Merom upgrade for Fe21 series possible?

Hi, all im thinking of getting a VGN-FE21M from comet or laptops direct (this is in uk and goes for £970). I know the new set of merom processors will probably be expensive, so theres no real need to get one of them. But i am wondering whether it will be possible to upgrade the sony laptop from core duo to core duo 2 as it same motherboard. But im just wondering if maybe sony has locked out the ability to upgrade as they rather have you get a new laptop. I know acer's are upgradeable but i cant seem to find an acer with similar spec and price to the sony, and the sony does seem to fit my needs well, just if i cant upgrade it (say 12months after purchase when merom will be cheaper hopefully then). Thanks for any advice guys.

 

This is something I don't quite understand.

The hype around the Core Duo 2 processors is, given its perfomance gain, not really justified. If you're talking Core Duo 2 vs. Intel Penitum M, I'd understand the concern.

Processor upgrades hold unforseeable problems. Even though Intel together with mainboard manufacturer's do claim that an upgrade should be possible, there is still a long way to go until you can simply pull out the old one and put in a new Memron one (like you could do with RAM for example).

The reason for this is simply the fact that mainboard manufacturer's do their best to optimize their products for a certain processor range. So even if you could upgrade, it is quite likely that the full potential of the Memron may not be at your disposal (with the mainboard you have at the moment).

Of course manufacturer may get their act together and successful achieve this compatibility. But given the complexity and specificity of these products, it seems difficult to imagine.

So that leaves you with two options, go with the Core Duo 1 and don't worry about the upgrade, or wait for Core Duo 2 to go down in price. But don't calculate on the upgrade, because the likelihood of you making a successful transition with subsequent stability and speed is, in my opinion, quite low and simply not worth the hassle.

Hope that helps

 

Hi everybody.

I have bought last May a Sony Vaio Fe21M, with a Core Duo 1,66 Ghz.

I would like to upgrade its cpu, possibly with a Merom T7200.

Do you think it's possible ? Has anyone try to upgrade this sony series to Core 2 Duo ( Merom ) cpus ?

Thanks a lot

Carlo