upgrading from core duo to merom in future

Ive heard that its going to be possible to go from the core duo to merom by just changing the processor and doing a bios update. Is this true?

Whats stopping manufacturers not releasing a bios update to force you to buy a new laptop with merom in it?

Also, for people who never fiddle with the insides of their laptop, how easy will this be?

 

Yes, that is what most people expect. A BIOS update might not be needed, but again its just pure speculation. Manufacturers might choose not to release any updates but I guess Intel might make them do it.

Upgrading the processor is difficult for someone who hasnt done it before. I'm not saying it will be impossible but one would require a bit of knowledge abt the inner workings of their laptop. But if one uses common sense and does some research before trying to open up the laptop, then it just requires some patience and care to install the processor and it shouldnt be too hard.

Also important to remember is that the difficulty of upgrading also depends on the notebooks, some have easy access to the cpu whereas in some you'll need to tear apart the laptop to access the processor.

 

Taking apart a laptop can be difficult at first. Just remember to take your time and make sure you know where all the screws go. Personally, at work I take a blank piece of paper and make squares on it resembling the top, bottom, back, and inside of the laptop. Then as I take the screws out, i put dots on the page corresponding to the position of the screw and place the screw on it. If you take a particular model apart often you can easily memorize it but I seem to get a different one every time. If you finish and theres a screw or two left over, its not the end of the world. Keep in mind, theres no guarantee that merom is actually compatible with the board, only that it has the same number of pins.

 

Thanks for the info guys.

I know its all speculation but i just want to keep this in mind when buying a laptop anyway.

Ive never had to open up my laptop as i havent upgraded anything. Im still hesitant to mess with something as crucial as the processor. Its like pinmodding i know waht it is and what it does, but id be too scared of mucking it up and bang, there goes my processor.

Ill probably buy a low end core duo laptop now, then after 3 years ill buy a high end core 2 duo laptop with vista. I think thats probably best.

 

Well, it's not all speculation as Intel itself has confirmed it works.

 

Why no 800 FSB, why no DDR2 800 MHz support, why not direct DX10 support, why 64 bit emulator... I dont know if Merom is going to be 'Intel's best processor ever'.

Charlie-Peru

 

Well, the bus speeds are limitations of the chipset, and not necessarily the processor. It is my understanding that there will be a future chipset released that will utilize the faster bus speeds with Merom.

64bit emulator?
DX10?

explaination? To my knowledge, cpu's don't have graphics specific instructions that allow them to, or prevent them from supporting DX anything. When DX10 is released, it will have nothing to do with the CPU's, but with the graphics hardware acceleration. You'll need a new GPU, not CPU. 64bit emulation on Merom? this is the first that I've heard of it...

 

I thought that was the whole point of getting Merom! Im sure it is 64bit compatible, otherwise how would it be different from the Core Duo?

 

"emulation" implies it isn't a true 64bit processor.

 

there may be some confusion with 32bit emulation. I'm not sure it is even possible to emulate 64bit with a 32bit processor. If it is, I'm sure it would be at a very significant performance hit.

 

I heard that it emulateted 64 bit, it isnt real 64 bit like Turion... Excuse me for my bad English.... and why bring out two versions of Merom?

Link: http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=3453



Charlie-Peru

 

One is low voltage (to replace PM LV) and the other is regular

By the way a CPU has nothing to do with DirectX support. DirectX 10 is not even out yet and GPU manufacturers have barely started with products that will support it once out in early 07. (I am not sure if vista beta even has directx 10 at this point)

 

I don't think that's true. I believe intel's em64t is just the intel implementation of 64bit extensions, like amd's 64bit extensions are called amd64.