Laptop Upgrade

nh484000

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Hey everyone, Ill thank everyone in advance. I currently have a nice dual core desktop unit that I love but I will be going abroad next year for college and was wondering if I could upgrade my laptop to make it alittle more friendly to use. I have a HP Compaq Presario 2100 series. It has basically never been used. It has a 1.8 Celeron M 478 pin Northwood CPU and 256 MB ddr ram. I was going to upgrade the ram to 1 gb and i was wondering if I could:
1) Upgrade the CPU( like will the bios let me)
2)If I can what CPU to use. I know it has to be a 478 pin. I was thinking about a P4 M like something around 2.0 ghz.

I know upgrading the CPU means taking the whole thing apart. I dont mind that. I can do those two upgrade for about 100$ off ebay parts. All that im looking for is a computer that will last me 4 months in Europe. I will be doing College HW, talking on AIM, Listeing to Music and using Skype. Nothing too demanding I just want something alittle better than I have.

My other option is to save the money and buy a newer laptop that ill only use for the four months. Im trying to save the most money as im a poor college kid. Thank!
 

Sirfiroth

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Below are 2 links listing the Pentium M up grades for your Machine.

Pentium M 740
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819111170

Pentium M 780
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819111176

For the money you could get a Acer or HP Laptop.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834147354

For $77.00 more than the upgrade you can get a whole new Laptop


_____________________
No matter where you go or what you do, you live your entire life within the confines of your head”. ~Terry Josephson
 

ajfink

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Below are 2 links listing the Pentium M up grades for your Machine.

Pentium M 740
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819111170

Pentium M 780
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819111176

For the money you could get a Acer or HP Laptop.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834147354

For $77.00 more than the upgrade you can get a whole new Laptop


_____________________
No matter where you go or what you do, you live your entire life within the confines of your head”. ~Terry Josephson

Pentium M != P4 M.
 

mpjesse

Splendid
From my experience with notebooks, you usually have to replace the motherboard when replacing the CPU. The OEM's usually lock down the BIOS so they won't work with different model CPU's.

Case and point:

My mom's CPU in her motherboard died. (it's a dell) I bought a Pentium III mobile that was only 50Mhz faster and identical in cache size. For all intents and purposes it was the SAME processor. And guess what? BIOS saw the CPU and POST'd, but refused to go past that point. So clearly the motherboard was capable of using that processor, but Dell locked down the BIOS so that it wouldn't go past POST. The solution was to buy a different motherboard that shipped with that same CPU. In the end I spent about $300 USD to fix it... and that was using used parts on eBay.

So... if you're going to upgrade the CPU, count on upgrading the motherboard too. It can be VERY tricky to find the right motherboard... but they can be found on ebay.com... and only ebay. You must KNOW what CPU goes with what motherboard.

My advice: don't waste ur time. Save your money and get a new laptop. Or upgrade to 1GB of RAM.
 

ajfink

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Pentium M != P4 M.

Does this mean that i can use either or?

!= means "does not equal." While the Pentium Ms use a 478-pin socket, it is incompatible with the socket 478 used on many desktops and some laptops from the time. You would be able to drop in a P4-M, but I would suggest against trying to put a desktop P4 in there.
 

big_tuna

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since you are not doing anything real demanding just upgrade the memory and use it as is and save for a more powerful laptop when you return.
 

Ranman68k

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Pentium M != P4 M.

Does this mean that i can use either or?

!= means "does not equal." While the Pentium Ms use a 478-pin socket, it is incompatible with the socket 478 used on many desktops and some laptops from the time. You would be able to drop in a P4-M, but I would suggest against trying to put a desktop P4 in there.

Correct...

I have been thinking about the same upgrade.... what a coincidence. :)

A Pentium M cannot be used in place of a Pentium 4-M and
a mobile Pentium 4 cannot be used in place of a Pentium 4-M and
a desktop Pentium 4 cannot be used in place of a Pentium 4-M.

Here is a link to a P4-M at eBay...
eBay - P4-M

Just make sure you do enough research to ensure you get the right CPU and that you feel comfortable doing it.

Good Luck!