upgrades for hp zx5000

OK i am a car guy so computers go right over my head. I bought this laptop for deployments in '04. Back then everyone thought it was the greatest. Now, it is in need of some upgrading. As of right now I am looking to fill the extra RAM slot, get a DVD burner to replace the CD burner, maybe a bigger hard drive, and just plain see what is out there for it. It has been a good reliable PC that has served me extremely well (except for a tendancy to kill batteries). Whether yes or no, can someone help ID the parts I'd need? I am baffled by the ins and outs of the PN's, pin counts, and the if this than that's I find out there. Here we go.

1) I have a 512mb card in the slot I can't see. Can I go bigger, 1g, in the empty one? Can I get at the filled one to put more in it too?
2) The big nightmare, a DVD burner. I am finding allot of universal ones and some specific ones and then some that will fit while someone else says the same one won't. I'd like to get a DL burner as cheap and reliable as possible. I am willing to swap my chassis across. I have thought of a slot loading one since my curved faceplate seems to be the biggest catch. Any input?
3) I have a 60Gb internal and know that right after I got this hp offered a 100GB. I also have a 250gb external, so this is not too big of a deal, but still how big can I go internal, and how? I have removed my HD, so that part is easy, but how can I tell if the one I look at will fit?
4) My ATI9600 still holds its own on the playing field, but I know there are tons better out there. Can it be upgraded? If so to what? the 9700 came out right after i took delivery of this one.
5) I have yet to over work my 3.0 pentium 4 HT processor, but again I know there are better, can that be swapped too? I doubt I will, simoly because mine has never given me cause to worry (same with the video card), but it would be nice to know how I can keep up with today's laptops as best as possible.

I ask allot of questions and thank you in advance for the answers.

 

You can get to both RAM slots, but gettting to the filled one will require removing your keyboard. Instructions on doing so should be easy enough to find. You probably have a maximum of 2GB of RAM (1GB in each slot) which is more than enough for even intensive gaming.

All Slim DVD burners should fit. Go to Newegg.com; you can get one for around $60. Slot-loaded is nice, but there's the faceplate issue, and if something gets stuck you're SOL unless you want to take the drive apart.

Since I doubt you have a SATA connection, you probably can't do much better than 120GB 5400RPM or 100GB 7200RPM, both of which are about $100-$150 on Newegg.

I doubt you can upgrade your GPU. If HP released the 9700 for your notebook, it's possible - but not likely. Most AGP notebook cards were just soldered onto the motherboard.

Chances are you have an LGA775 socket on an 855GM chipset. You can probably (speakign without knowing a whole lot about your laptop here) upgrade all the way to a 64-bit 3.8 GHz P4HT if you want, but the performance difference isn't going to be very noticeable - the P4 is hot, power-guzzling, and now obsolete, any way you slice it.

 

I guess ATI released the 9700 right after, not HP. Sorry. That stings about the P4 being obsolete. Oh well, as long as it works. I won't worry about it too much.
I have looked at newegg.com and ebay, but am completely confused about how to get a DVD burner to match the curve on my face plate. I was told there is no standardization for them. It would look rather stupid to have the flat face there. That is why I thought of the slot feed. At least then there would be a reason for it.
How can I tell which cards work in my HP? When I check compatabilities, it seems to skip the zx5000 most of the time. Is there a more common model that the parts will fit mine ie. zv???? or zd???? I know I ordered mine from their custom shop, but the parts were straight from their build list.
Here is what I know about my HP zx5000 (PN-dp217av)
512 ddr RAM
3.0 HT P4 CPU
60gb hard drive
cd burner drive
ATI mobility radeon 9600 Graphics card
Windows XP home
Bought 2004/06/05
Maybe that will help.
Will my bezel cross to this Burner?
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEC-ND-6650-Sli...ryZ31564QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

1) Directions for adding more RAM/removing the keyboard can be found in the link I posted in your other thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=89967

2) I updated the CDRW drive I had in my zv5000z to a DVD Burner with no problems. Check www.Newegg.com for laptop DVD drives; you could probably find them on eBay too. Any standard drive will work. The benzel (the front plastic part on the drive) won't be the same (it will be a standard, flat square one) but at least you'll have a burner. It doesn't look bad - the CD drive is basically on the bottom of the zv5000/zx5000 and hard to see without looking for it.

3) We pretty much covered that in your other thread.

4) Can't upgrade the graphics unfortunately.

5) Don't upgrade the processor, it won't do anything for you. It won't help general productivity, and in gaming, the video card is your bottleneck.

The number one upgrade you should do is add RAM; that will help *everything*, especially gaming.

 

Ok now i am split between the pioneer dvr-k05 and the nec 6650. The slot feed would be cool, but as has been mentioned what if a disk gets stuck? Another 512 card, will be ordered as soon as I can figure out which on fits.

 

I don't have any experience with the Pioneer drives, but I have used a few NEC drives and they have been excellent.

One thing to note about slot-feed drives is that they cannot accept the mini-CDs if you use those. I would not worry about discs getting stuck.

 

Dude, leave the hard drive in place, it's not worth it to upgrade from a 60GB to 100GB when you have 250GB externally. Also, if the slot loader gets stuck, shake it like a british nanny and you should be ok.*

*If you're desperate enough to try this, turn your pc off first. Otherwise, use the warranty.

 

Thanks, I'll be ordering soon. I'll update when i get it done.