What to upgrade?

[fender128]

I bought my laptop last summer and just recently have been using it for gaming. I'm not really a hardcore gamer, and I don't play any games that are extremely demanding (though I will be getting World of Warcraft this summer). I currently play WarcraftIII and Diablo II.

When playing these games on my laptop, considerable slowdown is noticable...especially when playing warcraftIII. I'm looking to make some upgrades to improve my comp's speed. Here are the specs:

-Dell Computer Corporation Inspiron 5100
-Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (build 2600)
-2.40 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
8 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache
-30.00 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
-Board: Dell Computer Corporation 09U807 Bus Clock: 133 megahertz
-512 Megabytes Installed Memory
Slot 'DIMM_A' has 256 MB
Slot 'DIMM_B' has 256 MB
-MOBILITY RADEON 7500C [Display adapter](It's not integrated)
Digital Flat Panel (1024x768) [Monitor] (19.7"vis)
-SigmaTel C-Major Audio


Any suggestions as to how I can speed this thing up are greatly appreciated.

 

[Catbert]

Get a better graphics card. Try something like the 9800 mobility or if you have the money one of ATI's new X range cards.

That should increase the performance.

 

[diabloII]

to play wow, all you need to do is upgrade that graphics card

however, you gotta know how to do it

 

[ravin]

WARNING!!! Dell unfortunatly puts very low power supplys in their pc's... check your watts before you decide to throw in a more power videocard because you will experiance random restarts or freezing during games.

 

[diabloII]

bestbetistojustgetanewlaptop

 

[Catbert]

bestbetistojustgetanewlaptop

Is your space bar broken or are you just a muppet ?

 

[diabloII]

whatisaspacebar?

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

Good luck on upgrading your graphics in a dell laptop. I thought alot of their cards were like soldered to the mobo.

Also with 9800Pro it will use ALOT of juice

 

[desiboi]

I got the same graphic card as you. That always happens to me when I play NFSU2. I never knew you can upgrade graphics for laptops? How much do they cost?

 

[Catbert]

Certain higher end laptops have the option to be upgraded. Companines like AlienWare allow you to do this but mainly because they are such amazing machines .

Companies like Dell, Sony & Toshiba etc also give you the option to do so in some of their higher end models, but alot of their lower end "budget" laptops do not have this option.