Acer TravelMate 8204 upgrades?

Can you guys recommend me some upgrades? Prices and/or links would be nice... and definitely tell me how hard they would be to do myself

1) Bigger/faster harddrive would be nice (stock 120gig 5400rpm).
2) Graphics card (stock ATI Mobility X1600 256+256 hyper memory = 512)
3) Processor? Might be hard to replace, right?

Thanks.

 

Hitachi 7k200 is the performance champ right now. It's not hard to do at all.

You can't upgrade the GPU.

My own personal opinion is upgrading the CPU is not worth the trouble. The biggest performance bottleneck is usually the hard drive.

 

i upgrade my TM8204WLMi with 200gb seagate momentus 7200.2 , bought mine in www.buy.com
if u use ur TM as a workstation, maybe u can consider upgrading ur memory to 4gb,like mine.

FYI: i upgraded my OS to Vista Ultimate and it works great. ^^

 

So this one will fit? http://www.buy.com/prod/seagate-bar...rnal-hard-drive-bare/q/loc/101/202557401.html

Why does it say "bare"?

 

No, that's a desktop drive. You'd need something like this:

Link

 

I definitely want 200 gigs or more at 7200rpm...

Does someone know what the cheapest drive would be, and then also what the best performance drive would be so I could see the price difference?

EDIT - here's my best bet probably...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145160

 

mine is this 1...
http://www.buy.com/prod/seagate-mom...2-5in-sata-3gb-s-ncq/q/loc/101/205856295.html

 

Okay... how much of a performance difference are you noticing?

I could really benefit from the 80 gigs of extra space as well.

 

from what i did, copying data and converting video are faster and u have more storage,of course.. ^^

 

I might do this later this month when I have the funds...

Anything else to increase performance hardware wise? I can't do the CPU or GPU, memory is too expensive (does Vista run well on 4gigs)... etc.

I already have 2 gigs of readyboost, but it doesn't even do anything!

 

vista cannot dtect fully that u have 4gb, but it really help if u ike to run many apps....
if u use ur TM for gaming, it doesnt really matter.

from what i saw here
http://www.buy.com/prod/acer-travel...duo-core-2-duo-t7200/q/loc/101/203829173.html

if i can get some parts from it,maybe i can try to put cpu ,the BD-writer and the LCD on mine.
^^

 

Yea, where can you get a blu-ray player/writer for the super-multi... there's gotta be a place to buy one...

 

hey, i just realize that we can replace the cpu too...
im will upgrade mine soon...
now im considering T7200 / T7400 / T7600
they have a big difference in price....
confusing... ~_^

 

I recommend upgrade your OS. go Vista.

 

Me? I'm already running Vista!

 

i already ordered Intel T7400 from www.zipzoomfly.com
it gonna be here by monday.
i have the service manual from Acer,it said that we're capable to upgrade up to T7600.
maybe u can consider it too...
T7200:$290+
T7400:$440+
T7600:$710+

nice huh?! ;p

 

ops, didn't know that, well your 3 steps a head of me!

 

Hi,
Did it work, the cpu uppgrade? was it difficult to change?
I uppgraded to 4GB RAM, but my BIOS only detect 3GB, Bios v1.3521
/Rainmanen

 

Personally...

Upgrade to Windows XP, that'll probably help performance.

 

I've completed the top 4 upgrades as of recently to my (aging) 8204:

1. Upgraded Core Duo (T2500) to Core 2 Duo 2.3g (T7600) (cost = $300 shipped from Hong Kong).
2. Upgraded slower RAM (2g) to faster 667 RAM (4g) (PC2-5400) (cost = $50)
3. Upgraded SATA HD to SATA II HD (320g) Seagate 320GB 7200/16MB 2.5" Mobile SATA HD (TMD-320AS SY ) (cost = <$100)
4. Replaced heatsink + fan since my old fan died ( < $100)

Could have almost bought a new laptop for that.

Now I'm looking to upgrade the super-multi DVD drive to the blu-ray drive that comes out of the 8215/8210. I can't find these anywhere though.

Anyone have a part # or any compatible model #'s?

 

I would like to upgrade my Travelmate 8204 as well. The CPU is running extremely hot and the fan is constantly on. Any suggestiona? Also, where can I find a copy of the service manual? Thanks.

 

The solution for that is usually just to blow compressed air into the vent hole on the side, and stand back or you get dust in your eyes.

In the offchance there is something wrong with your heatsink/fan combo, then you would just replace that unit ($75-$100). The back panel unscrews, and 3 or 4 small screws removes the 1 piece heatsink that covers the CPU/GPU and chipset. New one just pops in a screws down (nice and tight).