The official product specifications for your laptop are a good place to start. Under the processor section, what's the fastest processor listed as compatible with your laptop?

Celeron M processors are the slowest option, while Core2 Duo processors are the fastest. Celeron Dual-Core processors are essentially two Celeron M cores put together, while Pentium Dual-Core processors are in-between Celeron Dual-Core and Core2 Duo.

Knowing the processor that your laptop came with can really help with possible future upgrade paths. It's fine if you don't know the processor model, you can find out by downloading and running the portable version of Piriform Speccy, a free hardware identification tool that doesn't need to be installed. Check under the CPU section for more specific details.

In order for this tool to help you, you'll need to grab three pieces of information from within the program; the processor model, its stepping revision and the package type. Below is an example of how this information is displayed inside the program, if you need assistance.

Once you've successfully identified the processor, select it from the dropdown menu below.

The front-side bus (FSB) is the primary data bus for the processor. Therefore, a faster data bus will improve system performance. You can use Speccy to find out the data transfer rate of your current processor's front-side bus. The information you need will be listed under the same CPU section as before.

Once again, should you need help with this, there's an example of where this information can be found below.

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep technology (EIST) dynamically alters the core frequency of the processor, based on how busy the processor is. If your laptop is equipped with a processor model that supports EIST, you should check to make sure that the technology is enabled and working.

If the official product specifications for your laptop indicate that Pentium Dual-Core and/or Core2 Duo processors are supported, you can safely assume that your laptop supports EIST. Celeron M and Celeron Dual-Core processors don't support EIST, and so if they are the only processors listed in the official specifications, you can assume EIST isn't supported by your laptop.

Please note that power settings within Windows can also disable this feature, if the minimum processor state is set to 100%. You can check to make sure EIST is working by using Speccy once again. Under the same CPU section as before, at the very bottom a table is provided under the Cores subheading. This table lists all cores of your processor, along with its current core frequency in real-time.

If you see the core frequency dynamically changing, EIST is enabled and working correctly. If not, check to make sure your current power settings aren't forcing the processor to constantly run at 100% of its capacity. Should the frequency still be fixed after ensuring the correct power settings, you should assume that EIST isn't supported by your laptop.

Laptops supporting up to 2 GB of system memory are very unlikely to support processors better than Celeron M. In very few instances, Celeron Dual-Cores may be supported, but you should assume otherwise.

A laptop that supports 3 GB of system memory is a very good sign. Processor support will vary greatly, but support for Core2 Duo processors is common.

Laptops supporting 4 GB of system memory and above are very likely to support Core2 Duo processors. Additionally, Core2 Extreme support may also exist.

In addition to the system memory capacity, the frequencies of system memory can also provide insight into processor support. Typically, if 2 GB is supported, the fastest type of memory will be DDR2-533, with few exceptions. With both 3 GB and 4 GB, the fastest type of memory supported is more than likely DDR2-800. However, due to chipset limitations (even with the GM965 and PM965), 800 MT/s DDR2 will be underclocked to 667 MT/s (DDR2-667). This is normal behavior.

If you're happy with your choices, go ahead and submit the form. The tool will provide possible upgrade solutions for your laptop.

Please note that in some instances, the tool will be unable to provide upgrade solutions. While the tool has been produced to provide upgrade solutions that are as accurate as possible, discrepancies are possible (but uncommon).

Quickly jump through your upgrade options:

• Processors
• System Memory

Okay, here are your processor upgrade options!

And here are your system memory upgrade options!

• Note 1 — Using DDR2-533, the GMA X3100 graphics chip will run its display units at 320 MHz, and its render units at 400 MHz.
• Note 2 — Using DDR2-667 or DDR2-800, the GMA X3100 graphics chip will run its display units at 333 MHz, and its render units at 500 MHz.
• Note 3 — DDR2-800 system memory modules will be underclocked to 667 MT/s due to chipset limitation.