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#21
GW2 baby. THAT will be my next time waster. Also Starcraft 2. Also Crysis 2. Also Bioshock 2. Also...
Dell does as well. I've done two processor upgrades, hard drive and memory on my daughter's Inspiron 1501. Ebay is a great source for used processors.
The service manual shows you step by step what to do, even replacing the processor. Dell has a rather large library of service manuals on line and in downloadable format.
If you have some technical skills you can do it, but I agree it's not for the faint of heart.
Just my 2 cents worth...
There ya go...try some more RAM and a faster HDD and see where that gets you. I do agree with bobkn in that you're most likely to have two 2GB cards...so you'll be stuck buying two new ones if you want to go with all 8GB. You can buy WD Scorpio Black HDD's (7200rpm drives) for pretty cheap or if you have the money, an SDD would be a nice addition...
I have the Dv7-1273cl, and i took a processor from an iMac Aluminum.
Its a core 2 duo e8135 2.4ghz Mobile CPU 45Watt
1066FSB 6MB cache
Works just fine. As long as your using a mobile cpu compatible with the PM45 mobile chipset you should be fine.
and some others like this awkward cpu, not in the list of pm45 compatibility list.