Compaq Presario V5204nr upgrade

[c_frank]

I have a compaq laptop running a 1.46ghz intel celeron m cpu and wanted to upgrade it. It it frequently at 100% cpu usage and i'm tired of it. If it can be upgraded, it will be a lot cheaper than buying a new one. There are tons of used processors on ebay. I used cpu-z to try to find out what motherboard was in it and it did not come up with a specific brand, just the chipset info for the processor.

Any help is appreciated.

[bigH2O]

Notebooks are notoriously expensive to upgrade. I haven't bothered to look up your model, because I expect that the investigation would unveil that it would cost you more to upgrade than it would to just buy a new one. You can get a new kick butt notebook for under $500 today. Upgrading a processor, hard drive or trying to increase the memory on a legacy system will exceed the purchase price of a new one by a long mile. They do that on purpose. Just buy a new one, and sell the old one on ebay.

[c_frank]

What is so expensive to upgrade on them? It already has a big hard drive and plenty of ram. I have lots of parts laptops for that. I already have a newer laptop that is just a few weeks old, but wanted to upgrade this one just for the heck of it.

[bigH2O]

Well, the 1.46 is the fastest processor in the c400 class, so you're probably going to have to upgrade your motherboard to move to a c533 class, and who knows how much that will cost even if it can be stuffed in the old chassis.

Then there's a hundred bucks or so just for a processor that won't buy you any more processor wiggles, just a faster bus, and not worth the effort at all.

To get a processor that's going to give you any real noticable improvement you'll need to go past the c533 to the c800 class, and then spend a couple of hundred bucks on a new processor after you upgrade the motherboard that probably won't fit the chassis.

Then your ram will likely have to be replaced because it won't be compatable with the new motherboard. You might possibly even have to replace your video board. Then you'll have to contend with cooling issues for the higher wattage components... on and on and on.

You can buy a brand new T class laptop that will outperform everything you can do on that machine for $500, or spend $500 or more trying to upgrade that one and suffer days, weeks or months of frustration trying to do it.

I'm not trying to be argumentative with you. I'm just pointing out the simple fact that notebook upgrades are rarely worth it in todays market of falling prices. It's better to just write them off or pass them off to the kids or grandkids.

I've got a Dell Inspiron 7500 I'd love to upgrade just because it was a good friend for a long time, but I'd be foolish to do it because it would cost twice what it cost to buy a brand new one. It makes a good doorstop though, and I still get to kick it around every day.

[c_frank]

Ouch, I was hoping that the motherboard it has now would be a little more upgradeable as far as as the processor goes. Guess it's not as easy as finding a compatible cpu and dropping it in. Thanks for the info though. I wouldn't have thought doing a cpu upgrade would entail so much. I have done a couple of desktops but never had to jump through so many hoops do get it done.

[bigH2O]

Well if you were going to a 1.46 from something like a 1.06 I'd say you could do it, but it's still not worth the money. I can't say that you can't bump your bus speed on the existing system to use a 533 or even a 800, because I still haven't researched your particular model. Check the bios and see if you can change the bus speed, and then determine if it's worth the very minimal improvement you're going to get by upgrading the processor.

Even if you can bump the bus speed, I'd still say it's not worth it. Processor upgrades are generallly the least efficient use of your money on any upgrade. Ram is the most efficient use of your money, and from what you said the ram is sufficcient

[jaydeee]

upgrading a laptop other than RAM is really out of my mind. I rather buy a new one... actually I am buying this weekend a laptop for my wife, I have 600USD for it and with that price I can see from internet that I have tons of options. :)

just my .01 :)