Quote:
Here's the OEM URL below but you'll find the specs they offer are grossly inane...
Thanks for posting the link. I think the specification list and format are fine, however the actual specifications contain several "deal-breakers" that would have prevented me from recommending that system. While this information is too late to help you in this case, hopefully it will help with future purchases for yourself and others. With that in mind, these are a couple things that stand out, and not in a good way:
Display: 15.6" Diagonal High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1366x768)
The display is perhaps the most important single component, since you will be staring at it anytime you are using the system. Since laptops are used both indoors and out, and in a variety of lighting conditions, the most important thing to look for is a matte display. Glossy displays on a laptop are unacceptable as it makes them almost unusable outside, and depending on the lighting indoors you often end up seeing more of the objects above and behind you than what is actually on the screen. Unfortunately consumers have largely been duped into thinking glossy displays are better, since they show well in a store environment and most manufacturers substitute the term "glossy" with
bogus marketspeak terms ("BrightView" in this case) designed to
obfuscate the truth. Bottom line: A glossy display is a deal-breaker on a laptop (and for me, on a desktop or television display as well).
Network Card: Integrated 10/100 Ethernet LAN
Gigabit Ethernet is the standard today for wired networking, and is especially necessary when sharing files and media on a LAN. As such I would not recommend a laptop without integrated gigE. That brings up another problem: I don't see an ExpressCard slot on that laptop, which means you can't upgrade the system by adding interface cards like gigE, eSATA or USB 3.0. I consider eSATA or USB 3.0 almost mandatory for performance when backing up to an external HDD.
Microprocessor: Dual Core Intel Pentium Processor T4400
The processor in this case really isn't that bad, but if you did want hardware virtualization (VT-x) support, that one doesn't have it. Now what about upgrades? Normally you can replace an existing processor with another built using the same core die as the original (Penryn) as well as matching the front-side bus speed (800MHz FSB), package type (PGA478) and max. thermal dynamic power (35W TDP). You can see a list of mobile Penryn core processors
here, from that list you would filter the selection to those matching the other specs (800MHz FSB, 35W TDP), plus the hardware virtualization technology (VT-x), which results in
this list of choices.
Of those, the fastest is the
2.6GHz T9500. Unfortunately that chip is only 0.4GHz (not very much) faster than what you have now, and the cheapest I can find one is
for about $130 on eBay.
But here's the real problem. Even though that chip would be the fastest chip that is physically and electrically compatible with what you have now, I doubt it will actually work in the system due to limitations in the BIOS. In modern systems, for a CPU to work it not only must match physically and electrically, but it must also be supported in the BIOS. This is usually not a problem in desktop systems, which normally have a BIOS designed to support all processors that are physically and electrically compatible, but this is unfortunately a big problem in laptops. In other words, unless HP offered that processor in another variation of your system (using the same motherboard and BIOS), it most likely won't work. Unfortunately I can't find that HP offered any such thing.
Bottom line: I don't think you will be able to upgrade the processor from what you have now, but the only way to know for sure will be to actually try it yourself (or find somebody who has). In other words, if you want to take a $130 gamble (with very poor odds for success IMHO) to gain VT-x support and 0.4GHz in processing speed, then by all means try it and let me know what you find!
Some of the problems you have sound like they may be due to corruption in the OS or software that is currently installed. You didn't say how fresh the OS install was, but I recommend reloading the system from scratch and then installing the latest drivers and only the applications you intend on using. The amount of bloatware/trialware that comes on many laptops is insane, so if you do use the product recovery to reload the system I recommend immediately uninstalling all of the unnecessary bloatware/trialware. This should help greatly with overall performance. Let me know if that helps.
Finally, the best recommendation I can offer is that your next laptop be a ThinkPad. They don't have the deal-breaker flaws I mentioned earlier, plus they have a much wider range of documented processor support, such that I have actually upgraded processors in several ThinkPad systems (whether or not it was financially sound to do so <g>). Scott.