Cheap Upgrade

[pdc76]

Just wanted to share my laptop upgrade experience with you all.

I was given an old Acer Aspire 3100 for free. It came with the latest in crappy specs:

1.8gz sempron cpu 256mb cache
512mb ddr2 667mhz ram
(lets me share 64mb for video)
80gb 4200rpm hdd
cd-rw/dvd-rom combo drive

i did some research and figured out what i could do to this thing to make it somewhat faster. thanks to ebay, and about $225 later, it now sports:

2.0gz turion x2 dual core cpu 512mb cache
4gb ddr2 667mhz ram
(lets me share 256mb for video)
320gb 7200rpm hdd
dvd-rw drive

for the price, nothing beats it.

 

[azwebs]

Hmm, so you can actually upgrade the processor? In most laptops you can't. And as for 4gb of RAM, I didn't think the 3100 provided support for more than 2gb?

Oh well, if you have got it running with that, well done. But, watch your temperatures. That Turion is going to produce a lot more heat than the Sempron under load.

 

[pdc76]

i'm already feelin' the heat, lol. it does get a little hotter than before but not too bad. yeah, 4gb works, i'm not sure if it was the bios flash that did it or what. i don't really notice the faster hard drive like i thought i would, maybe a little. overall i'm happy with it.