Can you switch out graphics on a laptop?

[Sainix]

Friend has a Toshiba Satellite (A665-S6098) 16" Notebook w/ Core i7-740QM, he wants to upgrade his video card and was asking me if he could, in my exp i have never done this and have always been told no on mine, so i was wondering can you switch them out on this model and upgrade?

 

[glockjs]

very few laptops you can...even the ones you can its very spendy and never worth it. most you cannot.

 

[mtreacy13]

short answer: no
long answer: maybe if the laptop had another model with a better video card and he could find it he might be able to replace it so long as everything else was the same. even then it would almost definitely void any sort of warranty. as glock said it's really not worth it.

 

[Sainix]

Thx guys ill let him know pretty much he can not upgrade...he wants to game so im just going to tell him he should get a desktop instead

 

[SoulTerror]

Some laptops you can, but most do not have replaceable video cards.

 

[Member243850]

Hey there dude!

Hmm does the laptop have a PCI express card slot by any chance dude?

You might want to have a look at that to pump up graphics for games or whatever but you will need i think a PCI express slot

Here you might wanna check out dude:

PCI Express Video Cards, PCI Express Graphic Card, PCI-Express x16 at TigerDirect.com

http://notebooks.com/2010/05/27/msi-gus-adds-external-gpu-to-notebooks-via-expresscard/

And i will try find some other stuff for you dude! There were some other finds but will keep looking

Regards

Stinks

 

[death2all110]

Hey there dude!

Hmm does the laptop have a PCI express card slot by any chance dude?

You might want to have a look at that to pump up graphics for games or whatever but you will need i think a PCI express slot

Here you might wanna check out dude:

PCI Express Video Cards, PCI Express Graphic Card, PCI-Express x16 at TigerDirect.com

MSI “GUS” Adds External GPU to Notebooks via Expresscard | Notebooks.com

And i will try find some other stuff for you dude! There were some other finds but will keep looking

Regards

Stinks

Just getting ready to say that theres been work on external GPUs for notebooks. Stinky Stinky beat me too it ha ha


600th post!

 

[Member243850]

Just getting ready to say that theres been work on external GPUs for notebooks. Stinky Stinky beat me too it ha ha


600th post!

Hahaha

Cool man!

Thanx

Congrats on your 600th post dude! Nice!

Damn i wish i could afford an external GPU for my Laptop

heheheh lol

 

[Sainix]

Hahaha

Cool man!

Thanx

Congrats on your 600th post dude! Nice!

Damn i wish i could afford an external GPU for my Laptop

heheheh lol

Can you even buy them yet? I couldnt find any

 

[Member243850]

Can you even buy them yet? I couldnt find any

Hmm... that's a good point actually!

I have heard of them and their prices but now that i think about I have never actually seen one before!

Wow good point actually dude! Hang on Be right back (brb) I am gonna chack this out quickly to see if i can find any for you! Very good

Very good piont dude! Thanx for pointing this out

 

[glockjs]

doesn't a big box out the side of your laptop negate the mobility part? it would be a good solution if u use your lappy as more of a desktop and play game docked...but dear baby jesus i'd hate to see how much juice the things would suck out of the battery if they could even run off battery lol

 

[Member243850]

doesn't a big box out the side of your laptop negate the mobility part? it would be a good solution if u use your lappy as more of a desktop and play game docked...but dear baby jesus i'd hate to see how much juice the things would suck out of the battery if they could even run off battery lol

Hahaha lol ja it does heheh lol

But it's the only way i could think of that would help resolve the GPU problem...

But the real question is i have heard about them but i have never actually like seen any of them in stores for sale????

So ja i am confused here if there are any that actually are in stores or in production right now???

I had a search and the closest i came to was the ASUS XG Station thingy but it doesn't sound that good actually at anything

XG Station - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So ja i dunno actually if there are any others in existance??

Regards

Stinks

 

[johnlgalt]

Actually, you can swap them out, they have been using the same type of connection for years on laptops now - but obtaining the replacement is where you get into trouble, b/c of the compact spacing allowed in laptops, trying to put in a more powerful card can actually backfire if there is not sufficient cooling to keep the cards from overheating - a fact that nVidia found out the hard way when OEMs started shipping, IIRC, GTX280M cards in their laptops, running full steam, only to have the cards start failing left and right b/c of overheating issues.

This external card idea sounds OK, but seriously, if you're going to game go with a desktop. you'll have much better results with hardware that you can keep reasonably cooled as well as much more powerful (I'd like to see anyone get a pair of GTX260s plus a GTS 250 dedicated to PhysX in a laptop! Yes, I know, now you can get a laptop with a 460M that will rival my pair of GTX260s any day - and there are a few (high end) laptops that support dual video cards...er, um, but then where does the dedicated PhysX come in?

 

[glockjs]

desktop is the way to go and always has been. the best option imo is

1. beastly desktop
2. fast internet connection(upload mainly)
3. a crapper tablet/laptop
4. remote login

the future is here!!!

 

[johnlgalt]

lmfao - OMG, Remote Desktop in Windows 7 is *so* refined now, compared to older versions, I use it all the time on my networks at home and even from school to home via DNS redirection (No-ip). Downside - I can't ever claim to have left my homework at home anymore

 

[glockjs]

yeah rdp is awesome. i use phonemypc when i'm too lazy to get up and get the wireless mouse thats 10ft away to change the movie on netflix when i'm in my bed laying down. i use technology to enhance my laziness muahahaha

 

[johnlgalt]

OK, so why not use RDP via your Android Phone? Muhahahaha

(I bought the rather expensive RDP app Remote Desktop - works fairly well, particularly on my WiFi at home connection, courtesy of my D-Link GamerLouge DGL-4500 broadcasting G/N all around the house)

*That* would rock. lmfao. Of course, it would help if RDP would work well with Netflix.

 

[mplevy]

Actually, you can swap them out, they have been using the same type of connection for years on laptops now - but obtaining the replacement is where you get into trouble, b/c of the compact spacing allowed in laptops, trying to put in a more powerful card can actually backfire if there is not sufficient cooling to keep the cards from overheating - a fact that nVidia found out the hard way when OEMs started shipping, IIRC, GTX280M cards in their laptops, running full steam, only to have the cards start failing left and right b/c of overheating issues.

This external card idea sounds OK, but seriously, if you're going to game go with a desktop. you'll have much better results with hardware that you can keep reasonably cooled as well as much more powerful (I'd like to see anyone get a pair of GTX260s plus a GTS 250 dedicated to PhysX in a laptop! Yes, I know, now you can get a laptop with a 460M that will rival my pair of GTX260s any day - and there are a few (high end) laptops that support dual video cards...er, um, but then where does the dedicated PhysX come in?

Actually, yes and no. Yes, SOME laptops have what are called discreet video cards which allow for the ability to swap the card for a more powerful one. MANY consumer-level laptops have integrated video though, no upgrades possible.

The Toshiba Satellite A665 S6098 DOES have a discreet card based on the specs I found on Toshiba Satellite

 

[johnlgalt]

I've Got A Dell Latitude D600 - I Had It Open Recently, And Saw The Graphics In There, I'll Double Check To Make Sure It Is Replaceable.

Of Course, Laptops With Onboard Video You Won't Be Able To Swap Out, Any More Than You Can With Desktop With Onboard Video (To Which You Can *Add* But Not Swap Out).

 

[johnlgalt]

OP is talking about the graphics card not the software.

 

[ElasticNinja]

been doing some research on my intergrated graphics

I'm shocked, I thought my Intel HD graphics were crap

full article

 

[Mayhem]

I'm late in this thread.

Anyone with a Dell laptop who wants to know if this is possible, check on Dell's site for the service manual for your laptop.

Here's the one for mine. You should be able to replace the ins1545 for your model. I was able to do this for the D600 mentioned above by putting in latD600.

Documentation

I know for a fact that the OLD Dell laptops used to support replacing the video card. I worked as a tester at Dell in Austin and one of my responsibilities was testing different video cards and display types in all of their laptops that had drop-in video cards.

Of course, that was 10 years ago. I'm pretty sure this isn't the case anymore, but it never hurts to check.

 

[mplevy]

Mayhem, that was most certainly model-specific. I've supported Dells in a corp. environment for the last 6 years and have supported the laptops as far back as the C600. The only laptops we've seen with a discrete video card were the Precision laptops. C600, c610, D600, D610, D620, D630, E6400, E6410 NONE had a discrete card in our configurations. The M70, M90, M6300, M6400 and M6500 DO have discrete cards though, none of which are a simple job to replace, they all require almost total disassembly of the laptop to get to.