John said:
The processor mentioned by Toshiba in the unit specification is
available in bith BGA1288 and PGA988 formats. The BGA1288 unit is
soldered to the board using technology not available outside a
specialised facility, and the PGA988 socket with its associated heatsink
unit is deeper than the base of the laptop.
The processor *can* be overclocked to 2.53GHz, with reliability and life
implaications.
It is a *very* rare laptop that will permit you to change the processor.
A quick summary statement, of Johns answer is
"Laptops are a scam"
They put barriers in your way, to doing upgrades.
They want you to pay the premium for the i7, at purchase time.
Not step around them, by upgrading it yourself.
For my laptop, I looked on Ebay and did see some
compatible processor for it. But stupid me, I didn't
jump at the chance, when they were available. It turns
out, that Ebay would have been the only source of
processors. They don't sell them on the open market.
No e-tailer sells the processors I needed. So no
upgrade for me.
The Ebay offerings, were from China or Hong Kong, that
sort of thing. Probably pocketed off a production line
somewhere.
You would need "connections", to be able to buy
the necessary processor, as it may not be available
at retail anyway. That's the first thing you'd check.
It wasn't always like this. I have a couple mobile
processors here I bought in the past. You could get them,
and at a reasonable price. But when I wanted to upgrade
my Windows 7 laptop, that is when I discovered they
weren't available at retail. YMMV.
Paul
