is processor upgrade in dell vostro 2420 possible

[aarav.mathur.delhi]

i have a dell vostro 2420 running windows 8.1 and its quite slow to be honest so i was just thinking if i could upgrade the old i3(which sucks) to an i5 or i7 maybe

 

[samer.forums]

you cant upgrade notebooks CPU

 

[SkyNetRising]

Actually on this laptop cpu is upgradable. But you can upgrade to model, that has tdp close to tdp of your current cpu. Or else cooling system of your laptop will not be able to handle it and will overheat.

What is model name of your current cpu?

 

[samer.forums]

Actually on this laptop cpu is upgradable. But you can upgrade to model, that has tdp close to tdp of your current cpu. Or else cooling system of your laptop will not be able to handle it and will overheat.

What is model name of your current cpu?

it is dangerous to upgrade CPU in notebook. The heatsink and cooler might not be enough for upgrade.

 

[dudeman509]

Generally, you can just drop in an i7 that has the same TDP from your generation of chip and be just fine. That, along with a SSD, will have an old laptop flying along in day-to-day things.

 

[SkyNetRising]

The heatsink and cooler might not be enough for upgrade.

Yes - that's why it's necessary to know model number of current cpu and determine TDP of it.

 

[dudeman509]

The heatsink and cooler might not be enough for upgrade.

Yes - that's why it's necessary to know model number of current cpu and determine TDP of it.

35W, like every 2-core Ivy Bridge i3/i5/i7 M-series laptop CPU

 

[samer.forums]

The heatsink and cooler might not be enough for upgrade.

Yes - that's why it's necessary to know model number of current cpu and determine TDP of it.

35W, like every 2-core Ivy Bridge i3/i5/i7 M-series laptop CPU

M series CPU max is 50 watts and less ...

 

[dudeman509]

OP, either of these would be a significant bump in clockspeed without stepping up to the 45W TDP limit that the QM (4-core) i7's have. Should make a noticeable improvement in day-to-day usability.

https://ark.intel.com/products/64893/Intel-Core-i7-3520M-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_60-GHz

https://ark.intel.com/products/71255/Intel-Core-i7-3540M-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_70-GHz

I did a similar upgrade to an i5-450M (up to i7-640m) and it was definitely noticeable in web browsing and general laptop usage scenarios. Still a bit outdated, but it bought me another year and a half of usability without feeling like the thing just crawled.

For reference, here's the full list of mobile processors from that generation.

https://ark.intel.com/products/codename/29902/Ivy-Bridge#@mobile

 

[dudeman509]

The heatsink and cooler might not be enough for upgrade.

Yes - that's why it's necessary to know model number of current cpu and determine TDP of it.

35W, like every 2-core Ivy Bridge i3/i5/i7 M-series laptop CPU

M series CPU max is 50 watts and less ...

QM or XM, sure. Not "M" alone.

 

[bignastyid]

you cant upgrade notebooks CPU

That would be wrong. there are a few laptops that have upgradable CPUs and even some that offer upgradable graphics.

 

[SkyNetRising]

OP, either of these would be a significant bump in clockspeed without stepping up to the 45W TDP limit that the QM (4-core) i7's have. Should make a noticeable improvement in day-to-day usability.
https://ark.intel.com/products/64893/Intel-Core-i7-3520M-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_60-GHz
https://ark.intel.com/products/71255/Intel-Core-i7-3540M-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_70-GHz

Those both are 2 core/4 thread cpus.

Assuming current cpu is i3-3110M, i3-3120M or i3-3130M (all are 2 core/4 thead cpus),
then best upgrade path would be one of these:

• i7-3632QM,
  i7-3612QM

Both are 35W tdp and 4core/8thread cpus.

 

[bignastyid]

From what I can find the fastest cpu Dell shipped with that model is the i5 3230M. The Dell bios may not support an i7.

 

[bignastyid]

i have a dell vostro 2420 running windows 8.1 and its quite slow to be honest so i was just thinking if i could upgrade the old i3(which sucks) to an i5 or i7 maybe

It what way it is slow? Slow boot times? Long load times? CPU usage hitting 100% in the program(s) you are running?

 

[dudeman509]

OP, either of these would be a significant bump in clockspeed without stepping up to the 45W TDP limit that the QM (4-core) i7's have. Should make a noticeable improvement in day-to-day usability.
https://ark.intel.com/products/64893/Intel-Core-i7-3520M-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_60-GHz
https://ark.intel.com/products/71255/Intel-Core-i7-3540M-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_70-GHz

Those both are 2 core/4 thread cpus.

Assuming current cpu is i3-3110M, i3-3120M or i3-3130M (all are 2 core/4 thead cpus),
then best upgrade path would be one of these:

• i7-3632QM,
  i7-3612QM

Both are 35W tdp and 4core/8thread cpus.

QM's a gamble if it will work. Some will support it; some won't. I suppose it's a shot I'd take; could always re-sell the CPU. The 2-core i7's have a higher chance of working, but then you only still have 2C/4T.