Upgrade a 2,5yo Dell XPS

Hi there,

I'm still using my 2,5 year old XPS 1645 laptop with first generation i7 processor. I really like it alot, even though the hardware is becoming a bit outdated, so I'm hesitant to buy a new laptop. Instead of that, I was thinking: can't I just upgrade the hardware in this one? What are things to be taken into account? I'm quite experienced with building and maintaining PC hardware, but laptop hardware is an unexplored zone for me. Is there anything regarding a form factor for the motherboard or something to be taken into account?

Could I just buy a new generation motherboard with new generation processor and just fit it? Or does Dell use specific boards that aren't available on the market?

 

Hi there,

I'm still using my 2,5 year old XPS 1645 laptop with first generation i7 processor. I really like it alot, even though the hardware is becoming a bit outdated, so I'm hesitant to buy a new laptop. Instead of that, I was thinking: can't I just upgrade the hardware in this one? What are things to be taken into account? I'm quite experienced with building and maintaining PC hardware, but laptop hardware is an unexplored zone for me. Is there anything regarding a form factor for the motherboard or something to be taken into account?

Could I just buy a new generation motherboard with new generation processor and just fit it? Or does Dell use specific boards that aren't available on the market?

 

Woops, sorry, seems I double posted. The page after clicking the 'New Thread' button failed on me so I tried again.

 

You can upgrade the memory to a bigger capacity and freq and HDD to a bigger HDD or an SSD.


Don't know about the CPU but GPU looks like it's soldered to the mobo

 

if i was a gambling man, i'd wager that the cpu is soldered. the xps's chassis might as well be soldered too...

 

It uses specific boards, so you can't upgrade the chipset. With a notebook like yours, you can basically upgrade anything that was initially offered when you purchased the laptop. Also, you could purchase an SSD drive if you want to improve loading times.

What in particular are you trying to improve in your laptop? Do you find it slow for certain tasks?

 

you can glean a little from this:

...but at that rate, i think a new xps would probably be in order.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. The reason I want to upgrade it is mainly because the GPU is lacking the juice required for the newest games.

But I understand it's hard to replace the motherboard since it's Dell's custom format. But namaiki, are you saying I can contact Dell to upgrade the internals of this laptop? As I said, I'd rather not buy a new one. I don't like nowadays' design and build quality with the majority of laptops. This one is great.

 

In the "old" Studio XPS line the 5730 is the fastest card, but not much faster than the 4670. Waste of money to upgrade the motherboard. A new XPS is a better choice.

 

I don't think your laptop was offered with any other graphics card besides the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670, so I don't think you can change that.

edit: Well I guess you might be able to swap it with the above (I have no idea if the motherboard is the same size), but it might be very costly as you would have to source an entire motherboard for the XPS 1645 with a 5730.

 

I don't remember if the 720QM comes as a BGA part.

Then again, I might be wrong.