What upgrades 3 years from now.

I hope I can do wonder upgrades to my laptop when my warranty runs out.

I have a vostro 1400 right now on Vista Biz 32 bit..

CPU : T7500 C2D 2.2Ghz on Intel GM965 Chipset
GFX : NV8400M GS 128MB GDDR3 dedicated
RAM : 2x2GB PC2-5300 667Mhz
HD : WD 250GB 5400 RPM
NETWORK : Intel 3945 ABG

are these all the items that are possible to upgrade?

I was told by Dell Support that the Vostro 1400 cannot be upgraded to processors other than the T series, because of some stuff like the processor will generate more heat and incompatibility. But i doubt so. With the chipset and BIOS, and the fact that penryn generate less heat and uses lower voltages, is it possible or not to upgrade my processor in due time?

I have an intel GM965, does this mean my gpu is just slapped on the integrated one? Or is it standalone and fixed on and can never be upgraded?

for memory, could i ever run memory with faster latency? or this is the fastest the chipset can support?

network, lets just wait for standard N before talking about upgrade.

I am the least bit concerned with the weight of this sytem, i thought the vostro chassis is quite sturdy and can last me quite long. I want to know how far i can go with this body and possible upgrades. 3 years is when my warranty runs out.

thanks for any advice!

 

You'll definitely be able to upgrade your processor, but as Socket P is going to be succeeded real soon, your choices will be limited to processors in the T7, T8 and T9 series. Intel's making a laptop quad sometime this year, but we don't know if it'll be Socket P. A laptop quad would be a promising upgrade in 2 to 3 years, though.

You can run memory with faster latencies as long as the memory itself can handle it (I think). But DDR2 memory isn't going to develop much further so I doubt you'll see anything faster (and compatible) in your time frame. And you've already maxed your RAM, so there's not much you can do in that department.

You will not be able to upgrade the GPU even if it's not soldered to the motherboard. The Vostro won't ship with anything faster than the 8400, so nothing will be compatible.

The best upgrade would probably be to an SSD. They'll only get cheaper and faster as time goes on and I'd venture the SATA interface will be around for a while. So I think you'll be able to get a very fast (by today's standards) hard drive somewhere down the line; maybe even sooner than 2 to 3 years.

 

Penryn T8100, T8300, T9300, T9500 should work the other Penryns won't different socket. You wont be able to upgrade your RAM and won't need to. HDD yes. Network yes. GPU I don't think so.

 

As mentioned:

CPU - Anything Socket P
RAM - Any 667mhz or 800mhz ram
HD - Any SATA HD
GPU - Restricted to anything the Vostro 1400 offers, so the 8400GS only.

 

vostro1400 probably will probably be out of the picture 3 yrs down. Succeeded by vostro 1310 right now already man.

I have a question about the processors tho. When i finally do replace them, do i need new fans and heat sink for it? would the current ones suffice?

somehow i seem to recall seeing that if i used 800mhz ram, it will be stepped down the 667mhz. Maybe its my misinformation. hohoho.

i guess ddr3 ram will have an extremely long take-up time. it will likely be too expensive and entirely not worth it for marginal improvements?

whats the outlook like for optical drives in 3 years time? i am actually thinking of getting a caddy and use the optical drive for a ssd if the prices look good.

 

3 years is a long time for computer technology and it'll likely be not a cost effective solution to upgrade it even if you could. By comparison, a 3 year old notebook presently has very low number of options that could be upgraded, and even on those components, it would not be competitive enough to reach the performance levels of current technology.

For example, a 3 year old Notebook system would probably net you a Sonoma Based 533 FSB system approximately around 1.73Ghz(average speed at the time), and around 1GB memory with PATA 80-100GB hard drive. You could upgrade a few options like memory and hard drive to a larger capacity for about $150 or so, however, those don't really impact performance levels when it comes to gaming or floating point performance. You could upgrade it to a Pentium M 780(highest possible CPU), but that would cost about $400 for the processor alone and that wouldn't even bring it up to par to performance. worst part is that the graphic card would likely be non-upgradable so you would be stuck with either the integrated or dated dedicated 256mb card.(ie; x700/6600 at the most). So with about $650 spend on the upgrades not including labor costs, the amount of money compared to the levels of a say a brand new budget T5450 based system, justifying this upgrade wouldn't make any sense.

So what I'm trying to get at here is that if you are buying a system today, only worry about it when you outgrow it and thinking of an upgrade. It's likely that you'll either be happy with it even if it's 3 years old and would still do the job, or you'll opt to get a brand new system to replace it. By then those notebooks will have much more features with all the bells and whistles.

 

If you swap processors, you can use the old fans and heatsinks. Almost all the current standard Intel mobile chips have the same TDP. Just remember to re-apply the thermal paste and all that good stuff.

No Intel mobile chipsets at the moment can run 800MHz DDR2 memory. 800MHz memory is made for the Clevos and Clevo re-brands that use desktop processors and chipsets.

You won't be able to use DDR3 memory in a Vostro 1400. Period.

What do you mean by "the outlook for optical drives"? Optical drives will definitely be around in three years. SSDs will (hopefully) be mainstream in three years such that you won't need to swap your optical drive for an SSD; you'll be able to swap your main drive (meaning the SSD will be cost effective enough to use on its own) instead.

But D3X is right. It is generally not cost-effective to upgrade laptops. Period. Hell, it's barely worthwhile to upgrade desktops these days; technology is just moving that fast.

 

Were the Sonoma based Centrinos out 3 years ago? Wow...time flies...3 years seems like a long time. My gf has a sonoma Centrino laptop which she bought new and I swear its not 3 years old..maybe two at most. But I do also remember the Core Duos were just coming out when she bought it. Have Core Duos been out for 3 years already?

 

Yeah it's close to 3 years, not quite. I got my W3V in Feb 2006, but Sonoma's were on it's way out back then when I bought it. I would say that it would have been around since Spring 2005 when Sonoma were mainstream then, Intel first announced in Jan 2005 but actual notebooks didn't come til then. Banias/Carmel came in 2004 to mid-2005 So to be far it would have been a Banias/Carmel system if you wanted to be entirely accurate, give or take a couple months, but still my theory would have been even worst if Banias system was used as my example. The performance levels would have been even worst and not worth the cost to upgrade.

 

The Yonah/Napa platform was annouced in Jan 2006, but it probably wasn't available til late spring where you could actually buy it. So I would say that Core Duo's are close to around 1.5 to 2 years old.

 

3 years! It'll be time for a new laptop.

 

now even with the maturing of core2duos, going past merom into penryn and beyond, it seems that core duo are making a comeback in some sense.

core duo now seems to be quite on the rise, but no more as mainstream, in fact, now it seems to be offered as the low cost solution, bellow 500USD laptops, business, low-end users, some of them sport a core duo so that it is usable yet highly affordable. EVERYBODY CAN OWN A LAPTOP, even 13-14 year olds! Well, thats how its like in my country!

I trust my system will still be more than sufficient for stuff in 3 years time. Meanwhile, maybe i will look to good aftermarket deals, so i can upgrade them now, maybe in the year to come. If intel comes up with socket P quad, maybe that is an option too for my vostro 1400!

i mentioned smth about optical drives before. I said it because, it seems to me that such disc drives are getting redundant. In the thumbdrive and portable hd era, seems that lesser people use DVDs for file storage and what not. I question the use of this dvd combo drives in the years ahead. seems that it dvds are going to be solely use by games and software. any outlook guys? would dvd drives see more development?

 

I'm sorry, but it seems that you have misunderstand the concept of upgrading in the Napa and Santa Rosa platforms.

Core Duo(Yonah) with the Napa chipset can only upgrade to a Merom Core 2 Duo Socket M processors of 667 FSB. Santa Rosa can is actually on it's way out with Penryn Socket P processors 800 FSB as the last refresh before introducing the new Montevina chipset. It's confirmed that Quad Core will never be launched for Santa Rosa (965 Chipset)

 

i hope i did not get Commander's words wrong there? I suppose chances are close to 0 for a quad with P Socket then.

so i am safe to say a the road ends at the T9500, at least for the current chipsets? I am not so certain what my chipset can support. Is it that a GM965 can take on any socket P processors? or is it just limited to core 2 duos socket P. Out of interests sake, are core 2 extremes supported by GM965?

 

I would agree (unfortunately) that the last Santa Rosa i965 CPU will be the T9500 although I suppose it really is sufficiently powerful for the chipset. SR is limited to any socket P CPU. And yes Core 2 Extreme is supported by SR, both the Merom X7900 at 2.8ghz (and X7800 at 2.6ghz which exists) and Penryn X9000 at 2.8ghz stock speeds.

 

a T9300, or T9500 or X7900 or X9000. Seems the extreme processors are abit on the high side in terms of cost. are there justification of choosing them instead of a 'milder' T9300 and T9500? seems the cost difference is just about 2times more expensive for the extremes.

i am looking to upgrade processor, seems that there is no point in waiting. or maybe i could just choose to sit with my T7500, if the penryns are not becoming cheaper.

side question..Any options to lighten the laptop generally? i contemplated not carrying ard the internal dvd drive, but tt leaves my connectors exposed, which isnt good stuff..