Overhauling Laptop Upgrades

[T-Nichs]

I have an Asus X551CA laptop that I bought about six months ago. I love this laptop dearly as it was the first major computer that I bought for myself. It has been a workhorse for me and has had many miles put on it. My needs for a computer have changed recently and I need something that has a little more umph. I will buy a desktop if needed but I like the lightness and mobility of the laptop. I know I can upgrade the RAM (it can support 10GB) and I will be replacing the drive w/ a Seagate hybrid in the future. I was wondering three things: Can I upgrade the processor (it has an Intel Core i3 1.8 ghz atm), the Video card (has Intel 4000 hd atm), and is there anywehre I can find a 10gb RAM stick? I know that i could get a desktop but I really wanna keep my nice notebook and my theory is I can upgrade all of it myself for cheaper than to just buy a new laptop. I know it's a lot of work I just know that some CPUs are smoldered so if someone could help me it would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[iceblitzed]

from what i know you can buy ram in 1,2,3,4,8,16+ GB sizes. You could in theory buy a 16GB stick but your computer will only use 10GB of it (it doesnt seem worth it. also might be incompatible). Also since your processor has integrated graphics you would pretty much be losing your graphics support as well so make sure you get a processor with integrated graphics if your going to change it.

 

[k1114]

Cpu is soldered so that's a no. (You can just google the model to find this out.) Hd 4000 is on the cpu so that's a no. It has 2 gb ram soldered and 1 ram slot. So 2+8=10. As 8gb is the largest non ecc currently available. 16+ is ecc and will not be compatible. There are no 3 gb sticks. It has to be a power of 2.

 

[T-Nichs]

Thank you both for your feedback K114 so I'd have to replace the motherboard and everything? could I replace the motherboard in the laptop? I would be willing to do that

 

[Arcturus314]

You cannot replace a laptop motherboard unless you find a new one specifically made for that laptop (which you won't). Honestly it would be cheaper to just buy a new laptop.

 

[hang-the-9]

Thank you both for your feedback K114 so I'd have to replace the motherboard and everything? could I replace the motherboard in the laptop? I would be willing to do that

Sell the laptop and get a faster one. The only thing you can upgrade is the RAM which will get you a small boost in speed, but not much. The SSD will make things load faster and make the response faster to keypresses and clicks, but will not speed up the system much for games or any heavy computation.

The top CPU for that model is the i3 you already have.

 

[k1114]

Laptops have proprietary form factors so you can't switch them out unless it's the same laptop model.