LAPTOP processor help

morgan73

Hi,

I want to upgrade the processor in my daughter's laptop. It's a DELL CPi A series (quite old!) with XP.

I need advice please on which processor to buy. I've looked at a few and they mention socket numbers. How do I find out which one I need?

She'll be using it for school work, emails, internet and low level games.

Thanks,
Kirsten

joshm_2

After a few minutes research (so I may be mistaken) I'd say it's not going to be cost-effective or beneficial (in terms of performance) to upgrade. I think these laptops came with mobile Pentium II CPUs which, at the time, ranged from between 300 & 400 MHz. I would imagine later, faster processors use a considerably different architecture so won't be compatible. Furthermore, it's possible that the CPU is surface-mounted (i.e. soldered directly to the motherboard) making upgrades even harder.

Perhaps you can consider adding more RAM or preferably running a Linux operating system on it instead of Windows.

motorguy

try taking the RAM up to at least 512Mb, and maybe a fresh install of windows to clear the rubbish off.

I don't think trying to upgrade the processor is particularly viable. even if you could find a compatible chip you might only get a 100Mhz increase.

Donnie

Download, unzip and run; http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Then you can post the specific info.