Packard Bell Butterfly XS-EV-001UK/Gateway EC14D07u upgrade processor

I've just purchased a Packard Bell LX.BGH02.011/ XS-EV-001UK. This is the same model as the Gateway EC14D07u but just with a different processor. As most people know Acer is the parent company behind these two companies.

Packard Bell Butterfly XS, 11.6" Notebook with integral ODD ( Intel ULV 743, 2GB Ram 250GB HDD, WiFi, Windows 7 Premium ): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: Gateway EC14D07u 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black): Computer & Accessories

I went with it as i needed the dvd drive.

This laptop comes with a Intel® Celeron® processor 743 (1 MB L2 cache, 1.30 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 10 W).

Now i most likely will upgrade this next week to a SU4100 or to a SU9400. I wanted the above Gateway model as it comes with a suprerior processor but couldn't find one for sale. The SU9300-U9600 also have 1MB extra more of cache than the 2MB that the SU4100 has.

I have a broken Sony TT motherboard here (which has a SU9400) which i needed to purchase for parts.
I would like to use this processor but i'm not sure what Acer/Gateway are like with regards to locking out the BIOS to upgrades.

I could purchase a broken motherboard to accquire the SU4100 but i'm trying to keep costs as low as possible.
I can also it looks like install a WWAN module.

Now, do you think i should try the SU9XXX?

Has anyone ever done such a mod on a Acer/Gateway/Packard Bell before?
This upgrade requires a BGA job to unsolder then solder the CPU and it will cost me £95 to do this.

 

I don't suppose anyone can confirm what type of memory this uses? Some places say DDR2 and some DDR3. The company who i bought it from list it as DDR3. I think it is most likely DDR2 and i could wait till i get it but would prefer to buy the ram now so it saves me waiting.

Also, i'm thinking about getting may be a 2.5 60GB-64GB SSD for this laptop. My main criteria is low power consumption, TRIM and also decent performance.

edited to add:
I've got hold of the above Gateway model service manual and that lists that it takes DDR3 ram also. The Packard Bell model should be the same but i don't know for sure. The Gateway model comes with 4GB and W7 64bit and the UK model comes with 2GB and i'm not sure if it's a 32bit or 64bit OS. I would prefer that it was the former actually.

.........
I found no specs listed for the PB model on the UK website but the nl website lists one model. That model has a u2300 as opposed to the 743. It indeed does seem to use DDR3 ram which is good.

http://www.packardbell.nl/pb/nl/NL/content/model/LX.BGH02.019

........
The laptop just arrived, i just got a despatch notice an hour ago and was not expecting it till Monday at the earliest. It definetly does take DDR3 ram. Sites like orcalogic have the ram listed incorrectly. It's a really nice laptop. It looks nicer than the Acer 1410 that i purchased for someone. The display looks nicer also. Speakers are not the best but for the money you can't really expect more.

It's also running W7 64bit, in my opinion 2GB is quite unsuable for a 64bit OS. I've also tried to put an order through for a Samsung 470 64GB SSD. It was a pretty good price and i'll just to wait and see if the retailer i purchased it from have anymore left.
I've also bought 4GB 1066mhz 8500 DDR3 ram and a faulty Acer motherboard that has a SU4100 processor. I think it's better if i just go with that. Still, i might try the SU9400 but i'm concerned that the BIOS might not have the code for the SU9400.

I tried to take a look at the BIOS but got nowehere.
I know some manfacturers are very good in this regards but i have no experience with Acer/Gateway/Packard Bell. BIOS version shows as Acer v1.10.

Also, the mini pci holder for the wwan is missing so you would need to purchase one and get it soldered.

With more ram added I think this is a good laptop for a kid, I bought it for a child. It is very sturdy and also replacement parts like the lcd display run cheap at £50-£60.

The 743 cannot handle HD 1080p as you would expect, for that you really need the SU2300/SU7300/SU4100 processor that some other models in this line have.

 

Ok, I want to revise some things i wrote.
This laptop can now play Youtube HD Buck Bunny 1080P smoothly. The processor seems to remain around 75-80%.
I downloaded the latest graphic/chipset drivers from the Intel website and I also downloaded the latest flash 10.2 drivers.
I'm not sure what has made the difference but it's playable and did not stutter once. Before it was pretty bad and stuttering constantly.
With the SSD upgrade the laptop feels much more responsive, now things like loading flash games on the SSD are pretty much instant.

I have also upgraded to a Kingston 96GB V 100+ SSD £104 from Amazon.co.uk.
The original drive is a Seagate 5400.6 ST925031AS
It is very easy to upgrade the HD as the HD and ram are accessible from the base of the notebook.
Some benchmarks are below-

Btw, not sure if i mentioned this but the ram upgrade 2x2GB (4GB) 1066mhz 8500 DDR3 non EEC ram cost me £28 and i bought the ram from Ebay. Ram on the Gateway/Packard Bell is upgradeable to 8GB.

It also uses a Panasonic UJ892AS 9.5 DVD drive. This may allow an easy upgrade to a BD drive.

The fan noise/heat management is also good.

I have had to put the processor upgrade of. The person who I sent it did not have the tools to reball G2 ULV processors. They can only for now do this upgrade with a new processor. However, seeing that performance is more than adequate now i'm glad i never did it. It appears to boot up a few seconds faster than my Sony TT. Boot time is under 30secs. For a general usage laptop it's more than adequate.

Windows Index performance scores are
3.1 for the processor
4.9 for the 4GB 800hz DDR3 ram, it seems a bit low to me
3.2 for Aero
3.2 for gaming graphics
7.1 for the SSD
The scores are a bit odd seeing as that my Sony SZ in stamina mode x3100 gets 3.5 for Aero and 3.1 for gaming graphics.

I also changed the 1000 Intel wifi card to a 5100.

In power saver mode and brightness at 30% brightness battery life is projected at 11hrs 20 minutes, this is though with an SSD and the graphics drivers in max battery life mode. I didn't get to test what it was like with the original HD. This model has a 62whr battery.

Edited to add:
I see that now with Flash 10.2 gpu acceleration has really improved and it's this i believe what is making the biggest difference.

 

You did an impressive job pimpin that netbook ... have fun with it ... I bought this PB a couple of months ago & I was seriously scared ... but now im really starting to like it