Worth upgrading the mobo from R1 to R2 in 2020?

I'm receiving an m14x R1 soon. It has the crappy screen and an HDD inside, plus some cosmetic issues. I plan to grab a new screen/assembly and pop an SSD inside to give it some life for a family member to use. Is the R1 to R2 conversion worth doing?

I don't know much about this unit, but from what I can tell I would gain:
msata (removing the dumb DMC/widi card from the R1 was a good revision)
better GPU (is it much better?)
better CPU support

Of course if I go that route, I'll have to pick up a mobo and CPU. I think I read that there is some clearance issue as well - a fan or something to that effect. Also, will probably grab a cheap msata ssd for a decent boot drive.

I'm going to wait until I have the m14x in hand before I make any decisions though!

 

I never had a 14 but still do have 3 m11x units. Why not do the SSD upgrade then see how well the R1 performs for you. Then seeing how it performs look up the percentage how much better the other CPU and GPU is supose to be. That way you can base your decision on how the R1 runs.

 

Yeah I think that is a good idea. I would do msata+hdd in the R2, but I doubt it'll do much gaming.

 

I think that by the time you've done all that then it will be easier/cheaper to just find an R2 to buy and flip the R1. There's been an R2 on Facebook Marketplace near me for months for $400AUD. I've been tempted to add it to the collection.

 

If you do not plan to game don't do it. You gain nothing really besides mSATA and newer 650m/3xxx CPUs.

Do get the panel for sure (1600x900) and maybe a new palm rest if needed.

I got 1600x900 panel, SSD, palm rest, keyboard, battery all new in my M14xR2. I do not game but it looks new and performs good.

I even added a 2920XM CPU to it LOL.

You can do 2.5" SSD and remove optical drive and add HDD caddy there and have another 2.5" drive. mSATA is not required.