Is getting the geek squad to fix my laptop and upgrade the CPU worth it?

[Naer]

Is it?

It has 8 GB of ram

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Upgrade the CPU in a laptop?

Yes, that's absolutely something the Geek Squad can handle. It'll be worth every penny.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Hard to say without more detail.........but, I'm not sure the Geek Squad would be at the top of my list to do much of anything. Are you inclined to roll the dice and hope?

Details needed like laptop cost new, cost of upgrades and repairs, age of laptop, what you use it for, etc.

Only a slight chance you'd need more RAM.

 

[Naer]

Hard to say without more detail.........but, I'm not sure the Geek Squad would be at the top of my list to do much of anything. Are you inclined to roll the dice and hope?

Details needed like laptop cost new, cost of upgrades and repairs, age of laptop, what you use it for, etc.

Only a slight chance you'd need more RAM.

A chance ill need more ram cause the current ram may not be good
anymore? I believe I got it in 2010

And does the geek squad do battery replacements and key repair? It's a dell studio xps

 

[PliotronX]

Theyre fairly overpriced but as long as you reject their Kaspersky pitch you should be okay

 

[Naer]

Theyre fairly overpriced but as long as you reject their Kaspersky pitch you should be okay

Aware me on the pitch.

Also how much is just a diagnosis and price estimate?

 

[frozentundra123456]

I would try to find an independent shop that specializes in laptop repair. If you live in a relatively large city they should be easy to find. But as others have said, we need more information about what is wrong with your laptop and more details on its hardware.

Unless it is a very expensive model, as a rule I would say trying to upgrade or repair a laptop, unless you can do it yourself, is not cost effective.

 

[Gunbuster]

You could do something crazy like call BB and find out what their pricing is. They don't list it online but I bet it would be at least $70 for them to simply look at it.

Or you could just buy the parts yourself from ebay. Dell has repair guides that show you exactly how to disablement the laptop.

/Also not sure if this is for real or a troll/joke thread.

 

[Charlie98]

A chance ill need more ram cause the current ram may not be good
anymore? I believe I got it in 2010

And does the geek squad do battery replacements and key repair? It's a dell studio xps

*scratches head* A 2010 laptop has DDR3 RAM, you have 8GB, plenty for most applications. Unless it's not doing something right now you need it to do, and depending on the actual CPU, I don't see any reason to dump money on a CPU upgrade.

A battery is a battery... order a new one from Dell or another battery supplier.

Chances are a SSD upgrade (and, perhaps, a clean OS install...) will give you better performance with your laptop than a new CPU and RAM.

I would agree with the others... we need more details on your current hardware and what shortcomings you are seeing that warrant a desire to do what amounts to open heart surgery on your laptop. And, to be honest, I wouldn't trust GS to wipe my nose.

 

[chusteczka]

A 2010 DDR3 laptop most likely has a front side bus (FSB) set at 1333 MHz. Even if you upgrade the cpu to the most modern beast possible, the laptop will be limited by relatively slower dataflow to and from memory.

Most likely, the bios will not allow an FSB speed adjustment. You can check the bios for yourself but give us laptop Make and Model, along with CPUID screenshots of the cpu, motherboard, and memory tabs so we can help.

 

[giantpandaman2]

*scratches head* A 2010 laptop has DDR3 RAM, you have 8GB, plenty for most applications. Unless it's not doing something right now you need it to do, and depending on the actual CPU, I don't see any reason to dump money on a CPU upgrade.

A battery is a battery... order a new one from Dell or another battery supplier.

Chances are a SSD upgrade (and, perhaps, a clean OS install...) will give you better performance with your laptop than a new CPU and RAM.

I would agree with the others... we need more details on your current hardware and what shortcomings you are seeing that warrant a desire to do what amounts to open heart surgery on your laptop. And, to be honest, I wouldn't trust GS to wipe my nose.

Pretty much this. As others have said, upgrading a laptop cpu generally isn't worth it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

A 2010 DDR3 laptop most likely has a front side bus (FSB) set at 1333 MHz.

FSB died with the Core2 generation. I doubt very much that a 2010 laptop has a FSB at all.

 

[chusteczka]

FSB died with the Core2 generation. I doubt very much that a 2010 laptop has a FSB at all.

True, thank you. Would that be the memory bus then? Or has the term between the memory and the processor been removed completely now that the memory controllers are included in the cpu?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

True, thank you. Would that be the memory bus then? Or has the term between the memory and the processor been removed completely now that the memory controllers are included in the cpu?

Yeah, it's not a bus anymore.

There is the link to the chipset. Not sure what that's called though. (It's not Hypertransport...)

 

[jana519]

Upgrade the CPU in a laptop?

Yes, that's absolutely something the Geek Squad can handle. It'll be worth every penny.

I can't tell if you are serious. :hmm:

 

[ignatzatsonic]

A chance ill need more ram cause the current ram may not be good
anymore? I believe I got it in 2010

Do you have any reason at all to think the current RAM isn't working as it should?

If you are uncertain about the RAM, you can test it yourself with Memtest86.

Even if the RAM were failing, if you let Geek Squad replace it, I'd imagine you would be paying double what it would cost you to buy the replacement RAM yourself and install it at home.

 

[JackMDS]

Price it, you probably will find that the Upgrade would cost very close to buying a New Laptop.

In any case "Got it in 2010 is Not saying much", there is No point in saying anything unless you post the specification of the Laptop.

 

[Torn Mind]

Need make and model of your laptop. 2010 was a transitional year, as Intel was finishing rolling out the Nehalem based chips and phasing out the Core 2 Duos.

Laptops with socketed CPUs can be upgraded by yourself. You do need the proper screwdrivers, containers for the screws, a way to properly ground yourself to the chassis, thermal paste, and care in yanking the case open(always make sure no screws are still screwed in).

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Laptops with socketed CPUs can be upgraded by yourself. You do need the proper screwdrivers, containers for the screws, a way to properly ground yourself to the chassis, thermal paste, and care in yanking the case open(always make sure no screws are still screwed in).

You will probably also need a Masters in Library Science and the help of a team of archeologists to find a CPU that will A) be faster than what you have, and B) be compatible with your laptop/motherboard/BIOS.

Did some Core Duo to Core 2 Duo upgrades on iMacs back in the day. For some reason, the only reliable source of donor CPUs was Thinkpads.

 

[Charlie98]

I made 2 Dell laptop CPU upgrades... a Pentium M from 2005 and an AMD Turion from 2007. I researched the snot out of them (thank you CPU-World) and was actually successful in both cases when I did it... but with very little real-world results. I got more results when I bumped up the RAM (512MB to 2GB in the Pentium! ) and even more when I installed an SSD in the AMD two-core machine. It was fun as a technical exercise, but a waste of money otherwise... except for the SSD, which can be moved to a new machine when the laptop is retired.

 

[mfenn]

Yeah, it's not a bus anymore.

There is the link to the chipset. Not sure what that's called though. (It's not Hypertransport...)

On Intel chipsets, its called the Direct Media Interface (DMI). But yeah, it's a point to point specialized link and is no longer a bus.

 

[Zodiark1593]

I made 2 Dell laptop CPU upgrades... a Pentium M from 2005 and an AMD Turion from 2007. I researched the snot out of them (thank you CPU-World) and was actually successful in both cases when I did it... but with very little real-world results. I got more results when I bumped up the RAM (512MB to 2GB in the Pentium! ) and even more when I installed an SSD in the AMD two-core machine. It was fun as a technical exercise, but a waste of money otherwise... except for the SSD, which can be moved to a new machine when the laptop is retired.

In my own laptop, I can upgrade my i5 460M to an i7 720QM for a nice boost in rendering, but it is a PITA to do, and expensive for a hobby. Plus I'd br yanking out my igp, leaving only my Radeon 5470M with some rather sketchy drivers. Not even counting a Windows re-install.

Also, didn't Intel replace the fsb with Quick Path Interconnect?

 

[schmuckley]

No

 

[mistersprinkles]

A 2010 DDR3 laptop most likely has a front side bus (FSB) set at 1333 MHz. Even if you upgrade the cpu to the most modern beast possible, the laptop will be limited by relatively slower dataflow to and from memory.

Most likely, the bios will not allow an FSB speed adjustment. You can check the bios for yourself but give us laptop Make and Model, along with CPUID screenshots of the cpu, motherboard, and memory tabs so we can help.

If it was made in 2010 odds are pretty good that it has no FSB to speak of.
As others have said, what you want to do is replace the HDD with an SSD.
Geek Squad is a freaking JOKE. Lots of testimonials out there.

Get an SSD, clone your hard drive over to it (with cloning software and an external drive enclosure, or use a desktop PC), and away you go. Much faster performance.
If your laptop is from 2010 odds are it is using a Nehalem derivative of some sort, so the best you'll be able to upgrade to is a (probably used) nehalem familiy CPU. There have been many advancements in CPUs since then and there is little or no point in bothering with this.

 

[ch33zw1z]

No, don't let Best Buy do this.

Like others have said, upgrade to an SSD, that's the best you'll get out of your laptop.