Internal Components (Cont’t)
Contents
The wireless network adapter that comes with the Aspire 5742Z is an Atheros AR5B97, which is compatible with the IEEE802.11 b/g/n standards.
Figure 12: Wireless network card
The optical drive is a Sony Optiarc DVD-rewriter, model AD-7585H, which reads and writes CDs at 24x speed, reads DVDs at 8X, writes DVD+R and DVD-R at 8x, DVD-RW, DVD+R DL, and DVD-R DL at 6x, and DVD-RAM at 5x.
Figure 13: Optical drive
In order to access the motherboard and the CPU, it is necessary to completely disassemble the laptop, removing the keyboard and then opening the chassis. You can see the motherboard with the CPU and cooler installed in Figure 14.
Figure 14: Motherboard
Figure 15 shows the motherboard after the cooler removal. Notice that the CPU comes with an excessive quantity of thermal compound. The Intel HM55 chipset doesn’t come with a heatsink.
Figure 15: Motherboard
Figure 16 reveals the Pentium P6200 CPU which comes installed in the notebook. It can be replaced by Core i3, Core i5 or even Core i7 CPUs compatible with the HM55 chipset. However, keep in mind that this laptop is not compatible with the second-generation Core i processors (“Sandy Bridge” architecture).
Figure 16: Pentium P6200 CPU
