Question CPU Support/Upgrade for a Toshiba Satellite L745-S4310

[DellvlloN]

Hey guys. I am refurbishing a Toshiba Satellite Satellite L745-S4310 and wanted to upgrade from the i3-2330m to an i5, or possibly even an i7. The motherboard is socketed and the CPU can be removed. I have looked for documentation for this specific model and have found its original manual, but it only speaks to the i3-2330m. I presume that the numbers after "L745" are indicative of which CPU is being used, but I honestly can't find any information on the subject. Given these older mobile processors are substantially cheaper than they were 8-10 years ago, I figure it'd be a nice way to breathe new life into a laptop that at this point is sluggish, especially when watching videos on YT. I will also be upgrading the RAM and HDD to an SSD.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[NorbertPlays]

Based on UserBenchmark there are at least some out there with an i5-2430M in there, and apart from maybe some BIOS shenanigans I can't see any reason why an i7-2640M or any other G2 socket CPU with a 35W or lower TDP wouldn't work.

 

[noiceturtle55]

You could try for an i7 2640m, it's still a dual core cpu, but you will get clockspeeds from 2.2 ghz with the i3 to a maximum of 3.5 with the i7, which will probably make a noticeable difference in most applications.

 

[punkncat]

Generally speaking, if you cannot find a "sister" model that offered up upgrade CPU in the same line, it probably isn't going to work. If you can, see if you can find a cross reference on the motherboard in this unit and see if any further information can be found regarding support. Toshiba has been gone for a while now, so finding documentation can be troublesome.

As you mention, at this point the laptop is pretty much obsolete, and with the pricing on these CPU it is probably worth trying just to see what comes of it.