CPU upgrading in a notebook - need input ASAP!

Yes.The cpu is turn locked(turn <-Unlocks cpu, ->Locks in cpu),not soldered(permanently attached).I strip it down,clean it,& put new thermal on every 3-6 months.Even spray the cpu's pins with compressed air lol."MSI laptop that was able to upgrade the cpu itself since there was a section on the bottom of the laptop to access CPU itself."I have to strip it down to the motherboard to acces the cpu,I don't think it makes a difference.The N970 has exact pins/socket,dimension,& dye dimension as my P320.

If you're talking about the asipre 5552-7803,the screw mounts are the same spots as mine.Position of the hdd,ram,wifi,fan/heatsink,dvd drive,usbs,hdmi,vga,LAN jack,& headphone/mic jacks are the same too.I can get a N970 brand new for $40.Seen it & it caught my interest :)

Yeah I remember the MSI were the one that you could because of the easy access to do the upgrade. On the Aspire if you have already done it once before. They go for it. So long as it can handle it on the Acer Aspire. Usually I would only suggest ones that are capable of doing so like the MSI models. Other ones like the Aspire where your basically disassembling half the laptop. I would just no thanks due to the amount of taking apart of the laptop itself for it.

"Firstly, does your laptop support that CPU? While it may fit physically, if Acer have not given support for the CPU, it will not POST when you've installed it."

From researching some more,it seems since my 5551-2036 has the same chipset & S1G4 socket as others running the N970,it should post.I checked the bios/SMbios of the Acer aspire 5552-7803.I'm running the same bios/SMbios,this has made me a little more confident the N970 is compatible with my model.

"Secondly, is the cooling system capable? If you're getting a CPU with a higher TDP, then it might run very hot in the laptop, AMD CPUs in laptops run hot even with good cooling, you'll need to make sure your cooling system is okay."

I checked the heatsinks,they are the same pretty much(one is bent out 2-3mm more on the copper neck).I checked the factory stock fans.Same V/A,Watt,size,& rpm.I'd say my 5551-2036 has just as good cooling as the 5552-7803.

"If you're buying a CPU that needs more power, will your laptop be able to provide it with this power?"

I believe so.Mine runs the same volt/size battery & 65W/3.42A ac adapter as the 5552-7803.So I believe it is capable of handling a N970 just as the 5552 is.Maybe their is more to it idk.But since the battery & ac adapter is the power source,i'm going off that.

Sorry I keep comparing mine to another notebook,but they are so close to each other it is worth comparing.I seen other laptops that use a N970 & use a 95w psu.But they had different gpu,more usb ports etc.The 5552-7803 is one of the few that has almost a complete match to my notebook,minus the N970.

If it's almost a complete match then it'd pretty much sure to work. The heatsink shouldn't be too much of an issue but that size could make a difference so do some temperature load testing to see if it works.

The last thing I would do to make sure would be to phone Acer and ask if your model supports the N970, this will make it a definate, they will trying teiing you that you will void your warranty, but ignore all this and get them to give you a straight, yes or no answer.