Gutting a Dell C840

S

Shaner3721

New Member
Hey everyone,

I am brand new around here so I apologize if this is in the wrong section or if I could have found my answer via search (already looked though).

I have a Dell Laptop (Latitude C840) and I am looking at replacing the internals and upgrading everything. I understand that this may be an extensive project, but I am still planning on doing it if it is possible.

I would like to upgrade to a dual core processor/mother board with 2 slots for DDR2 Ram.

I was wondering if anybody could give me information regarding what kind of motherboard I could fit into this machine and where i could find one.

Thanks,
Shane
 
Forget about doing that project as replacing laptop internal parts is basically non existent for what you want to do.
 
Laptops are not upgradeable in that way. Every laptop's motherboard is custom made for the laptop it will be in use for.
 
justinmmm690 said:
Laptops are not upgradeable in that way. Every laptop's motherboard is custom made for the laptop it will be in use for.
Click to expand...

Well, laptops are upgradeable in the sense that you can install better RAM, bigger hard drives, different optical drives, different miniPCI or PCMCIA cards, different CPUs and very occasionally different graphics cards. But when it comes to motherboards the only option is to replace the motherboard with one from an identical model or one from the same series that uses the same case.
 
PohTayToez said:
Well, laptops are upgradeable in the sense that you can install better RAM, bigger hard drives, different optical drives, different miniPCI or PCMCIA cards, different CPUs and very occasionally different graphics cards. But when it comes to motherboards the only option is to replace the motherboard with one from an identical model or one from the same series that uses the same case.
Click to expand...

That's why I said "In that way."
 
Well, let's look up that laptop's motherboard and see if we can pop in anything useful. :D

Motherboard:

Microprocessor -> Intel Mobile Pentium 4
Chipset -> Intel 845MP
Integrated Sound and Speakers
Two PCMCIA Slots
One Mini PCI Slot
Two 4-pin USB Connectors
One 15-pin VGA Connector
One Parallel Printer Port
One 9-Pin Serial Port
One 200-Pin Connector For A Dell Docking Device
One PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port

Chipset:

400MHz System Bus
DDR 200/266 MHz SDRAM
AGP 4x Interface
Ultra ATA/100
AC97 Controller

Not much to work with and I think it's a waste of time.
 
Last edited:
thanks for all the quick replies everyone! I was expecting answers like that as I have been searching online myself. Does anyone think it would be remotely possible to fit a different motherboard inside the machine? even if it doesn't line up with the ram covers and such on the bottom?

thanks,
Shane
 
Hi,
Laptops are upgrading in the sense that you can install superior RAM, better hard drives, special optical drives. But when it comes to motherboards the only option is to replace the motherboard with one from an identical model or one from the same series that uses the same case.

Thanks
 
alexcarlson said:
Hi,
Laptops are upgrading in the sense that you can install superior RAM, better hard drives, special optical drives. But when it comes to motherboards the only option is to replace the motherboard with one from an identical model or one from the same series that uses the same case.

Thanks
Click to expand...

PohTayToez said:
Well, laptops are upgradeable in the sense that you can install better RAM, bigger hard drives, different optical drives, different miniPCI or PCMCIA cards, different CPUs and very occasionally different graphics cards. But when it comes to motherboards the only option is to replace the motherboard with one from an identical model or one from the same series that uses the same case.
Click to expand...

...
 
Shaner3721 said:
thanks for all the quick replies everyone! I was expecting answers like that as I have been searching online myself. Does anyone think it would be remotely possible to fit a different motherboard inside the machine? even if it doesn't line up with the ram covers and such on the bottom?

thanks,
Shane
Click to expand...

The ports along the sides/back wouldnt fit, the heatsinks wouldnt fit, this that, it's not possible.

To give you a clear analogy, try fitting a square shape into a circle of the same size, it wont fit.

Laptop cases and motherboards are designed to go hand in hand with each other, they could be longer/wider/shorter/narrower, different shapes, this that, there's no standards like ATX for laptops.

Give up, the amount of money you'd spend would be equivalent to a new laptop anyway.
 
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