Have some old laptops that were given to me, trying to make one work... CAN I replace the intel atom cpu in this old Dell laptop with an Intel Carleton (R) processor without having to switch out the motherboard and all that?

[JHild4]

Intel Celeron (R) processor....

[AlHill]

You need to contact DELL and ask them what processors are compatible with their laptop bios. Then, you can select from those processors - only if your existing processor is not soldered to the motherboard.

An upgrade processor must be socket, chipset, AND BIOS compatilble.

Doc