Desktop CPUs in Notebooks?

[mobileT]

About two years ago I purchased an HP Pavilion ZD7140US notebook with a 3Ghz Pentium 4. I bought this setup because I needed speed for number crunching. After I started using it, I was disappointed because it never really delivered on the speed promise. I eventually built an AMD-based machine that simply crushed the 3Ghz P4, despite using a 2.4Ghz AMD (on the desktop machine). I relegated the P4 notebook to light-duty surfing, office processing.

My notebook showed a couple of annoying "features." First, if it was doing any processing of note, the fan would start running and running and running. Very loud. Second, if I would use Photoshop, the notebook would, without notice, simply shut off, fully. Given the poor performance and the shutting down problem, it made the notebook very unreliable.

Today I was talking to a guy at Dell and I mentioned my experience with my P4 laptop. He said that the 3Ghz P4 had known problems with being used in notebooks. Something to do with heat. Because of this, it would rarely run near its stated 3Ghz capacity. (Would be interesting to test.) This sure does explain my slow and instability experiences.

I want a notebook that runs like a desktop, but I guess we're still a bit early in the lifecycle of the chips/boards/etc. to see that become a reality. The new Core Duos, etc. seem to be running cooler and with less juice, but notice that they aren't, today, able to run at the higher clock speeds. Hopefully soon notebooks will catch up.

 

[HardWareBoss]

I you looked at the Laptops with the new Core2. AMD will be using a 4x4 soon. I think Intel has a 2.9 out or do soon for laptops.

 

[mobileT]

A little too bleeding-edge cost-wise for me. I like to hover at the sweet spot where price and performance better meet.

 

[blue68f100]

I have one with a 3 ghz P4. The biggest problem far as speed is the 4200rpm drive with 512meg ram. Once you replace the HD (7200rpm) and bump the ram up to 1 gig, it runs like a P4 desktop. Mine has the ATI video.

As for over heating. Have had a few problems, till I corrected the problem. What I discovered is that the thermal past between the cpu and heat pipe was the white stuff that was developed 20 yrs ago. I took the heatpipe outside and took the air hose to it. You would have thought I was cleaning a vacum bag. Removed the fan and used soap and water to remove all of the remaining dust, then rinsed in alcohol. Blew it dry. Applied Artic Silver 5, and re-assembly. It now runs cool, very seldom does the fan kicks up on any speed but low. I now blow the dust out on a monthly basis. Been running for almost another year now.

 

[mobileT]

Thanks for the suggestions. Do you have the same notebook (HP Pavilion ZD7140US)?

Mine does have 1.25GB of RAM. But, as was the case with yours, the HDD is running at 4200RPM. I'll replace that and see what goes. Is it difficult to find a hard drive that will fit the HP Pavilion? I'll also check out the heat sink area like you suggested. Got nothing to lose at this point!

 

[blue68f100]

Mine is a averatec 6130hs, made by uniwill model 268SAx. Use cpuz and see who made your mb and mfg. I heard there were 5 different config made by uniwill. Mine has a big access cover with 11 screws. There are 5 screws holding he heatpipe in place. These screws have lock tight on them, so make sure you use a good grade screwdriver, I believe it's a philips #1, if it is not tight its not the right one. Believe me these will be tight so use plenty of down force so you don't round them off. You will need to unplug the fan. When you go to remove the heatpipe, DO NOT LIFT UP. You must wiggle it sideways (back and forth) till you get it unstuck. Otherwise you may rip it out of the socket.

Does you power pack uses a 4 pin to connect to the notebook? It the same.

If cpuz shows it's made by uniwil I have a service manual for it. Show the complete procedure to dissasemble and assembly. Uniwill will sell parts.