Upgrading older acer pentium m

I have a travelmate 290 with a Pentium M(715) 1.5GHz

400MHz FSB, Micro-FCPGA, SL7GL
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL7GL

So i see some Pentium M cpus on ebay, but they are 478-pin package type such as

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/INTEL-SL6FK-P...Computing_LaptopAccess_RL?hash=item414d3de2bc

Would these fit my laptop, can i even remove the cpu on a travemate 290?

 

nope, those are "Pentium 4" Mobile chips. It is not same as "Pentium M".

Look for Pentium M 725, 735, 745, 755.

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It's your lucky day since I'm taping this text using an Acer TravelMate 290 which I've upgraded few time.

You can use as ramgen suggested Pentium M 725, 735, 745, 755. Those CPU will run at their initial speed.

You can also use Pentium M 730, 740, 750, 760, but they will be downclocked. For nstance a Pentium M 740 will run in this laptop at 1.3Ghz instead of 1.73Ghz.

I upgraded my TravelMate 290 from a Celeron to a Pentium M 740, and then undervolted it using RMclock. Result the laptop was running so cool that the CPU fan never spinned even under full load.

After using the Pentium M 740 on this laptop for two years I've just upgraded it to a Pentium M 745 (1.8Ghz).

 

ahh thanks, this was hard info to get.

I notice that intel also made two 2.1ghz cpus at 400mhz,

SL7V3 and SL7UZ they don't have model numbers, i guess i could use these as well.

If i did find a 755(2.0ghz) it's going to put a fair bit of extra heat on the laptop?

This is actually my main laptop now as other one died, i can see some cheap 1.73ghz cpus for sale would i notice much going form 1.5ghz to 1.73ghz.

I just use word and firefox, can be very slow though.

 

The 1.73Ghz is the M740. It has an FSB of 133 and a multiplier of 13. 13x133 = 1733Mhz or 1.73Ghz.

If you put this CPU in your laptop it will run at 1.3Ghz only (13x100=1300Mhz or 1.3Ghz).

So your better off buying an M735 or M745. My TravelMate is used by me and my relatives for the internet mainly and I have t say it's quite fast.

How much ram do you have? mine has been upraded to 1GB (2x512MB)

 

ahhh! I only had 256mb of ram just put in another 256mb about 10mins ago and it is wayyy faster, i should have guessed that but didn't expect another 256mb to make this kind of difference.

 

Intel has 2 models for every speed. They have different package types. One is Pin-grid array (FCPGA) and the other is Ball-grid array (FCBGA). You need Pin-grid array.

SL7UZ comes as FCBGA and you cannot use it. SL7V3 is the fastest CPU that you can get. Make sure that you get the correct package type.


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Well, putting into the laptop more RAM will certainly enhance it's overall responsiveness.

If you are really looking into upgrading the laptop instead of completely buying a new one, then I suggest the following:

Upgrade the RAM and Hard drive.

If I'm reading the technical manual correctly, your laptop can be upgraded to 2GB RAM.
Replace the existing HDD with a faster one that also has more capacity, and that's about it.

I'm not so sure it's worth shelling out the cash for a faster CPU.
However, you might want to look into overcloking your existing cpu.

I have an old DELL Inspiron 1300 with CeleronM (1.6Ghz) which I OC-ed using a pin mod to 2.1Ghz.
The system doesn't overheat, it's stable (even when I was working in 3ds Max), I upgraded the RAM to 2GB and replaced the HDD with one that has more in terms of storage (and probably speed).

As far the OS goes ... I suppose you could put Win7 there, though if the integrated gpu is anything like mine is in the DELL laptop, then the Aero Glass effect won't work (they intentionally never released drivers despite the fact the gpu is hardware capable of rendering Aero with little to no fuss).

 

Thanks for replies, good advice, laptop is worth keeping, still amazed at ram difference. I have now bought a 735(1.73ghz) from ebay for £8 + shipping, i will get another 512mb stick of ddr and maybe look for a cheap 120gig HD and might even install windows xp fundamentals, bet you haven't heard of that version of xp!

That should be enough for what i need it for.

 

What Windows XP FLC? I actually have a copy somewhere. I have intalled it once for fun. The copy I have has service pack 2.

I have in my laptop a Home made version of Windows XP. I made it using nLite. Iremoved from it all the bits I never use in XP. Result it take about 500MB to install on a harddrive and uses about 60MB of ram (this is before the installation of the drivers, antivirus and whatnot).

The M735 runs at 1.70Ghz not 1.73Ghz.

Deks
I had a Dell inpiron 1300 about two years ago that was pin modded (Celerom M360 1.5Ghz to 2Ghz). The TravelMate 290 can not be pin modded.

I'm not entirely sure that the TravelMate supports 2GB, I think 1GB is the limit. In the other hand the Dell 1300 supports 2GB

 

1GB RAM should be fine for xp anyways. Which had exactly do you have right now? Not a 4200 rpm one is it?

 

The TM 290 does support 2GB of RAM according to the service manual, good other replies though.

I don't even need windows fund, xp home or pro is fine now that i see it was a ram problem. Actually my m 1.5ghz is pretty nippy now that it has room to breath a bit.

That was a pretty harsh thing for acer to do, i.e selling their laptops with 256mb or ram, imagine all the pain and stress they could have saved many people by offering a 512mb model.

 

Well, that's the thing, back in the day, this would've been the bee's knees, all it would've needed was 256mb.

 

I disagree, there must be a more devious reason, such as memory upgrades or whole laptop upgrades. They still had win xp back in 2003 so it would have been just as slow then as it is now.

 

In 2004 256mb was quite a lot. In those day entry level laptops had only 128mb.

I don't see myself upgrading to 2GB... it's a lot for this laptop and what I and the rest of my familly is use it for.

The Celeron is nippy but with the Pentium M you would have a longer battery live and an even cooler laptop

 

Maybe for laptops but our Northwood based P4 desktop Dimension 4600 from 2003 had 512MB of RAM, stock. Still going strong too.

 

Just put in the M 735 so 200mhz!! increase, I notice it a small amount, now has 512mb of ram, small i know, i thought i would be able to play enemy territory on low settings, it does load but 512mb maxes out and it lags just a bit too much , looks like i need a 1gb ram, surprised, i think ET should be ok on 1gb. Even using vlc player and having 1 x torrent downloading and 1 x firefox open it maxes out the ram, i have a ram gauge to check.

Are there any pcmcia graphics cards?

 

If you could even find one, unless your notebook has a video-in (most don't), you would have to output its video signal to an external monitor, since there's no video input from the PCMCIA slot. In fact, that's the problem with pretty much every "extra" graphics solution; because very few notebooks have a video-in (at least without using something like a TV-Tuner, which would occupy the very same PCMCIA slot you're trying to use for an extra graphics card), any such solution has to go to an external monitor instead, which often negates the point of using a notebook in the first place (portability).

 

I would not recommand spending any more money in your laptop. It is not worth it. Save you money for a better laptop (new or second hand).

 

UP!!!

I bought for few euros a 1.7GHz 2M Pentium M 735 for my Travelmate 290, but it runs only at 600MHz!!!! The bios (updated to the last version) tells 1.7GHz, Windows (XP professional sp3) tells 1.7GHz....But Everest and CPU Rightmark tell only 599,49 MHz of real speed, so only 6x100 (and not 17x100)

my originat CPU (1.3GHz) real speed is....1,299GHz.....


obviously in bios I can't modify anything in this Pc.....


so....I think I can't do anything...but any idea where is the cause of this problem?
In this thread someone said that the 735 was good fo my pc!

 

ahhh news!!

I tested stressing the CPU while controlling it with Rightmark....and....the speed is 599MHz (6x) when the CPU is not stressed, while is 1.698MHz (17x) when the CPU is stressed: ok...so it goes to 1.7!!! but only when it need speed! but is it normal this thing? The Banias 1.3GHz was always at the maximum speed...this one only when the system needs it...

 

Hello, fellow 290er. I'm just recently upgrading my old and faithful 290, too, after I botched a memory upgrade on my Aspire 5610 which burned out the MoBo in late August.

Regarding your CPU speed, the M 735 is the same one I got a week or two ago. Got it for 20 €. This proccesor, from the Dothan family, unlike the Banias original CPU, has something which I believe is called SpeedStep, which precisely does what you describe: slow down the processor when not in use to reduce heat output and energy use.

Going a little bit off-topic, I've done other upgrades: increased the RAM from the original 256 MB to 1 GB (works great, though the two DIMMs ran me 70€). I've also upgraded the Wifi from the Intel 2100 to the 2200 (scavenged from an old Dell that was going to be scrapped at my office). Lastly, I swapped the CD-R/DVD drive for the DVD-R drive of my dead Aspire (worked straight away, without any drivers needing upgrade or anything).

Now, there is one last thing I'd like to do, and that's getting better graphics on the unit. Anyone care to give me some pointers? I've already got the latest drivers from the Intel website, but other than that, I don't know where else to look.

 

graphics are always the last thing you want to upgrade

acer happens to be a brand where upgrading the graphics is more often possible, but this is only on their later models AFAIK. and very rarely 14"

unless you can find the exact info online somewhere, your only chance of knowing for sure is to open it up. Aim for the heatsink.

 

When I opened up the 290 for the CPU upgrade, I seem to remember that there was only one heat pipe, and that was for the CPU heatsink. Would that mean that the card is integrated (not removeable) to the MoBo? I've also been using a Dell Latitude D610 as a source for spares and that one does have a second heatsink. When I tried to see if it could be removed, it didn't have a latching mechanism like the CPU did.