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Latitude c480 replacing processor - should i do it?

post #1 of 3
8/17/07 at 10:41am
Thread Starter 
Hello everyone - i just inherited a Latitude c840. 1.6Ghz & 1Gig of RAM. not the fastest thing in the world!

I was looking on the 'net and saw that 2.2Ghz processors are sold for the c840. Let me ask everyone. Is it worth it for me to upgrade the processor? I'm not a computer whiz, so i'm not entirely sure how i'd go about doing it.

any help would be very appreciated



sorry folks - just realized i typed c480 in the subject instead of c840. Oops
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post #2 of 3
8/20/07 at 4:38am

Not worth it.

I don't know the price of the upgrade CPU for the C840 but I imagine it is more than $100. If I owned that laptop I would spend $100 on a Hitachi hard drive with a 7200 RPM spindle speed. No single part except RAM, which you have maxed out, will speed up that machine. You will also gain at least 3x the storage space. It has a 20 GB drive right now? The original drive that came in that machine is a Hitachi but only a 4200 RPM. You will be pleasantly surprised by the difference in speed between the two. The hard drive is almost always the slowest part of any machine, it is mechanical so it has some extra limitations that strictly electronic parts do not. The hard drive on most laptops is fairly easily replaced after removing a few screws. The only tool you would need is a micro phillips screwdriver. Check newegg.com for good prices on laptop drives. HTS721060G9AT00 - 60 GB - $70, HTS721080G9AT00 - 80 GB - $80, HTS721010G9AT00 - 100 GB - $110 All are only $5.30 for shipping. The processor is most likely not worth it from a cost to performance gained view. Another down side is the Pentium 4 mobile processors tended to run hot. As they heat up the processor automatically slows itself down until it reaches an acceptable temperature. This process is totally automatic. If I remember right SpeedStep could drop a processor all the way down to as low as 1/2 its max speed. I am only speaking from experience with some of the higher Pentium 4 Mobile processors, 2.6 GHz+.
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post #3 of 3
1/31/08 at 6:44am
in order to rule out once and for all some "no-it-can't be-done-posters" which didn't actually try a single thing but reading the Dell specs and trying out some memory finder tools on the internet:

YES, the Latitude C840 series (Inspiron 8200 equivalent) can be upgraded to 2GB. I have this running over here, flawlessly, and it took me a while before realizing this must have been once more another Dell marketing trick.

modules I purchased: Kingston KTD-INSP8200/1GB (what's in a name ...

I have BIOS revision A13 in my C840
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