Ultrabook CPU upgrading

Quick question. I am considering purchasing an Asus ux21, but I know Ivy Bridge is right around the corner (well, a few months, but it's close enough). I am under the impression that SB and IB are backwards compatible since they use the same socket type. My question is, would it be a reasonable move to buy the ux21 now and replace the processor in a few months? The main reason I want to upgrade to IB is the gaming performance. I don't need anything crazy, but I'd like a slim laptop that can handle some games even at low/medium settings.

Also, where would one purchase a ULV laptop processor? The only i series laptop proc I can find is a standard voltage i5 on newegg.

 

ULV CPUs are soldered to the motherboard, so there is no upgrade possibility (hence why you can't find it on Newegg either). If you buy an Ultrabook, you should do so without the intention of making any system hardware upgrades, in most cases.

 

as above, all are soldered directly to the mainboard, your limited to RAM,SSD and wireless upgrades pretty much, cpu and gpu no chance!

 

Couldn't I still remove the existing processor, and sauter a new one on? I know it's not the easiest thing to do, but wouldn't it be possible? Also, if I managed to pull it off, would I be able to use faster ram (since Ivy Bridge supports ddr3 1600 while Sandy Bridge only supports 1333)?

 

Short answer: don't even think about it.
Long answer: There are 1023 tiny little pins to solder/desolder. Don't even think about it unless you want a shiny paperweight.

 

nope on all accounts.

You have to have a bga soldering table, a ulv cpu (which are hard to find), the ram aint upgradable, you also need the manufacturer to update teh microcode, not to mention that they aint the same socket, and AFAIK there wont be an upgrade path for mobile cpus.

 

I guess it's more trouble than it's worth. I could get access to a soldering table, but I know how hard it is even with that. If only AMD's ULV trinity chips were out, I wouldn't be having this problem. It seems like the only reasonably thin and light notebook with a decent gpu is the vaio sa at the moment. I really want the ultrabook form factor though. Lame.

 

A human cannot replace a CPU that is soldered on to the motherboard. The tiny connectors are too small for human hands to solder.

Also... why do you want an ultrabook form factor? What do you do in your daily life that requires you to have a gaming-capable ultra-portable machine?

 

@kent

Obviously it would be ridiculous to hand solder ever pin on a motherboard. That's what tables are for. I want the ultrabook form factor because I carry my laptop around all day at school and I'd like it to be as thin and light as possible. I guess another part of it is that I just really like the svelte, sexy look of ultrabooks (and the zenbook has the 11 incher, which I prefer over 13.3). I do have some long breaks, though, and I'd like to be able to waste my time playing Borderlands or Skyrim. If I had my way, I'd also have a touchscreen and W8, but I'll have to wait until August for that.

 

you are probably going to wait that long for the batch with ivy cpus

 

I think I did a poor job conveying my message in my last post.
The answer is that ultrabook CPUs are not replaceable by the end-user.

I think you are asking too much out of a single machine. The reality is that you will not be able to find a machine that does everything.

Traditionally, you can either have power or portability. At one extreme, an ultrabook will have extreme portability, at the cost of not having much gaming power above Intel integrated graphics. At the other extreme, you can find a 14" gaming laptop that sacrifices portability (weight, size, form factor) and would be a pain to carry around.

The two laptops I know of that tries to walk the line in the middle are:
* Alienware M11x. 11.6" portable gaming-capable laptop, 4.5lbs, 5 hours battery life. However, the tradeoff is that you have a relatively heavy laptop (4.5lbs) with a sub-par screen.

* Sony Vaio SA3 series. 13" portable gaming-capable laptop. 3.65lbs, 4 hours battery life (8 hours with additional battery slice). The tradeoff is that your display contrast and viewing angles aren't spectacular.


If I were you, I would just buy an ultrabook, and just accept whatever underpowered gaming you can get with the Intel integrated graphics. If you need a laptop today, buy an ultrabook based off of Intel Sandy Bridge CPUs. If you can afford to wait another 6-8 months, buy an ultrabook based off of an Intel Ivy Bridge CPU.

The reality is that you *NEED* a laptop for school that is portable. The ability to play games during breaks is a nice-to-have novelty that is not necessary for you to function.

 

...Or he could just wait for Trinity ultrabooks to show up. Ivy Bridge graphics are no big deal, a Llano from this gen could compete with it and win in a few tests. Trinity graphics will clobber it for sure.

 

the question is the cpu power that trinity will have, and Im not that confident that it will be anything similar to what ivy has, nor SB.

the problem is that, for things that are a little intensive, those things wont cut it.

However having spent the weekend with a C50 powered netbook, Im confident that if he has patience we can get things done on that.

 

Did he say what his needs were? why don't you think the trinity CPU would be fast enough?

 

If OP is looking at ULV Sandy Bridge, about any modern processor is more than fast enough. That includes Trinity.

 

A 14" gaming laptop is "the other extreme"? It's more like a netbook compared to the X79 Sandy Bridge-E laptops coming out like the Clevo P270WM And I bring my 17" G73 to class everyday and don't find it a big pain to carry around (granted the 1.5-2 hour battery life isn't great)...

Anyway, hopefully Ivy Bridge will be as big a leap for ULV chips as Sandy Bridge was for mobile quad cores...just have to wait 3-4 more months!

 

That's not really true as it was done before; e.g, the Celeron M on the Asus EEE PC 900 was swapped with a Pentium M. See link.

The main issue with doing the swap is whether the motherboard and BIOS will support the new CPU/ the upgrade.

 

When the discussion starts with Ultrabooks, then yes... I would consider anything above 4.5lbs to be "too big" to compare to an Ultrabook.

Yes, you can get gaming-capable machines much larger than 14". But the person looking for the portability of an ultrabook won't really consider those to be viable options.

Just because it is technically possible, doesn't mean it's a good idea.

"This is not a easy mod. You would need special tools and skills to do it, so don't try it if you haven't done anything similar before. "

To be fair...if you aren't a rather experienced electronics hobbyist/engineer..."soldering is complicated but interesting" is about as much as you need to know Anything more and you have a bricked EEE and angry emails to the "howto writeup person".

if you don't already know how to do it, this is probably not for you.​

Just like how it is technically possible to overclock an AMD Bulldozer CPU to 8.4Ghz. But if someone came into these forums asking how to overclock their AMD Bulldozer CPU to 8+Ghz, my answer would be the same... it's not possible [for an end-user]. Don't bother trying. You are more likely to screw something up and brick your hardware, than you are to be successful.

 

For someone willing to take the risk it is not difficult to do and the equipment is not that expensive. These are a few videos show that the procedure is not that complicated: video1, video2, video3. There was a very good video showing some affordable equipment that can be used to do the swap... I can't find it.

The main reason for not doing it is the cost. Swapping the motherboard with a one that has a better CPU is likely to be more cost effective

 

Those are some interesting videos, but beyond what I'd attempt.

 

LG P330 is a 13" notebook with GT 555m... Not in N.A. yet (if ever) but there are ways to get them from Singapore and other European places.

But even if you could swap the CPU there's no guarantee it would work. And you really need to know what you're doing. Just trying to do a pin mod, I sneezed and broke a connection I could never get back together, lol.

edit: thanks for those videos +1. Although seems like 300-360C would destroy the chip!

 

The only ultraportables atm with user upgradable socketted CPUs are a 11.6" Asus U24E, 12.5" Asus B23E and 12.5" HP 2560P. Some users have put i7-quad (i7-2xxxQM) CPUs into theirs.

De-soldering a UX21's CPU and soldering on a replacement is technically possible but it's not financially practical to do so. You may want to just get one of those ultraportables instead. Or consider a 12.5" Dell E6220 or Lenovo X220 also have soldered CPUs but they are more powerful 35W i5/i7 units. The Dell is a good looking and thin notebook. Refurbs can be found on ebay or Dell Outlet for mid $500s.

 

Point has been run over many times, ultrabook CPU's are BGA soldered and there is no upgrading.