Dell E1505 (14/17)/6400 -- Upgrades and other Hacks

I have an older Dell E1505. It's got a T2050 Duo Core processor (1.6/533).

Being the hardware hack that I am, I'm always looking to tweak and push what I already own. So, before anyone chimes in with "buy a new laptop" let me take they time to say "Thanks, save it for another thread."

With that out of the way...

I've already dropped in 2 gigs of 667 RAM, which made some nice room to move around in. I've ordered some new & improved hinges because I already have the "wiggle" defect on the screen. It's annoying. I'm running out of things to tweak on this, so I'm looking at the following, and seeking information I can't find anywhere on the net. I figure if we can collectively put all the information here, then those that follow will have an easier time tweaking out what I consider to be a wonderfully ubiquitous piece of hardware.

Now, if anyone has information to the contrary, please correct me. I can't find a set of broad system specs for what this baby will handle, however, I think I've managed to piece together some pieces of information.

It looks like when they designed this board, they did is with SERIOUS mass production in mind. To that end there seems to be two motherboards: With integrated Graphics and Without. This is logical because the less boards you design, the more you can make for less price. Why more vendors don't do this, I'll never know (Asus- take note).

Both boards are otherwise the same. They will handle up to 800MHZ fsb (my bios is showing 800 max) and any of the T line of mobile chips, which is everything from Core Solo to the Core 2 Quad mobile. There are a LOT of chips in this line. If any of them won't work please list the information below. Heat and battery life be damned.

This will also let you run a 64bit core on this system. Again, I haven't found anything to differentiate between motherboards for all the years this system was in production, so I don't see why a 64bit won't drop in. I found a T5200 for $80 that would be the same everything, except Core 2 and 64 bit.

On the RAM front, it would stand to reason that you could go up to 4 gig of DDR2 800.

As for graphics upgrades I've got a GeForce Go 7300. I saw somebody mention a 7900 go so tht might be an option. There are also the ATI options as well. If anyone knows what the best bolt on video is for this board that would be good info.

I've also found that the LCD is easy enough to change. There are several models out there of rez and quality, they all go for around $300. This seems like the least cost effective hack to perform on it. Then again if you score a freebie with a cracked screen, a $300 laptop that's modable isn't a bad find.

Bottom line, I'm really wanting to find a resource, list or otherwise for exactly what CPU's you can run in this thing cause it looks to me like one of the most wide open options I've ever worked with. Hands down one of the best general use laptops I've ever worked on. It's been running every day since 07/06 without problems.

I run the I8kfanGUI.exe program to run the fan at a higher rate. I'd rather burn out a $8 fan than kill the system. Running it high keeps it at a cool 82 degrees.

So, if anyone has definitive Motherboard specs for this system, please post them up.

Thanks

Thanks for this post, good to hear about these options.

I have a E1505 as well. T2400 1.83. One gig of ram. Running Ubuntu.

I find it can be buggy, it as absolutely terrible after about 2 years of XP. Ubuntu has been a big help, but it still has problems. Starts off working well, until it heats up, then it becomes basically useless and needs to cool down and be restarted. Although this is somewhat intermittent, working well when its hot for a while sometimes.

Fan is working. But, probably needs to be replaced. Do you know of any upgrades in this department? I am not worried about power costs, as I keep it plugged in all the time. All my batteries for it are junk.

I am going to upgrade the ram. I read that some the board can handle up to 4 GB of ram. But one needs a 64-Bit OS to use it all.

I am intrigued by your comments about upgrading the processor. Are you sure that the motherboard will allow a chip from the Core Duo 2 series?

Perhaps, most of all, its the hinges that I want to know more about. I have replaced the entire screen mount with another one, but those will be getting scarcer and its not a good solution. This new set is about half dead. Where did you get better hinges?

Thanks again.