Upgrading Inspiron 4000

[bhairball]

Can I upgrade the processor? How hard is that to do? I have built several desktop computers before. But have no experiance working on laptops. I'd like to beef up my niece's Dell for her. Wondering if the only thing I can do is put some more memory in it. It's a real dog right now.

[PrntRhd]

Welcome to the PC Guide Forums!
You can add a bit of memory and that is about it. Most notebook PCs are very proprietary as they have to fit all the stuff into very little space.
The only exception is whitebook laptops you assemble yourself, certain to be an adventure for most of us.
:p

[bhairball]

Does that mean the mother board won't accept a processor other than the one that it comes with or that it's just hard to do?

[PrntRhd]

It means it is quite hard to do.
It is not like a desktop PC where you can reach inside and unclip the HSF and unclip the CPU, instead you have to disassemble the whole thing. Some also have the CPU fan bonded in place.