Nilz

Hi Oliver, I have upgraded the BIOS to the newest version to get SATA3 working since I am using an ssd. This was before I upgraded my ram (16 GB DDR3L 1600 as well) but the new ram runs only at 1333mhz iirc, at least not 1600. And I believe it runs on 1.5v as well. I'd advise not to upgrade the BIOS if everything is working as is. And agreed, I wasn't ever going to spend that much on a CPU. Luckily someone offered the 2760QM of their old laptop that was still working. I asked if he wanted to trade his CPU for my 2640M so he'd still have a working laptop at hand and he actually agreed! So I now have a true quadcore CPU for the price of a post stamp . I also found that the laptop doesn't actually throttle the cpu to 35 watts like other users have stated. The result however is that the cpu reaches 90°C (194°F) during a torture test.

Hello! By now this topic and the laptop is really old, but I'd like to say hi since I am the new owner of a 2560p since a few days. I was lucky to find a near mint one for €150 with an i7-2640M. I am in the process of upgrading it and this laptop will be my linux machine from now on. The first problem I stumbled upon is the WiFi Whitelist. I mainly wanted Bluetooth 4.0 and Wifi 5 Ghz and I had a spare Intel Dual Band 7260 which I wanted to use, no luck there obviously. Is this limitation still in place with the newer BIOS'es? I'm guessing it is. I am going to upgrade it to an ssd + possibly hdd as well as 16 gb dual channel memory. Now the next thing is battery life. My battery says it is stil at design capacity of 48,7 Wh, but I find that hard to believe. I want to upgrade to a 9-cell battery but the original ones are too expensive and I don't know if the third party batteries are any good. I will keep an eye out. I am running Ubuntu but I am seeing that with almost no cpu use the fan keeps spinning. I have installed and configured powertop and tlp but I am still averaging between 10 and 15 watt while idling and/or browsing. Anyone got an idea how to lower it? And is it possible to undervolt the 2560p? I also read some things about DC Optimized which supposedly improves battery life, the links that are provided are all dead. What is DC Optimized? Also does anybody know how to change the fan speed in linux? I'd rather have it run warm and quiet. Lastly I want to know what you think about the CPU. I'd like to upgrade but I can't find any second hand ones apart from a few on Ebay for around $200. I don't think it's worth the money, but I'd like to know what a reasonable price is for the 2820QM.