CPU Upgrade for Old Sony VGN-A215Z Laptop

avfc1982

Hi all,

Having just upgraded the RAM on my 2004 Sony VGN-A215Z laptop from 512MB to 2GB and not improving the performance as much as I'd have liked I'm now looking to upgrade the processor if possible.

I've run HWInfo32 and these are the details of my motherboard & CPU I can decipher:

BIOS vendor American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS revision R0070F1
BIOS release date 08/04/2004
Chipset Intel 855PM (Odem) + ICH4-M

Processor Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
Processor Version: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.70GHz
External Clock: 100MHz
Max Clock Supported: 1700 MHz
Current Clock: 1700MHz

Please can someone suggest some suitable CPU upgrades for my machine? Being a relative beginner in dealing with upgrades I'm a bit unsure as to the CPU's that will be compatible with this motherboard.

Cheers

spakkker

I am not 100% sure but a pentium M 765 @2.1ghz may be the best, I don't know if the M780 @ 2.26 ghz will work as its a higher fsb 533, not 400 like yours. I wouldn't think you would see that much difference even if you could track a cpu down.
May be better to do a fresh install and make sure that progs are not starting automatically with windows

pealy

I agree with spakkker, if you haven't done a clean install of windows lately then this is likley to have a huge impact on general use, opening applications etc. As an example, my 2.2ghz Celeron laptop has only XP and a couple of key applications. It boots in a flash and opens things like IE and MS Office much faster than my newer Intel Dual Core which is stuffed full of applications lurking in the background slowing everything down.

If you're doing something specific like gaming or hardcore number crunching then this will give you less of a benefit.

rdpro

add on top the cost of paying someone to strip down the laptop in order to replace the cpu.. they're usually right at the bottom, and everything needs pulling out first.

timbim_2

If you're careful, you can strip back the laptop for yourself. Just find a good guide on the internet and don't lose any screws. Also, be gentle. if somthing doesn't want to move, don't try to force it, it's probably got a good reason.

avfc1982

Cheers All,

I did a complete rebuild of my machine last month and initially the speed was pretty good. However now it's back to it's previous speed even after a RAM upgrade from 512 to 2GB.

I'll take a look at what background apps are running tonight and see if I can close some down.

What are the key applications that I need to leave running in the background? Obviously antivirus and firewall, anything else?

spakkker

You could look at this guide - http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/xptweaks/mythoughts.htm
I use mostly level 3 but I didn't do everything he mentions.

albertross_2

It could be your AV that is slowing it down

Blacksheep1979

I wouldn't reccomend trying to upgrade a cpu in a laptop, if you can find a suitable cpu it's going to be a pain to install and tbh if you have to ask then you aren't likely to be able to do it yourself