The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Upgrading an old HP Envy M6

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by lemmywinks, Oct 31, 2016.

  1. lemmywinks

    lemmywinks Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    52
    Messages:
    107
    Likes Received:
    26
    Trophy Points:
    41
    I recently picked up a fully working but mistreated HP Envy M6 1150sa, specs are as follows:

    Core i3 2370m 2.4ghz
    Radeon 7670m 2gb
    6gb DDR3
    250gb HDD

    I've already swapped the HDD out, ram is cheap and easy (I have a 4gb stick knocking around somewhere) so that just leaves the CPU. For a cheap upgrade I could get an i5 3230m at about £20, would this be worth it in terms of price/performance or would there be little difference in real terms?

    The i7 CPUs for this notebook are crazy money and it will need a new screen at some point so I don't want to throw money at what is a pretty dated notebook now, it performs quite well for what it is though and I don't play many new games. The notebook cost me £20 as it is so is it worth sticking an i5 in there?
     
    lemmywinks, Oct 31, 2016
    #1
  2. Starlight5

    Starlight5 Yes, I'm a cat. What else is there to say, really?

    Reputations:
    826
    Messages:
    3,230
    Likes Received:
    1,643
    Trophy Points:
    231
    @lemmywinks it depends on what will you be using it for. Tell us about it.
     
    Starlight5, Oct 31, 2016
    #2
  3. lemmywinks

    lemmywinks Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    52
    Messages:
    107
    Likes Received:
    26
    Trophy Points:
    41
    Mainly office, media and light gaming. Mostly older stuff - Brutal Doom, Fallout 3, Outrun 2006, Left4Dead 1&2, Burnout Paradise. It runs Skyrim Special Edition quite well on low (with a few fade settings bumped up) and that's about the limit really, the only modern game I wanted to play was Fallout 4 but after playing it briefly I'm not particularly fussed about that.

    Nothing demanding, just wondered if I could get some extra performance out of it. I'll be stripping it to clean and apply new compound soon anyway so I thought I might as well swap out the CPU.
     
    lemmywinks, Oct 31, 2016
    #3
  4. Starlight5

    Starlight5 Yes, I'm a cat. What else is there to say, really?

    Reputations:
    826
    Messages:
    3,230
    Likes Received:
    1,643
    Trophy Points:
    231
    @lemmywinks I suggest you try to get cheaper compatible i5, maybe even 2nd gen - at a price closer to £10.
     
    Starlight5, Oct 31, 2016
    #4
  5. lemmywinks

    lemmywinks Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    52
    Messages:
    107
    Likes Received:
    26
    Trophy Points:
    41
    From having a quick look on eBay the price differential isn't much (about £3), all the ones I've looked at seem to hover around the same price for some reason. The i5 I was looking at is a gen3 Ivy Bridge, I was hoping it would be more of a significant upgrade than the 2nd gen i3 (with no turbo) in there at the moment.
     
    lemmywinks, Oct 31, 2016
    #5