Can you upgrade laptops?

[chowderek]

The specs I mean. Correct me if I'm wrong but you can upgrade RAM and HDD/SSD but you can never CPU, GPU and Motherboard.

What about the laptop's display?

Oh yea, one more question. Is it possible to switch out the default HDD in a new laptop for a SSD bought from a site like Newegg? I don't know much about this stuff but I don't like the HDD on the laptop model I'm looking to get better performance from it by doing this. What do you guys think?

 

[corbeau]

You can upgrade the CPU in many laptops, but most people don't. In some laptops it's easier than others. It is a good idea to swap out the HDD that comes with many laptops for an SSD, I've done it a few times myself, and you can do it to new laptops the same as old laptops.

 

[chowderek]

You can upgrade the CPU in many laptops, but most people don't. In some laptops it's easier than others. It is a good idea to swap out the HDD that comes with many laptops for an SSD, I've done it a few times myself, and you can do it to new laptops the same as old laptops.

They don't upgrade CPU because it's not worth it?

 

[DiaSin]

Whether upgrading the CPU is worth it really depends on how much lower yours is down the line from the highest your laptop supports, how much it costs in relation to a new, more powerful laptop, and whether or not you want to put in the amount of work required.

It really depends on how much knowledge and patience you have as far as anything beyond memory and storage. Replacing a laptop CPU can involve fully disassembling the computer, which takes time and is easy to screw up, as well as plenty of time making sure that the CPU you buy is actually supported by your computer. A higher end CPU than yours could be made for the right socket, but not be supported by the bios, as most computer manufacturers lock down their bios. I know that in my laptop a Core 2 Extreme QX9300 quad core would physically fit, but the HP bios does not support anything beyond Core 2 Duo T9900, as they had a seperate "quad edition" of my model when I bought this, and they use different bios. As far as replacing the motherboard, I think replacement is possible, but not upgrading to a new model like on a desktop. I think alot of laptops have proprietary mobos made to fit in the case just right around components. I know the one in my laptop has protrusions and is even curved at one spot to accommodate for the CPU/GPU cooling fan. Here.. to give you an idea of what can be involved, I will link the guide I followed to get my laptop apart and upgrade the CPU. The only difference between the one in the pictures on this and mine is that mine has a second thermalplate and heatpipe running to the heatsink for the dedicated graphics chip, whose backplate would be where that black section is below the fan on the next to last image. Just flip though the pictures, this is what I went through to upgrade my laptop CPU. http/www.insidemylaptop.com/disassemble-hp-pavilion-dv6-laptop/

As far as the display? That is hit or miss whether or not there are even better panels available for any given model.

 

[chowderek]

Whether upgrading the CPU is worth it really depends on how much lower yours is down the line from the highest your laptop supports, how much it costs in relation to a new, more powerful laptop, and whether or not you want to put in the amount of work required.

It really depends on how much knowledge and patience you have as far as anything beyond memory and storage. Replacing a laptop CPU can involve fully disassembling the computer, which takes time and is easy to screw up, as well as plenty of time making sure that the CPU you buy is actually supported by your computer. A higher end CPU than yours could be made for the right socket, but not be supported by the bios, as most computer manufacturers lock down their bios. I know that in my laptop a Core 2 Extreme QX9300 quad core would physically fit, but the HP bios does not support anything beyond Core 2 Duo T9900, as they had a seperate "quad edition" of my model when I bought this, and they use different bios. As far as replacing the motherboard, I think replacement is possible, but not upgrading to a new model like on a desktop. I think alot of laptops have proprietary mobos made to fit in the case just right around components. I know the one in my laptop has protrusions and is even curved at one spot to accommodate for the CPU/GPU cooling fan. Here.. to give you an idea of what can be involved, I will link the guide I followed to get my laptop apart and upgrade the CPU. The only difference between the one in the pictures on this and mine is that mine has a second thermalplate and heatpipe running to the heatsink for the dedicated graphics chip, whose backplate would be where that black section is below the fan on the next to last image. Just flip though the pictures, this is what I went through to upgrade my laptop CPU. http/www.insidemylaptop.com/disassemble-hp-pavilion-dv6-laptop/

As far as the display? That is hit or miss whether or not there are even better panels available for any given model.

I totally forgot about compatibility. Thank you for reminding me, I think i'll look around for a new laptop before I decide to upgrade.

 

[seriousgamer]

Most PC laptops you can upgrade the ram, harddrive, optical drive, screen, keyboard, usually not the CPU or GPU (unless it's a high end sager laptop).

Macs- You can't upgrade them for the most part and if you can it is very tedious and time consuming.

 

[chowderek]

Most PC laptops you can upgrade the ram, harddrive, optical drive, screen, keyboard, usually not the CPU or GPU (unless it's a high end sager laptop).

Macs- You can't upgrade them for the most part and if you can it is very tedious and time consuming.

How do upgrade optical drive, screen and keyboards? I thought for the screen, the entire laptop would have to stripped down to the mobo...

 

[DiaSin]

Most PC laptops you can upgrade the ram, harddrive, optical drive, screen, keyboard, usually not the CPU or GPU (unless it's a high end sager laptop).

Macs- You can't upgrade them for the most part and if you can it is very tedious and time consuming.

How do upgrade optical drive, screen and keyboards? I thought for the screen, the entire laptop would have to stripped down to the mobo...

It does. Thats the whole point of my post. For anything beyond the Ram, Optical Drive, HDD or Battery it generally has to come all the way apart. As far as what he said about only upgrading the CPU on high end laptops, thats not true. They do not generally solder CPUs to the motherboard. Its changeable, you just need to know what you are doing. My laptop is a 4 year old HP Pavilion DV6 and I upgraded the CPU just fine with alot of work, patience and research. As I said before, you just have to evaluate the variables and see whether it is even worth it.