Is it possible to make your Gateway 8550GB laptop run faster? Can you replace stock CPU, graphics card, memory with faster replacements? According to MXM-Upgrade the laptop upgrade is possible. Fortunately, you can easily access all three components (CPU, memory, graphics card) if you remove the memory bay cover from the laptop bottom. You can find disassembly instructions in the Gateway user guide.

Laptop specifications before the upgrade:
CPU: Pentium M740 1.73GHz
Memory: 1GB DDR2 PC4200(533MHz)
Graphics card: ATI Mobility Radeon X700 128MB

Laptop specifications after the upgrade:
CPU: Pentium M780 2.26GHz
Memory: 2GB DDR2 PC4200(533MHz)
Graphics card: ATI Mobility Radeon X1900 256MB

This upgrade will speed up your laptop significantly, but it’s not cheap.
Also, don’t forget about the hard drive-the slowest part in the laptop. A faster 7200RPM hard drive will improve the laptop performance too.