Mobile Platform Wars: AMD vs. Intel

HP 6515b Internals

During the course of testing, we became more than just a little familiar with how to open up the 6515b and swap processors. We also performed a memory upgrade to take the system from 2x512MB of RAM up to 2x1GB. Either upgrade starts with the same step: remove the center cover on the bottom of the laptop.


Behind this panel, you can find one of the SO-DIMMs as well as the mini-PCI WiFi adapter. One of three screws that need to be loosened in order to remove the keyboard is also behind this panel.


Besides the three screws on the bottom that hold the keyboard in place, there are four plastic tabs across the top of the keyboard that need to be disengaged. After that's done, the keyboard can be lifted out of the way revealing the second memory slot as well as the CPU and its heatpipe cooler. The plastic panel above the keyboard can be popped out, which gives access to one of the two screws that holds the heatsink fan in place. After removing the fan, you can then remove the heatsink and swap out processors.


It might sound a little complex, but in reality this is one of the easier CPU swaps we've done on a laptop. Once you're familiar with the process, it's possible to swap out the CPU in under 10 minutes, and given the need to run certain benchmarks on a clean install of Windows Vista, we had to swap CPUs back-and-forth over a dozen times before we were finished with testing. We're also happy to report that during all this time, we didn't experience any system crashes or other instability that would give us cause for concern.