Dell Inspiron Upgrade

[Panda On Smack]

I have a Dell Inspiron 8200

15" screen
512 ram
40gb HD
P4 M 1.20 ghz
Radeon 9000

Im after upgrading the last 2 items, is it something thats easy to do? Any sites that offer such services?

Is it possible to even do? Spose the CPU would depend on my mobo.

ta

 

[Jonty]

Hi Panda

Changing the RAM and HDD are about the easiest methods of upgrading in terms of support and help. Upgrading the processor can be more tricky, but is generally doable providing you can physically get access to the CPU and get hold of a processor which is supported. You can buy Pentium Ms, but I'm not sure about Pentium 4-Ms, so perhaps you would need a specialist.

As for the graphics, upgrading them in notebooks is rather notorious. Basically, they come in all different form factors, so upgrading can be very tricky, and very limited even when upgrade paths are available. On top of that, getting hold of a suitable card can be very tricky, so you may need a specialist.

I believe Dell provide nice diagrams and instructions evenon advance upgrades like these via their support site, but I don't believe they actually upgrade them themselves. Perhaps DellTalk (heavy US emphasis) or Notebook Forums etc. may yield some answers.

Kind Regards

Jonty

P.S. In terms of graphics, there are initiatives to standardise the form factor and/or interface, such as nVidia's MXM technology, but even then it may be some years before consumers will be able to buy notebook graphics upgrades as easy as they can for their desktop.

 

[Xavier]

In the 8200 neither is user-serviceable I'm afraid, the CPU is hardwired to the mainboard and the graphics module custom made for the chassis, Dell weren't even aware of MXM at the time it was released.

You also would run into memory problems too if you replaced the mainboard -unlike normal motherboards which are happy to run quite a wide range of grades and quality of DIMM, laptops are much pickier - a CPU speed increase would also mean a change in bus speed for the Pentium4-m - so you would need new RAM too.

By which point, it would be cheaper to sell the laptop as-is and spend the money you would have on upgrading getting a new machine of greater spec.

 

[Panda On Smack]

Aww

Ok chaps, thanks very much for your posts

cheers