Even when you could upgrade before mobile became “BGA only” parts, it usually wasn’t costeffective as the laptop has other compromises you’ll probably want to address as well, raising the cost so much it didn’t make sense with how difficult it is. If you had a junk laptop or you got the CPU for practically nothing and you could gut it without damage, sure it may work out but even then, you had to be 110% sure, and be damned sure you knew it would work and the work was worth the steps involved.
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Even when you could upgrade before mobile became “BGA only” parts, it usually wasn’t cost-effective as the laptop has other compromises you’ll probably want to address as well at the same time, like a spinning hard drive upgrade. If you had a junk laptop or you got the CPU for practically nothing and you could gut it without damage sure it may work out (and I have done that before when I had a nice one with a big issue I could fix, but the other one is shot) but unless you get 2 identical units and can make one, it tends to be costly and time-consuming. It has to be WORTH IT because of how much you may want to upgrade.
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU and move the SSD if you can swap it yourself. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS (400 nits/60Hz) screen. Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had and priced it as if it had the common FHD LCD (even though it caught me off guard to the point I had to see if it was factory - yes, it is) :-). I was like “there’s no way this is as good as it looks - what’s busted and expensive?”. None - just a good deal but I also got extremely lucky.[br]
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That said, yes you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5. You can always sell the old laptop to a student or someone who doesn’t mind the built-in expiration date for a supported Windows install.
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU and move the SSD if you can swap it yourself. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS (400 nits/60Hz) screen. Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had and priced it as if it had the common FHD LCD (even though it caught me off guard to the point I had to see if it was factory - yes, it is) :-). I was like “there’s no way this is as good as it looks - what’s busted and expensive?”. None - just a good deal but I also got extremely lucky. Sometimes you can even just swap boards but even then, the cost issue comes into play here; boards can cost as much as a whole laptop without an SSD (which can carry from your old laptop anyway). You can always sell the old laptop to a student or someone who doesn’t mind the fact the laptop now has a built-in expiration date per Microsoft.
Even when you could upgrade before mobile became “BGA only” parts, it usually wasn’t cost effective as the laptop has other compromises you’ll probably want to address as well, raising the cost so much it didn’t make sense with how difficult it is. If you had a junk laptop or you got the CPU for practically nothing and you could gut it without damage, sure it may work out but even then, you had to be 110% sure, and be damned sure you knew it would work and the work was worth the steps involved.
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU and move the SSD if you can swap it yourself. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS (400 nits/60Hz) screen. Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had and priced it as if it had the common FHD LCD (even though it caught me off guard to the point I had to see if it was factory - yes, it is) :-). I was like “there’s no way this is as good as it looks - what’s busted and expensive?”. None - just a good deal.[br]
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU and move the SSD if you can swap it yourself. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS (400 nits/60Hz) screen. Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had and priced it as if it had the common FHD LCD (even though it caught me off guard to the point I had to see if it was factory - yes, it is) :-). I was like “there’s no way this is as good as it looks - what’s busted and expensive?”. None - just a good deal but I also got extremely lucky.[br]
That said, yes you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5. You can always sell the old laptop to a student or someone who doesn’t mind the built-in expiration date for a supported Windows install.
Even when you could upgrade before mobile became “BGA only” parts, it usually wasn’t cost effective as the laptop has other compromises you’ll probably want to address as well, raising the cost so much it didn’t make sense with how difficult it is. If you had a junk laptop or you got the CPU for practically nothing and you could gut it without damage, sure it may work out but even then, you had to be 110% sure, and be damned sure you knew it would work and the work was worth the steps involved.
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU and move the SSD if you can swap it yourself. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS screen. Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had and priced it as if it had the common FHD LCD (even though it caught me off guard to the point I had to see if it was factory - yes, it is) :-). I was like “there’s no way this is as good as it looks - what’s busted and expensive?”. None - just a good deal.[br]
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU and move the SSD if you can swap it yourself. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS (400 nits/60Hz) screen. Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had and priced it as if it had the common FHD LCD (even though it caught me off guard to the point I had to see if it was factory - yes, it is) :-). I was like “there’s no way this is as good as it looks - what’s busted and expensive?”. None - just a good deal.[br]
That said, yes you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5. You can always sell the old laptop to a student or someone who doesn’t mind the built-in expiration date for a supported Windows install.
Even when you could upgrade before mobile became “BGA only” parts, it usually wasn’t cost effective as the laptop has other compromises you’ll probably want to address as well, raising the cost so much it didn’t make sense with how difficult it is. If you had a junk laptop or you got the CPU for practically nothing and you could gut it without damage, sure it may work out but even then, you had to be 110% sure, and be damned sure you knew it would work and the work was worth the steps involved.
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU and move the SSD if you can swap it yourself. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS screen (120Hz TBD). Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had and priced it as if it had the common FHD LCD (even though it caught me off guard to the point I had to see if it was factory - yes, it is) :-). I was like “there’s no way this is as good as it looks - what’s busted and expensive?”. None - just a good deal.[br]
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU and move the SSD if you can swap it yourself. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS screen. Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had and priced it as if it had the common FHD LCD (even though it caught me off guard to the point I had to see if it was factory - yes, it is) :-). I was like “there’s no way this is as good as it looks - what’s busted and expensive?”. None - just a good deal.[br]
That said, yes you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5. You can always sell the old laptop to a student or someone who doesn’t mind the built-in expiration date for a supported Windows install.
Even when you could upgrade before mobile became “BGA only” parts, it usually wasn’t cost effective as the laptop has other compromises you’ll probably want to address as well, raising the cost so much it didn’t make sense with how difficult it is. If you had a junk laptop or you got the CPU for practically nothing and you could gut it without damage, sure it may work out but even then, you had to be 110% sure, and be damned sure you knew it would work and the work was worth the steps involved.
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU and move the SSD if you can swap it yourself. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS screen (120Hz TBD). Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had (even though it caught me off guard to the point I had to see if it was factory - yes, it is) :-). I was like “there’s no way this is as good as it looks - what’s busted and expensive?”. None - just a good deal.[br]
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU and move the SSD if you can swap it yourself. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS screen (120Hz TBD). Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had and priced it as if it had the common FHD LCD (even though it caught me off guard to the point I had to see if it was factory - yes, it is) :-). I was like “there’s no way this is as good as it looks - what’s busted and expensive?”. None - just a good deal.[br]
That said, yes you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5. You can always sell the old laptop to a student or someone who doesn’t mind the built-in expiration date for a supported Windows install.
Even when you could upgrade before mobile became “BGA only” parts, it usually wasn’t cost effective as the laptop has other compromises you’ll probably want to address as well, raising the cost so much it didn’t make sense with how difficult it is. If you had a junk laptop or you got the CPU for practically nothing and you could gut it without damage, sure it may work out but even then, you had to be 110% sure, and be damned sure you knew it would work and the work was worth the steps involved.
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU and move the SSD if you can swap it yourself. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS screen (120Hz TBD). Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had (even though it caught me off guard to the point I had to see if it was factory - yes, it is) :-). I was like “there’s no way this is as good as it has to come with a catch”. None - just a good deal.[br]
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU and move the SSD if you can swap it yourself. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS screen (120Hz TBD). Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had (even though it caught me off guard to the point I had to see if it was factory - yes, it is) :-). I was like “there’s no way this is as good as it looks - what’s busted and expensive?”. None - just a good deal.[br]
That said, yes you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5. You can always sell the old laptop to a student or someone who doesn’t mind the built-in expiration date for a supported Windows install.
Even when you could upgrade before mobile became “BGA only” parts, it usually wasn’t cost effective as the laptop has other compromises you’ll probably want to address as well, raising the cost so much it didn’t make sense with how difficult it is. If you had a junk laptop or you got the CPU for practically nothing and you could gut it without damage, sure it may work out but even then, you had to be 110% sure, and be damned sure you knew it would work and the work was worth the steps involved.
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU and move the SSD if you can swap it yourself. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS screen (120Hz TBD). Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had (even though it caught me off guard to the point I had to see if it was factory - yes, it is) :-). Yes, you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5. You can always sell the old laptop to a student or someone who doesn’t mind the built-in expiration date for a supported Windows install.
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU and move the SSD if you can swap it yourself. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS screen (120Hz TBD). Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had (even though it caught me off guard to the point I had to see if it was factory - yes, it is) :-). I was like “there’s no way this is as good as it has to come with a catch”. None - just a good deal.[br]
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That said, yes you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5. You can always sell the old laptop to a student or someone who doesn’t mind the built-in expiration date for a supported Windows install.
Even when you could upgrade before mobile became “BGA only” parts, it usually wasn’t cost effective as the laptop has other compromises you’ll probably want to address as well, raising the cost so much it didn’t make sense with how difficult it is. If you had a junk laptop or you got the CPU for practically nothing and you could gut it without damage, sure it may work out but even then, you had to be 110% sure, and be damned sure you knew it would work and the work was worth the steps involved.
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU and move the SSD if you can swap it yourself. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS screen (120Hz TBD). Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had :-). Yes, you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5. You can always sell the old laptop to a student or someone who doesn’t mind the built-in expiration date for a supported Windows install.
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU and move the SSD if you can swap it yourself. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS screen (120Hz TBD). Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had (even though it caught me off guard to the point I had to see if it was factory - yes, it is) :-). Yes, you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5. You can always sell the old laptop to a student or someone who doesn’t mind the built-in expiration date for a supported Windows install.
Even when you could upgrade before mobile became “BGA only” parts, it usually wasn’t cost effective as the laptop has other compromises you’ll probably want to address as well, raising the cost so much it didn’t make sense with how difficult it is. If you had a junk laptop or you got the CPU for practically nothing and you could gut it without damage, sure it may work out but even then, you had to be 110% sure, and be damned sure you knew it would work and the work was worth the steps involved.
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS screen (120Hz TBD). Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had :-). Yes, you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5. You can always sell the old laptop to a student or someone who doesn’t mind the built-in expiration date for a supported Windows install.
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU and move the SSD if you can swap it yourself. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS screen (120Hz TBD). Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had :-). Yes, you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5. You can always sell the old laptop to a student or someone who doesn’t mind the built-in expiration date for a supported Windows install.
Even when you could upgrade before mobile became “BGA only” parts, it usually wasn’t cost effective as the laptop has other compromises you’ll probably want to address as well, raising the cost so much it didn’t make sense with how difficult it is. If you had a junk laptop or you got the CPU for practically nothing and you could gut it without damage, sure it may work out but even then, you had to be 110% sure, and be damned sure you knew it would work and the work was worth the steps involved.
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS screen (120Hz TBD). Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had :-). Yes, you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5.
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS screen (120Hz TBD). Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had :-). Yes, you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5. You can always sell the old laptop to a student or someone who doesn’t mind the built-in expiration date for a supported Windows install.
Even when you could upgrade before mobile became “BGA only” parts, it usually wasn’t cost effective as the laptop has other compromises you’ll probably want to address as well, raising the cost so much it didn’t make sense with how difficult it is. If you had a junk laptop or you got the CPU for practically nothing and you could gut it without damage, sure it may work out but even then, you had to be 110% sure, and be damned sure you knew it would work and the work was worth the steps involved.
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision (for production, I made sure to get one with an 8th gen, but I’m not super picky here but yes, I opted for an i7-8550U4K edition lol. Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had). Yes, you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5.
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The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision with an i7-8550U/4K IPS screen (120Hz TBD). Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had :-). Yes, you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5.
Even when you could upgrade before mobile became “BGA only” parts, it usually wasn’t cost effective as the laptop has other compromises you’ll probably want to address as well, raising the cost so much it didn’t make sense with how difficult it is.
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Even when you could upgrade before mobile became “BGA only” parts, it usually wasn’t cost effective as the laptop has other compromises you’ll probably want to address as well, raising the cost so much it didn’t make sense with how difficult it is. If you had a junk laptop or you got the CPU for practically nothing and you could gut it without damage, sure it may work out but even then, you had to be 110% sure, and be damned sure you knew it would work and the work was worth the steps involved.
The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision (for production, I made sure to get one with an 8th gen, but I’m not super picky here but yes, I opted for an i7-8550U 4K edition lol. Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had). Yes, you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5.
Even when you could upgrade before mobile became “BGA only” parts, it usually wasn’t cost effective as the laptop has other compromises you’ll probably want to address as well, raising the cost so much it didn’t make sense with how difficult it is.
The cost-effective play for dealing with these machines is to find a used machine that’s got the right CPU. For example, when I looked and planned to buy, I went from an EliteBook 840 G3 (Skylake) to the G5 revision (for production, I made sure to get one with an 8th gen, but I’m not super picky here but yes, I opted for an i7-8550U 4K edition lol. Might as well seeing as I got it super cheap from a seller who didn’t know what they had). Yes, you can SOMETIMES rework the laptops if the chassis is cross compatible, but the board cost tends to be about as much as a used example with the supported CPU when it’s not radically different like the G3>G5.