Upgrade HP Pavilion - Socket FCBGA1170 - 4 core CPU N3700 @ 1.60GHz

[kunst22]

I have a 17” HP Pavilion notebook with an Intel Pentium CPU N3700 @ 1.60GHz on a Socket FCBGA1170, with 4 cores and Max TDP of 6W with 8 GB RAM running Windows 10.

I find this combination very slow and was wandering if I could upgrade the CPU to a faster one? I look forward to your recommendations

Another consideration is upgrading the standard SATA 1TB HD HTS541010A9E680 to a 1TB SSD. Or would that be too expensive.

Thanking you in advance for your replies.

Fred

+++++fK

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

We do not have your exact model but on most of the Bay Trail models I have seen (N series Pentium and Celeron processors) the processor is soldered to the motherboard and there is no separate ability to change the processor. FCBGA1170 means it is a Ball Grid Array which means soldered on. 1 TB SSDs are about $300-380. 

[kunst22]

Thanks for your reply.

Fred

+++++fK

[alordofchaos]

Hello, Fred,

I know this is several months old, but I stumbled upon your question while researching a laptop I was considering for purchase.

Some other options are:

• If you do not use your optical drive frequently, you can purchase a drive adapter (under US $20) that will allow you to put your current 1 TB drive into the optical drive slot and use for storage of things that don't require fast read/write, such as pictures, movies, and archival files. This alows you to purchase a much smaller and less expensive SSD drive for your operating system and frequently used programs. 240GB SSD drives are under $70 in the US now. You may then purchase an adapter that will allow you to place your optical drive into a USB enclosure and connect it via USB when you need to use an optical device.
• Disable windows 10 services and features that you do not need. There are services and features running in the background all the time that are eating up your processor cycles. Do a search for Windows 10 services that you can safely disable (will vary depending on user). For example, I disabled Cortana, disabled a bunch of the standard Windows 10 apps, live tiles, etc. You will need to experiment with features you want vs how they affect performance
• You can also disable visual effects so that the processor is not struggling with visual effects while trying to perform actual work tasks.  For example, I went to: PC Settngs -> Search box in upper right, type in: Performance Opt, and select from the list: Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows. In the small Performance Options window, select the button: Adjust for best performance, and apply.  You can go back and re-enable visual effects to your taste (I have the bottom two boxes checked)

Best,

Jack