Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Upgrading the CPU on a laptop

Sep 24, 2004 5:25PM PDT

An article in a recent Computer Shoppers magazine described the upgrading of the CPU on a laptop. I, however, have been unable to find the specs on my laptop, as well as, any information about possible chips that would work on my motherboard. The laptop is a HP Pavilion ze4325us; the chip set is ATI U1 (IGP320M) + Ali 1535+; the CPU is an AMD XP Athlon 2000+; and it uses the PhoenizBios setup utility. Is it possible to upgrade the CPU on this laptop? If so, what chips would work

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Re: Upgrading the CPU on a laptop
Sep 24, 2004 10:28PM PDT

Is your CPU SOLDERED to the motherboard?

You need to know this. If it is, then there will be no upgrade.

Bob

- Collapse -
Re: Upgrading the CPU on a laptop
Sep 25, 2004 4:02PM PDT

I plan to take the computer apart to find out. But even if it is not soldered, how will I be able to determine what Athlon chips will work? It would be 'silly' for me to take it apart with no hope of determining what chips would work, and if the bios needs to be changed - how to do it. Any additional suggestions?

- Collapse -
You use the phone.
Sep 26, 2004 1:42AM PDT

Call the service center for your laptop and ask the same questions.

Bob

- Collapse -
Re: You use the phone.
Sep 26, 2004 2:38PM PDT

I have called them (Best Buy), and they say that they do not know. I also contacted HP via online connection, and I was told that the cpu could not be upgraded. But the techniciam didn't seem to know very much.

- Collapse -
Re: You use the phone.
Sep 26, 2004 7:55PM PDT

Almost all the HP/Compaqs I've seen have the CPU soldered on. I'm unsure why you didn't look since the ones I've seen are under the keyboard area and I can see it with a dental mirror.

The chances of this being upgradeable is below the 1 percent mark and gets lower if you don't look.

Bob

- Collapse -
Re: You use the phone.
Sep 27, 2004 4:30AM PDT

You can easily upgrade the Pentium M cpus (from an older Banias to the new Dothan Pentium M's up to 2.0mhz) as someone recently did so on the Compaq X1000/ZT3000 notebooks (see his photos and process at X1000forums.com) but I don't know about the AMD Athlon CPU's.

This process does involve removing the keyboard and other sensitive equipment so it is not as easy as putting in new RAM or even putting in a new hardrive (which are easily accessed from doors under the the notebook not from the top under the keyboard).

At any rate, when the 2 cpu 64bit chips arrive next year or soon after that they will not be compatible with the current motherboards/chipsets and that is what you will want (the current Athlon 64 bit will run somewhat better under a 64bit operating system but it will not hold a candle to 2 processors on one cpu).

Also, memory speeds continue to increase (PC27000 is mainstream now but in 2005 it will go up to PC3200 on most),etc so you are better just getting an all new rig when the time is right (and don't spend too much on any one notebook so you can upgrade every 3 years or so at least -- $1500 is a good price point right now -- especially if you order custom from the manufacturer and take advantage of all available pricing discounts).