Acer Aspire TimelineX 3820TZ - Good Buy? & CPU Upgrade Question

[sylonien]

(Gosh been more than 4 years since I've been back!)

Anyway that's why its time to look for a new laptop and I saw this laptop on offer and was wondering if it's possible to upgrade the CPU to the newer Core i5/7s?

Acer Aspire TimelineX 3820TZ LX.R2Z02.011 (http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk)

I read this guy's blog saying that he upgraded it to a Core i5 520M. I assume it's only possible to use the Arrandale / PGA988 based CPUs, but even there are quite a few different options. Will the 3820TZ support all of them? I assume it's 988 socket but I'm not sure as I can't find much information about this laptop.

Petemitchell's blog: Review of Acer TimelineX 3820TZ

(Sorry if this has been covered somewhere, I tried searching the web / forum for the past 4 hours already to find some answers. Also, only owned a Sony Vaio before - hence sig. therefore don't know much about Acer laptops.)

[downloads]

It can be upgraded. You'll find a lot of information in 3820TG owner's thread- it's basically the same thing with the exception of GPU which doesn't concern you.

[sylonien]

Hello thanks for the reply.

I scanned through the original 3820TG owner's thread using search but couldn't find the answer I wanted about which Core i5/i7 is compatible with the 3820TZ I'm thinking of buying and whether the BIOS needs updating or not.

Shall I ask the same question over the at Part 2 of the 3820TG owner's thread?

[downloads]

There should be no problem worth upgrade to Core i5 520M you mentioned.
Please use google search with this suffix site:forum.notebookreview.com/acer/561840-3820tg-owners-lounge-part-two.html and this onesite:forum.notebookreview.com/acer/488205-acer-timelinex-3820tg-owners-lounge-info-benchmarks-tweaks-mods-upgrades.html
Unfortunately forum search does not work well (and that's an understatement)

[too456]

An i5-520m will work perfectly fine, my computer came with the i5-520 from the factory

[Bronsky]

You probably have the first 3820TZ I have heard of. All of the other Acer Models, including I3's, I5's and I7's have all been supported in the Bios. Acer is too lazy to make a different bios for the TZ.

I have had an I3-370M, I5-450M and I5-540M in my unit. They all work flawlessly. The PGA 988 socket makes them all interghangable. You should have no problem upgrading.

There is a Manual/disassembly guide stickied onto the first page 3820TG thread. I commented only a few days ago about my streamlined disassembly method. It should be easy to find.

Bronsky

BTW, do you get significantly better battery life with that Pentium in the TZ?

[sylonien]

Thanks for the reply. Indeed I couldn't get much results returned with the search. Just returned a load of randomness it seems. Anyway.

Just wasn't sure whether the newer i3/i5/i7 would be supported by the BIOS even though its the same PGA 988 socket since the 3820TZ was released before the new Core i CPU were released and the TG spec ones.

I have had an I3-370M, I5-450M and I5-540M in my unit.

All at once? Joking. Assume the i7 would work as well then, even though that would be an over kill for my needs.

Do you think the i CPU would affect the battery? The i5 TDP is 35W, same as the P6100. Therefore would it matter which i5 I go for as its' very similarly priced here (i5-520M, i5-540M, i5-560M, i5-580M). Ranging for £160/$250-£230/$360 ish.