Question Updating the motherboard/processor

[Chuckm34108]

My 8yr old laptop is not able to update to Windows 11 due to having a Celeron processor.
I haven't done much under the hood on laptops so wondering a couple of things:
Will installing a new motherboard solve this issue for updating to W11?
Is it worth it or will it still run slow without also upgrading the HD?
How tricky is swapping motherboards?

 

[kanewolf]

My 8yr old laptop is not able to update to Windows 11 due to having a Celeron processor.
I haven't done much under the hood on laptops so wondering a couple of things:
Will installing a new motherboard solve this issue for updating to W11?
Is it worth it or will it still run slow without also upgrading the HD?
How tricky is swapping motherboards?

Laptops may or may not be able to have the motherboard replaced. Only if the original manufacturer sold different configurations. Even then they may not be interchangeable.
Typically replacement is less frustrating.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome tot eh forums, newcomer!

What are you working with? What is the make and model of your laptop? An SKU will help us two fold.

How tricky is swapping motherboards?
In a laptop? You're best off not doing it unless you can match all the ports with your chassis in your laptop's chassis.

 

[USAFRet]

My 8yr old laptop is not able to update to Windows 11 due to having a Celeron processor.
I haven't done much under the hood on laptops so wondering a couple of things:
Will installing a new motherboard solve this issue for updating to W11?
Is it worth it or will it still run slow without also upgrading the HD?
How tricky is swapping motherboards?

Laptops are rarely upgradeable to this level.

The motherboard must match the case, and laptop cases are absolutely NOT standardized.


And even if you could, Windows 11 on an HDD is like watching paint dry.

You need a new laptop.

 

[turtletarget111]

Upgrading a laptop does not go any further than the storage and, if you're lucky, the memory. Even if your laptop manufacturer does make an exact model with more powerful hardware that fits in your chassis, removing all the components and replacing it is more effort than its worth.

All that being said, if your laptop does use a traditional hard drive, you can open Task Manager to see the HDD's utilization. If it is pegged over 50% just while idling, then your hard drive is getting slammed and is holding your OS back from peak performance. Even if it is below 50%, you would benefit from upgrading to an SSD. SSD's are significantly more durable than hard drives, (especially in a device that gets moved frequently), much faster, quieter, and consume less power.

While you're in Task Manager, you can check your memory usage. If it is high as well, that might be worth replacing. Laptop manufacturers generally use slow and inexpensive memory, but you can replace them with faster DIMMs with more capacity. Upgrading memory will not magically speed up your machine, but it can get bogged down when running numerous intensive programs, and it will help in that regard. Hope this helped, take care.

Assuming you complete these upgrades, and your laptop doesn't get used for more than basic web browsing, it should last you much longer and will save you a lot of money.