asp?pid=475&inf=dsc&wg=15 that i have now?

the choice going by what most people are talking up a lot are the Hitachi 7K320, WD Scorpio Black and the Seagate Momentus 7200.3 .

a lot of concerns with the hitachi are with vibration, how bad is it?

in real world terms is there a standout of the 3 or are they all equally as good.

should i be concerned about the heat coz at times i think my laptop can get quite warm in the warmer months when using for extended periods with the standard drive.

 

I have the 320 Gb 7k320 in my latitude, and to be honest, its a bit loud, though its not to the point that I can't handle it. In terms of heat, the drive stays pretty cool, though I haven't specifically measured the temperature to verify this. It does produce a bit of vibration for me, but you notice only when you place your hand on the left palm rest. The drive is great though in terms of performance, and for the price I paid (roughly 50 after rebates), I think it was a great deal.

I can't speak from experience for the other two, but its my guess that the Hitachi is likely the loudest one of the three.

 

well i havent had much time due to busy work schedule and time constraints but i have only recently tried installing my new 7K320 into my toashiba M70.

i tried cloning wth true image but it hasnt worked. i rang toshiba support but as usual they are trying to flog the problem off to 'paid support' and wont help me much over the phone.

when i set the cloned 7K320 into my laptop after the toshiba startup screen all i get it a flashing cursor in top left corner and nothing else.

the only thing the support guy recommended i do is install windows via recovery disc and new drivers for the new hitachi drive and copy everything over.

is this my best bet or is there a simpler way?
cheers.

 

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