Laptop Upgrade – Can the CPU Be Upgraded?

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I have Lenovo Ideapad Y510 with dual core 1.6 Ghz processor, 1GB ram, 160GB HDD. I want to upgrade my current cpu with any latest one like i3, i5 or i7 to get more speed but don't know if it is possible. I don't know how to get all technical details of the pc so I have have attached a screenshot of boot screen, hope you will find all required info about my pc to answer this question.

I am a java developer so my basic need is to run eclipse and java application and application server with db like MySql very smoothly on my machine. Earlier I was using Win7 but machine was running slow so I switched to Ubuntu 12.04 but not much improvement so I thought to upgrade the cpu and memory. I need your suggestion that to which cpu I can upgrade and should I also upgrade ram.

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Best Answer

No you cannot upgrade Dual Core series to new I3/I5/I7 series, they are newer architecture and as minimum require different socket.

  1. You can change CPU on majority of laptops, because they are not soldered on motherboard. Obviously you have to stick to the right socket. In his case you can upgrade dual core 1.6 to T9900 3.06 GHz for example.

Here is the forum post where lenovo users report their luck with upgrading CPU of this laptop: http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/IdeaPad-Y-U-V-and-Z-series/y510-CPU-Options/td-p/14857

Please buy model of CPU that they report WORKING for your laptop.

  1. You don't need extra cooling system, laptop manufacturers usually put exact cooling systems in all models to cut costs obviously. It costs more to source or manufacture different cooling system than just to use 1 on all models and change only CPU/RAM/HDD specifications.

  2. If you want immediate result upgrade ram first, as was suggested by other members. 1GB of ram is really little today, and ram sticks cost nothing. Though I must say that I run ubuntu server with java/mysql/apache on 2gb and intel ATOM processors and have no problem with speed. You can try mint distribution instead? it has much lighter footprint.

  3. Mysql on SSD is very fast.

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