Have you noticed with the passage of time your laptop has become sluggish and slow and it struggles to run newer apps, you would be wondering to go for a newer laptop but your financial situation wouldn’t let you go for that option for the time being, or you simply just want to upgrade your processor and want to know how? Then consider that you have landed on this article, in which we will guide you step by step on how to change a laptop’s processor.
Although Upgrading the processor of your laptop might not make much sense as most brands of laptops doest allow much customization and they are made in such a way that they have limited clearance and few exchangeable hardware components as compared to a desktop. Considering your Central processing unit is socketed rather than being soldered on the surface of the motherboard, you might not have many options for upgrades.
Keep in mind you are dealing at the heart of your laptop hardware, which means highly sensitive parts, any mistake or mishandling could result in catastrophic physical damage to other components. Before you proceed, be assured that processors have a slight effect on the speeds of your laptop, so don’t be disappointed if you don’t see any massive changes in performance.
Impact of the speed of the processor
The speed of the processor also matters, as higher speed can give you a performance boost and slower speeds save you battery uptime, not to mention if you use a custom processor that is haven’t come with the manufacturer build, you might see instability and heat issues due to more power consumption, as choosing incorrect processor can also result in an unneeded bottleneck, speaking of choosing the right process, let see what to considered first while replacing a processor.
Finding the right processor compatible with your motherboard:
Furthermore, you should keep in mind that the processor you are replacing must be supported by your laptop’s motherboard because the CPU is dependent on the motherboard, otherwise, you are wasting both your money and time.
- To find the right kind of processor that is compatible with your motherboard you can use Speccy to find your motherboard info, check the Tab of CPU, and look for the packaging area to determine its socket type.
- You can also check the information of your motherboard and processor by typing its brand model in google, which will give you all the information you will need.
- There you will see a list of supported processors that will be compatible with your laptop’s motherboard
- Choose a process and buy it from a local computer shop or from an online site, whichever seems convenient to you
Updating your bios:
After you have purchased the processor that is compatible with your motherboard, it is time that you do some settings in the bios menu, this is the most critical step before you replace your processor with the old one because you need to make sure your bios version is updated to the recent version to support so that the processor you are installing can be recognized by the laptop. you can check for the bios version in the manufacturer support section.
Installing the processor:
The first and foremost thing you should do is remove the battery, so that there is no electricity running through the hardware of your laptop, also remove any plugged power cable
Every laptop has its own way to remove its battery, you can check the manual that comes with it, to see how it is removed safely. Be very cautious while doing so, failing a single screw on the circuit can lead to massive physical damage.
After confirming that all power sources have been disconnected and unplugged, proceed to unscrew the back panel with an appropriate screwdriver.
Removing the upper shell that is covering the Processor and other components, you might need to remove the display assembly and keyboard frame to uncover it.
Be very careful not to disturb the ribbon and connector, and remove it gently. If you are having any problem with removing the parts of the laptop, don’t apply force under any circumstances.
After you have removed everything, you will see the heatsink part, The heatsink of a processor is quite different from a desktop one, due to the fact that a laptop is made compact and it has a different kind of heat dissipation system and tighter airflow. So make sure you check the manual to know what it looks like before unscrewing it open
Below the heatsink, there will be your processor, but before handling it make sure you are wearing an anti-static wristband, this provides ground so that your body won’t damage sensitive parts of the laptop
Carefully, change the old processor with the new processor and be very gently with the Gold pins connector because they can bend very easily and that could ruin the processor
After your new processor has been placed into the CPU module, make sure to lock it into the CPU socket. Also don’t forget to clean the heatsink with 99% isopropyl alcohol wipes and apply the fresh thermal paste onto the heatsink, a drop of thermal paste would be more than enough.
Screw everything shut in reverse order and boot your laptop and check to confirm in the BIOS mode that your new Processor has been installed.
Viola, That’s it, you can now use your laptop with a newly installed processor.
Conclusion:
This is how you change a processor in a laptop, we hope this guide has been helpful and that it has prepared you well to do it yourself without any mistakes. Although it is a tough task and you shouldn’t be doing it by yourself if you are not experienced enough with hardware before. Make sure you have the appropriate tools before assembling the components of the laptop. You must also take into account that changing any parts such as the processor can void your warranty, so be careful with your laptop
