Possible to upgrade laptop graphics?

SBMongoos

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jul 22, 2001
Messages
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Looking at the Asus U43F-BBA6 laptop. Anyone know if it's possible to upgrade the graphics on this unit. I've heard some laptops are but I don't know if that's only those that already have a dedicated graphics card or not.

Thanks...
 
I don't think so. If the specs I read are true, then it has Intel integrated graphics (so no MXM). I suppose something like this is always a possibility:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/418851-diy-vidock-experiences.html
http://www.villagetronic.com/vidock/index.html

Cool options and seeing someone figure out a way to use a desktop graphics card. Not for me though. Would rather have it built in. Got a great price and a great trade in for my old Gateway at BB. So the DM4-1165DX came out to $523 before tax (included some Geek Squad tweaking they did along with Webroot for six months which was yanked, backup DVDs they created, some other little freebies...told them I wouldn't pay the extra for it so they didn't charge for it..ha). Would have liked to have the backlit keyboard (which is only a hack for the 14".. someone has to come up with a BIOS hack so the enable/disable backlit key on the keyboard will work otherwise it's on all the time) and discrete graphics but that would have been about double or so for a 14". The 4 core i5 would have been nice but once again $.
 
Would cost you a arm and a leg upgrading a lappies gpu.

I wonder. I have a contact that is an electrical engineer that repairs laptops. Never really thought about that. I cannot imagine what would need to be done to pull it off though.
 
I wonder. I have a contact that is an electrical engineer that repairs laptops. Never really thought about that. I cannot imagine what would need to be done to pull it off though.

It would probably be cheaper to buy a laptop with the features you want than it would to engineer and half-assed hack for a proprietary system.
 
It would probably be cheaper to buy a laptop with the features you want than it would to engineer and half-assed hack for a proprietary system.

I'd imagine. I cannot see how that could be done gracefully. Be cool if the mb came with the slot to plug in a video card and then you could switch between graphics like some laptops. I thought about that as it would be cost effective for manufacturers but I don't see that happening.
 
I'd imagine. I cannot see how that could be done gracefully. Be cool if the mb came with the slot to plug in a video card and then you could switch between graphics like some laptops. I thought about that as it would be cost effective for manufacturers but I don't see that happening.

Some laptops are designed to be upgraded, but only with the specific devices provided by the OEM.
 
Wasn't there was a move a few years ago to make a standard for a replaceable laptop GPU that didn't go anywhere?
 
You'd be better off buying a cheapo notebook for mobile use and spending the saved cash you would've spent on a 2k$ "gaming" notebook on a more than adequate gaming desktop rig.
 
Wasn't there was a move a few years ago to make a standard for a replaceable laptop GPU that didn't go anywhere?

Not really. They moved to discrete graphics slots, but it was still up to the manufacturer to design the actual module and decide where to put that slot. So each device was physically different. A graphics module from HP wouldn't physically fit into a Dell laptop.

You'd be better off buying a cheapo notebook for mobile use and spending the saved cash you would've spent on a 2k$ "gaming" notebook on a more than adequate gaming desktop rig.

And why is that?
 
Not really. They moved to discrete graphics slots, but it was still up to the manufacturer to design the actual module and decide where to put that slot. So each device was physically different. A graphics module from HP wouldn't physically fit into a Dell laptop.

Ahh that's right. Amazing that didn't go anywhere.
 
or a DIY vidock
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/418851-diy-vidock-experiences.html

Usually you can't upgrade an integrated gpu laptop and retrofit a mobile gpu to it. Reasons are because the motherboard might not have that expansion port, power constraints, and cooling design wouldn't be able to accommodate the extra heat.

Upgrading a dedicated gpu "might" work, depends on your make and model, but it'll be more experimental than a sure fire thing.
 
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