Notebooks & Netbooks

[GLORIANN]

Hi,

I am trying to upgrade my laptop. It is a Aspire 7741Z-4643....I dont know where to start. Instead of buying a new laptop I want to upgrade. Can someone tell me what to do step by step?

Gloriann

[antfit]

Hey, I'm trying to do the same thing with the same laptop.  I know that you can order a 7741g motherboard on ebay and it would be compatible.  It has a 1gb vram ati graphics chip on it and you can put an I7 chip in it and that will upgrade your system.  I asked a question as to if it is posible that they might still use the same board design on a newer computer and if I could use that board still waiting on a response but if it takes to long I will just upgrade to the 7741g board with the ati chip and get a I7 chip and call it a day.  It's cheaper than buying a new computer and it should dramticly up your windows index score.  I hope that helps.  Oh btw there are videos online about how to change out the motherboard and again look for the 7741g board with the ati chip on it.

[mike808]

Apologies for the late reply.

You can upgrade your 7741 straight to any Arrandale Sockt G1 (989 rPGA).

I just watched some YouTube "Acer 7741 teardown" videos on getting to the motherboard, removed everything carefully, and after removing the fan/cooling assembly, replaced the P6000 (Pentium 1.86Ghz) with a $30 i5-560M I got from eBay.

Replaced the DDR3 (1GB + 2GB) with a pair of DDR3 PC-10700 2x4GB and this has breathed new life into this great laptop.

Also noticed that there is a second min-PCIe slot that looks like it could hold either an SSD or a separate video card/GPU if you wanted to upgrade from the Intel HD integrated video in the CPU.

I replaced the HDD with an SSD and the only thing holding back the Windows Experience ratings is the Intel HD graphics. Before, the SSD, 8GB memory, and CPU upgrades, this thing was pulling mid-to-low 3s in the WE ratings.

Component	Details	Subscore	Base score
Processor	Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 560 @ 2.67GHz	6.8	3.8   Determined by lowest subscore
Memory (RAM)	8.00 GB	7.0
Graphics	Intel(R) HD Graphics	4.2
Gaming graphics	1760 MB Total available graphics memory	3.8
Primary hard disk	23GB Free (220GB Total)	7.5
Windows 7 Home Premium

[zavien101]

how much did it cost?, and would it be easier to drop all the pieces to a geek squad member and let them do it for me? i dont have a lot of spare time lol

[ewwestsr]

Ok, now I am interested in the mini pcie port inside. If I get an mini pcie video card and put in there will it boot off the new card or original? Will the system recognise the new card? will the system use the new card instead of the onboard?

Someone come forward and let us know please.

[mike808]

@zavien101: I posted that the i5-560M was $30.
I've torn it down again to redo the thermal paste with some diamond paste as the i5 runs hotter than the old P6000 it replaced. I cleaned and prepped the contact plates and the chips as my heat pipes run over to the south bridge chip too.

Be careful with the case screws to not over-tighten and strip them or break the plastic - not all of them drive into a metal nut. Also swing the power plug cable out of its slot before removing the motherboard instead of trying to disconnect it. It's just easier.

@ewwestsr: not sure there are any mini-pcie video cards much better than the HD builtin to the i5 and certainly not for $30. There are some hacked up mini-pcie-to-external pcie extenders with a full video card and external PSUs to power them. Bolted onto a laptop, mind you. But at that point, you're not saving any money and it will be a frankenstein laptop-nor-desktop. Just get a gaming laptop if that's the goal. If hacking is the goal, then go for it.

[mike808]

@zavien101: also, the main keyboard cable - the connector gate swings up to release the cable. Almost broke mine off before I figured that out. The rest are compression plugs that slide out a little bit to release the flat cable. The rest are mini plugs that release with a little pressure. Good luck!

[spaceghost31]

Can anyone actually confirm any support on the mini pcie working for an ssd? One taht i could have a second boot option for linux?