Is it possible to swap out the graphics card?

[Jayce]

Not that I plan to... but I was just reading some of Vista's minimal requirements in comparison to what my laptop has. The video card is 128mb with up to 319mb shared memory. I was just curious if you're dating enough if you can crack open the laptop and drop in a compact 256mb one later on down the road or something.

Just a random question.

 

[peterhuang913]

I don't think you can.

 

[Jayce]

Well that's kind of stupid that they package computers with the lowest possible minimum requirements to run the **** operating system.

This is why I love linux. I hope they get support for my sound card asap so I don't have to worry about maxing out system resources by opening windows explorer.

 

[Cerulean]

It's possible, but quite a bit more complicated with laptops. It's not just a compatibilty issue with the machine... it's a physical one too. For desktops, video cards almost universally have a defined, rectangular shape, whereas laptops tend to have varying shapes and masses, causing an issue of actually fitting it into a different laptop.

For example, this is what a radeon 9600 mobilty looks like:

http://www.bay-wolf.com/video_M10/video1c.jpg

While here is the 9800:

http://www.xxp-design.ru/include/showimage.asp?ImageId=572

 

[Jayce]

I'm just talking from the standpoint of expanding the overall size of the video memory available, at least. Can you adjust it in BIOS or something so your system shares more memory to video? Or are you stuck with the predefined limit?

But if you'd be able to upgrade the video card, that'd be cool too. Like say you have 2 identical cards, one with 128mb dedicated, another with 256mb dedicated... be kind of cool to upgrade to the 256 if you needed it.

But like I said, mine is 128mb dedicated with up to 319mb shared. Can I adjust the 319 to a higher limit? Or is it stuck there?

 

[Jayce]

Just curious... this can apply to graphics cards, but also other things as well. Is there some kind of site out there, like a newegg style site, that deals primarily with replacement parts for laptops? Like, for example, new keyboards, lcds, bezels, graphics cards!!, etc

Now that I have a laptop I'm just digging for references to sites that may help out with things.

 

[saltynay]

Easy things to upgrade are:

Harddrive
Ram
Battery
Optical drive

Some knowledge needed for

Cpu
keyboard (small fiddly wires which are easy to break)
Monitor

hard end of the scale to replace

Motherboard
Graphics card

If you upgrade your laptop yourself then you are likely to lose your warranty

 

[Jayce]

I guess realistically what spooked me was my graphics card is 128mb dedicated and up to 319mb shared video memory... yet Vista calls for 128mb minimal graphics memory. I just thought I'd check into whether or not it was possible to upgrade.

I mean granted I got this laptop with intention of using it for school work, music, some music videos, and pictures... but now that I've got it, there's a few games out there that are appealing to me. I just didn't want this sucker to become outdated 4x quicker than the other ones on the market due to the fact I'm already running the minimum for graphics memory.

Can I change the 319mb shared limit to something higher, like 512mb?

 

[Cerulean]

I guess realistically what spooked me was my graphics card is 128mb dedicated and up to 319mb shared video memory... yet Vista calls for 128mb minimal graphics memory. I just thought I'd check into whether or not it was possible to upgrade.

I mean granted I got this laptop with intention of using it for school work, music, some music videos, and pictures... but now that I've got it, there's a few games out there that are appealing to me. I just didn't want this sucker to become outdated 4x quicker than the other ones on the market due to the fact I'm already running the minimum for graphics memory.

Can I change the 319mb shared limit to something higher, like 512mb?

Not that I know of.