Upgrading Dell 600m laptop

[tjames214]

Is it possible for me to purchase a Dothan chip to swap out with the current Banias chip in my Dell 600m? Would I need to replace the motherboard? What kind of performance can I expect from this swap if it's possible?

 

[FlyingPenguin]

Forget it. You DON'T upgrade laptop CPUs.

 

[tjames214]

Why would you say that?

From my point of view, I can get a Pentium M 755 processor (2.0Ghz) processor with 1mb for a fair price of ~200 dollars. It would have more L2 cache (2mb) than banias's cache(1mb), and other minor internal processor improvements as well as a processor that outputs less heat, and uses less watts. That would make my laptop 1) run cooler, 2) run longer (battery life), 3) run faster.

There are clear service manuals on Dell's website on how to disassemble the Dell 600m. I have done that already to see what my laptop looks like on the inside. I am pretty sure I can handle the upgrade hardware-wise.

Is it possible to upgrade my processor from banias to dothan in my 600m laptop? I suspect I would simply need to upgrade my BIOS but I'd like confirmation or non-confirmation. I wouldn't do anything so drastic as to change my motherboard.

 

[JBT]

I know some Banias core Pentium -M setups are able to be upgraded to Dothan CPUs no problem. I actually had one from Powernotebooks.com and they said it DID work. I don't know if you would need a new BIOS or not. I suspect it would work fine and worst case it might not know the same of the CPU.

 

[piasabird]

what kind of hard drive you have in that thing? Sometimes laptops have really slow hard drives. Memory is a good item to upgrade also.