Question Best upgrade for E5420?

[CrimStar]

I have a Dell Latitude E5420, which I have upgraded to 16GB RAM and thrown in an SSD. It currently houses an i3-2310M, and I'm wanting to upgrade that as well. Before I hear the countless comments, let me dismiss the big two. Yes I know the upgrade isn't worth it. My daily driver is an ASUS GX501, I just like upgrading my old systems. And secondly, yes this is a socketed CPU not soldered, I know there'll be plenty of comments saying "Laptop CPUs tend to be soldered" so I'm saying it now, this is a socketed CPU that can be upgraded. Now onto the main topic, if I keep at the same socket and TDP, the best CPU I could theoretically upgrade to would be an i7-3632QM. However I don't know if that will work in my laptop since DELL is nonsensical with their laptop BIOS. So I was wondering if any of you fine folk have upgraded this laptop or have any experience with this and can help me determine the best I can put in this old timer. And one last time, yes this is pointless, I just like upgrading even if it's a 1% upgrade, and yes this is a socketed not soldered CPU platform.

 

[LORDPrometheus]

You are correct that the Dell BIOS will likely not allow you to change anything just because it is not soldered does not mean they want you to upgrade. the biggest issue to upgrading will be power and cooling. Laptop power delivery does not have the overhead desktop systems have so you may find that any chip with a higher TDP will not work. The same goes for thermals with almost every laptop on the market having an inadequate cooling solution for the chip they come with much less a more powerful one

 

[CrimStar]

You are correct that the Dell BIOS will likely not allow you to change anything just because it is not soldered does not mean they want you to upgrade. the biggest issue to upgrading will be power and cooling. Laptop power delivery does not have the overhead desktop systems have so you may find that any chip with a higher TDP will not work. The same goes for thermals with almost every laptop on the market having an inadequate cooling solution for the chip they come with much less a more powerful one

Yes I realize all this, that's why I've come to see if anyone has experience with this, even if it's a tiny one step of 100MHZ to a 2330M, I just want to get the most I can out if it. I'm 98% certain I won't get anything above an i5 working, I'm just looking to see if other people have done this or similar upgrades and can shed some light on where I can go.