Acer Aspire 5742 -- cpu upgrade

At the moment this laptop uses the stock i3 370m CPU. I have noticed that some of these models are delivered with up to i3 580m CPUs.

I have read some threads here that talk about a CPU upgrade for this laptop but there is never a definite: "I've done it and the microcode recognises it" statement.

As well, since the release of this laptop there are several i7 arrandale CPUs out there which may also fit this socket. The question is: what, if anything, has anyone actually done in regard to upgrading the CPU on this laptop?

I tried to talk to Acer support in the USA and, as I am out of warranty, I would have to pay to ask this question either by phone or by on-line chat.

As I speak Spanish, I tried Acer support in Spain. There I was able to live chat with someone who really knew nothing, cut and pasted some info from the manual, which I already had available.

Is there any definite info out there on an upgrade? Thanks

 

Service manual lists Core i5 560M as the fastest configuration but that is most likely because it had been published before Core i5 580M hit the market. No Core i7s were listed in the service manual either which doesn't mean these wouldn't work - the latest BIOS is from 2012 so it should have all the microcode updates.

If you want to play it safe Core i5 560M is the way to go according to a service manual and Core i5 580M according to more recent specs that can be found on the Internet.

It shouldn't be troublesome - I upgraded by 5740G (the same generation) from Core i5 430M to Core i 560M which required a BIOS update first (new microcode) and it works fine even though 5740G wasn't even offered with Core i5 560M