Hi, I have been thinking about buying a laptop lately. I am on a budget and I was thinking that the best thing to do is buy a laptop with a P3 CPU under 700MHz and when I get it just pop in a 1.1GHz Celeron I have spare here. That way things can be much cheaper, then I can upgarde the RAM later and get a new HDD if I need one. The cost still is far below getting a new one and I end up with a decent spec laptop for general tasks. Is it possible to just upgrade laptop parts when you like? Would there be compatiblity problems with a laptop motherboard and my 1.1GHz Desktop Celeron? Would cooling become a problem? I'm not looking for blistering performance, just something to run XP smoothly so I can do general word processing browsing the net and possibly some Flah animation. Thanks for any help. Mattwizz3 : ) Sempron 2600+ @ 2.2GHz 1Gb DDR400 Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe 200GB SATA / 80Gb IDE

Laptop processors are differenrent AFAIK

yeah, the processors for laptops are usually physically different than the desktop versions (although some laptops use desktop processors). Plus, cooling could be an issue if the colling in the laptop is not rated for that celeron. And are the sockets and front side bus compatible? On top of all that you would probably void your warranty Michael J

Laptops are quite different than desktops. A desktop machine obviously has more room, so case fans & a large HSF can be installed to keep the CPU cool. This can't be done on a laptop, so mobile CPUs are designed to run at a lower voltage, plus the multiplier is unlocked so that the CPU speed can be varied depending on the load. For example, if you have a laptop with a 1.0GHz CPU & all you're doing is typing a word doc, you certainly don't need all 1.0 GHz to do it...so it will automatically drop the multiplier to say, 5x, & the CPU will run at 500MHz. Not only will this keep the CPU temp down, but it will conserve battery power. Desktop CPUs run at a higher voltage & the multiplier is locked. If you were to do what you're proposing, the CPU would run at a constant 1.1GHz, so not only would it overheat, but it would suck the life out of the battery. The laptop probably wouldn't support the voltage necessary for the desktop CPU anyway.

So even if the laptop is sold with a standard Pentium 3 not a Pentium M the celeron still wouldent work? I figured what would cool a P3 could cool this Celeron. Battery life dosent worry me much either, many laptops are sold with dead batterys and I would still concider buying one. I really just need another computer but have no where to put it so thats why I thaugt a laptop would be good so I can use it where ever and pack it up once I am done. The warranty dosent bother me either, at max a second hand laptop would come with a 30 Day warranty if I baught it from E-bay or none if I got one from the trading post. I will be able to fix anything except the screen. Thanks guys. Mattwizz3 : ) Sempron 2600+ @ 2.2GHz 1Gb DDR400 Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe 200GB SATA / 80Gb IDE

Check this info regarding the CPU socket used for Intel mobile processors vs desktop processors http://www.intel.com/support/processors/mobile/pentiumiii/sb/CS-007526.htm http://support.intel.com/support/processors/mobile/pentiumiii/sb/CS-007528.htm

It will not work. Lapatop processors are not upgradeable as a rule.