Changing SSD and CPU in MBA?

TheGreenBastard said:

I want to buy this MBA: http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/prod...spx?path=c6e2e59b389cefe68e8fb9f16a8386d4en02

It has a 1.8 GHz i5, and I'm wondering what socket it uses, and if it's even possible to manually upgrade the processor.
And hard drive: how many bays in the air? Just one for the stock SSD?

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cpu is soldered in (as is the RAM), can't upgraded
no drive bays, SSD is a "stick" style. it can be upgraded

cpu socket won't fit in the tight space in the MBA. ditto for a gpu socket or ram sockets. the SSD isn't even a standard type. Don't even consider an MBA if you want to do your own upgrades.

Highly recommend the Air, I love both of mine. Just be sure to order exactly what you want in the machine when you purchase it knowing that it is not later upgradable except for the SSD. No big deal.

wolfpuppies3 said:

Highly recommend the Air, I love both of mine. Just be sure to order exactly what you want in the machine when you purchase it knowing that it is not later upgradable except for the SSD. No big deal.

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I agree. I bought the 2011 model when it came out. I keep trying to convince myself to upgrade but I really don't need to. Heck I probably just could have kept the 2010 model and still been fine. I hardly ever get a beach ball. "Snappy" is the adjective I hear for the Air a lot and it is accurate. For basic productivity and light gaming, it's an amazing machine. You can't upgrade much in these but like you said, if you equip it for your needs at the time of purchase it will hold its own for years.

The only reason I have two is that I wanted the larger 13" screen for field photographic work. It arrived in June 2012 but I still love the 2011 11" so much I cannot bear to part with it. They could be described as (13) Extremely fast and (11) very fast.

I use them both.

TheGreenBastard said:

Oh, wow. Definitely not getting the air, thanks for the heads up.

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You should buy a Lenovo laptop.

TheGreenBastard said:

Oh, wow. Definitely not getting the air, thanks for the heads up.

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You know most laptops don't allow a CPU to be upgraded right?
As for RAM and HDD/SSD it differs from make and model.

kage207 said:

You know most laptops don't allow a CPU to be upgraded right?
As for RAM and HDD/SSD it differs from make and model.

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I had an old Dell inspiron (Pentium M) which was socketed - you could actually overclock it by shorting out two of the pins in the socket with a little bit of wire! Those were the days

But seriously, the Air is a bad choice if you want to upgrade it. The i5 will be good enough for most things (and tbh, the Air isn't a workhorse laptop anyway - they're ULV CPUs). If you need something more powerful than the i5 - get the pro.

The SSD is easily upgradable. One T6 screw holds it down.

kage207 said:

You know most laptops don't allow a CPU to be upgraded right?
As for RAM and HDD/SSD it differs from make and model.

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Most? I don't think there'd be any current laptops with upgradable CPUs.

TheGreenBastard said:

Oh, wow. Definitely not getting the air, thanks for the heads up.

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I can understand not getting it due to a proprietary ssd type as opposed to something like mSATA where you might be able to spend a bit less on an upgrade. Trying to upgrade ulv cpus would be one of the dumbest things possible. You'd set yourself back several hundred for a marginal performance boost. The i7 is this. If you could even find one sold retail socketed on its own, you're looking at over $300 for a very minor boost in performance. It is truly pointless. If you need as much power as possible in a mobile form factor, you want one of the QM chips. Even if you could upgrade those in a macbook pro, you'd be disappointed once again. The stratification between chips of a given class isn't much when you weigh it against the cost. CPUs really aren't worth upgrading post sale in almost any recent model notebook unless you ordered the wrong thing. Drives and ram are a different story, as the markups are typically much higher for what you really get, and it's typically easy to swap either in or out.

mrsir2009 said:

Most? I don't think there'd be any current laptops with upgradable CPUs.

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I say most because you never know what's out there. There are crazy inventions people make and don't have recognition. Nor do I pretend to know all product lines of major manufactures. In laptops, the CPU is usually solder onto the MOBO so it can't be upgraded. I just stick with that because you just never know for sure. That and it kind of future proofs your statement.

mrsir2009 said:

Most? I don't think there'd be any current laptops with upgradable CPUs.

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Sager (sagernotebooks.com) makes gaming laptops with upgradable CPU's and GPU's. There's a bunch of other gaming laptops with upgradable components too (too many of them to name). Some of the higher end Alienwares also have this ability.