Will the CPU work?

[James the Angry Dragon]

At current I have a Dell laptop, which I was looking to upgrade. I have already upgraded the RAM from 4GB to 8GB; but am not sure which CPU to get. At current I have an Intel Pentium B960 inside. I would like to know which CPU's would be compatible, and which ones would be best.

Cheers.

 

[herrwizo]

What laptop model exactly? As far as most laptops go, RAM and hard drive upgrade is all you can do. Very rare models support CPU replacement, and most of them have soldered CPUs, which are not on a socket and are designed to stay there permanently.

 

[velo3100]

I can't really say without knowing the model of the laptop. If you let me know what it is, I can try and find the best option but I am not an expert on this as most laptops have their cpu's soldered on which means that you can't change them.

 

[James the Angry Dragon]

What laptop model exactly? As far as most laptops go, RAM and hard drive upgrade is all you can do. Very rare models support CPU replacement, and most of them have soldered CPUs, which are not on a socket and are designed to stay there permanently.

It is a Dell Inspiron N5050

 

[herrwizo]

Well, it seems you are in luck. You can upgrade the CPU.

Full list here:

http/blog.parts-people.com/2014/12/10/dell-inspiron-n5050-compatible-cpu-processor-upgrades/

The best would be, of course, i5-2430M, but i3-2370M is also a great option (there is very little difference among them - they are both dual cores with hyperthreading with same cache, and core clock is basically the only difference).