Buying new video cards for laptops, insane prices or possible to upgrade?

Slade

For ages I heard the old saying if you want to upgrade a videocard or otherwise on a laptop you can expect to pay a fortune and it's best just to buy a new one. That and it's very hard to do for whatever reason.

Okay with that in mind I tried to find out if that is the case only I'm finding little to no information whatsoever, okay in truth I'm finding nothing at all. So what is the truth of the matter, it is possible and easy to do or what?

I got a pretty new laptop, only five months old or so and it's pretty powerful for a laptop, made for gaming and has an ATI X1700 card in itself that can run most of everything very well if not at high settings. It even ran Bioshock on almost all the top settings without any problem before two weeks later the game starting to stutter like a you know what. NWN 2 as the reviews said is a pretty buggy game too so that plays far less. The other day I bought a copy of the Witcher and only when I got home realized it said minimum requirements were a 1950 graphics card, doh I thought. Had misread it before to be the recommended version.

So I was hoping a new video card, especially for gaming wise I could fix some of these troubles because I'm a geek like that and I like having near the best of the best. Too bad I can't find anything on the issue.

So anyone out there got the info, got the know how or can inform me. I'm Canadian so that might make some difference when it comes to sites.

Uncle Long

Gaming on a laptop is a losing battle.

That being said, a lot of the hardware in a laptop is put there for a reason and configured to run with the other hardware in a very specific and cohesive manner, so finding a video card is one thing, but making sure that it is compatible with your hardware is another. Make sure that you research this.

Have you ever opened up a laptop before? Have you opeend up this one? Do you know where your video card is located and is it easy to get to?

I wouldn't recommend doing any upgrades beyond RAM and HD on a laptop as I just don't see the real value. I'd rather save the money and get a desktop in addition to the laptop because they are just easier to upgrade and will almost always be more powerful than a laptop either immediately or within the next upgrade.

Jimmy King

The problem you're going to run into is that not only is it expensive when you can upgrade the video card in a laptop, it's incredibly rare to be able to. Most (as in nearly all) laptops just don't have the expansion slots for such a thing due to lack of room. The chances that you got one where the video card can be upgraded purely on accident without specifically hunting one down are incredibly slim.

blincoln

Usually it's not possible to upgrade the video hardware in a laptop. The manufacturers tend to use proprietary physical interfaces and/or board designs.

noobert

Often the chip is just soldered to the board. BAM no upgrade for you.

Call the manufacturer of your laptop, tell them that you are not getting enough graphics grunt and ask them what options you have. 90% of the time there is no way to change the chip.