Graphics cards for laptops?

s.valo

Hey,

What are good graphics for laptops?iv bout €150 - €200 to spend on one, i havent got a clue about graphics cards for laptops!!!! Im gonna be buying a new laptop soon most likely this one:

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Aspire_Aspire_5101_AWLMi_Laptop_LX.ABH0J.083/version.asp

which comes with integragated graphics,like most other laptops in that price range(€750).The problim is id like to run the lateset games on it(smoothly). and iv only got €950 to buy both the laptop and a graphics card.

CAN I INSTALL A GOOD GRAPHICS CARD IN THIS LAPTOP OR AM I STUCK WITH THE INTEGRATED ONES IT COMES WITH?

(The only room for expansion on this one is a PCMCIA Slot, 1 x Type II, if that helps?)

If not:

Id like to buy a laptop with a good card already installed but i cant find any in my price range(Max €950).

Any suggestions?

Ruu_Old

I think you are pretty much stuck with the card that is in there as its difficult to upgrade them and can be costly. A desktop computer out of the question?

s.valo

im trying to get rid of my desktop at the moment,i need a laptop for college n its jus handyer to use round the house n college with wifi.

petes

Acer.co.uk wrote:

ATI Radeon® Xpress 1100 integrated 3D graphics with up to 128 MB of shared system memory, or
ATI Mobility™ Radeon® X1300 with up to 512 MB of HyperMemory™ (64 MB of dedicated GDDR2 VRAM, up to 448 MB of shared system memory), supporting ATI PowerPlay™ 5.0, Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 and PCI Express®

Taken from here

These seem to be the only ones available to you.


Have you ever changed or upgraded a laptop graphics card.

s.valo

no iv never changed a laptops graphics,iv never even owned a laptop!

Im used to desktops,i got a dell desktop a while back and it came with integrated graphics(which is crap),so i disabled it and jus put a GeForce graphics card in one of the pci slots at the back and installed the software which works perfect, i was wondering could i do the same with the laptop,buy it with integerated graphics and jus put a GeForce or anyother graphics card in the pci slot?i dunno im not familiar with laptops?

Any ideas lads?

petes

s.valo wrote:

no iv never changed a laptops graphics,iv never even owned a laptop!

Im used to desktops,i got a dell desktop a while back and it came with integrated graphics(which is crap),so i disabled it and jus put a GeForce graphics card in one of the pci slots at the back and installed the software which works perfect, i was wondering could i do the same with the laptop,buy it with integerated graphics and jus put a GeForce or anyother graphics card in the pci slot?i dunno im not familiar with laptops?

Any ideas lads?

As I said above they are the two cards that the acer website say can go in your laptop. You are limited by what you can put in it, if at all. Its not as straight forward (might be an understatement) as changing/upgrading your desktop.

8T8

The Acer laptop in the first link you provide cannot be upgraded the Xpress 1100 is integrated graphics suitable for only the most basic of 3D apps.

In the link petes gives that is describing the options available to resellers who would sell the laptop with either the integrated graphics or the X1300 which is still pretty basic but you could get by with some older games & less graphics heavy ones e.g Warcraft 3.

You might see the X1400 listed on some notebooks as well it is basically an overclocked X1300 but still a little better.

Some of the Dell Inspiron 6400 notebooks allow the X1300 & X1400 as an option when you get to the graphics tab. But you will be going a small bit over budget to get one of those.

TerrorFirmer

The X1100 isn't that bad. It can run Half Life 2 at medium settings fine, and it even runs Battlefield 2142 on low settings. I suppose it depends on what sort of games you want to play really.

Basic Dell 6400 with a - relatively speaking - superior X1300 is 958 - within your budget. You would need more then 512mb ram though, especially if you're going to be gaming as both the X1100 and X1300 will eat into your available memory.

Actually just looking at their prices there. Damn unbelievable deals in the new AMD range. Turion X2 tl50 for 772 with the slightly better X1150 and 1gb of ram....

K.O.Kiki

Can we have a sticky for this please?
Something that shouts *NO, YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE GRAPHICS CARD IN YOUR LAPTOP, STOP ASKING* would be nice...

petes

K.O.Kiki wrote:

Can we have a sticky for this please?
Something that shouts *NO, YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE GRAPHICS CARD IN YOUR LAPTOP, STOP ASKING* would be nice...

You can in some dells though.

TerrorFirmer

You can change them in alot more then Dells. It's just tricky and if you really have to actually ask first, then no, you can't change it.

petes

HavoK wrote:

You can change them in alot more then Dells. It's just tricky and if you really have to actually ask first, then no, you can't change it.

Yeah I know. Its just I am more familiar with Dells.

Zapho

I've got the x1400 in a dell 6400. Its a pretty good card, but not a fantastic one.
I'd have prefered to have gotten the nVidea Go option but that was really expensive. (€400) extra.
And yes in Dells you can change the graphics cards, but there's only a limited
few that will go into them. The far better, higher performance cards can only be
found in the 17inch inspirons because they need the extra space for the heat
sinks.

B00MSTICK

K.O Kiki wrote:

Can we have a sticky for this please?
Something that shouts *NO, YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE GRAPHICS CARD IN YOUR LAPTOP, STOP ASKING

Lets make a sticky asking people to only reply when they actually know what they're on about.

Yes you can change graphics cards in certain laptops. My Inspiron 9300 came with a 256mb Go6800 but I could have went for a X1300 and upgraded later. Furthermore you can flash the bios and if you get a Go6800 Ultra/Go7800 and heatsink, it will run on full whack if it plugged into an XPS powersupply.

http://www.notebookforums.com/thread113866.html

Im pretty sure some Acers/Alienware advertise as having upgradeable gfx cards.

You can pick up a low spec 9400 in the outlet shop for around 800 with a X1400. Check if the 9400 can take a 6800 (it can take a 7800 so I dont see why not) and get it on ebay.com for sub €200 if the X1400 isnt up to the job.

s.valo

Cheers lads for the help, but ill think im jus gonna buy a laptop with a good graphics card alredy installed, even if i do have to stretch my buget,im sure it will be worth it. Although i have found one i like in my buget

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Acer_Aspire_5633WLMi_Laptop_LX.AG50J.169/version-1.asp

As you can see,it comes with the NVidia GeForce Go7300 supporting 256MB TurboCache, from what i gather from the NVidia site its a good card and can play the lateset games?!!?

Whats everyones oppinion on this one?

Is this card good?

Is it better than the one i first mentioned?

How good is it,can i play new games on eg battle field 2(smoothly)?

8T8

The 7300GS is about on par with the X1300 with battlefield 2 you should squeeze by at lower resolutions like 800x600 with medium details.

The best one budget wise I can see on laptops direct is this Fujitsu Siemens notebook that matches the one you picked out but has a bigger screen and a better GPU a Go7600 which should handle most games but at €1184 it is really pushing your budget.

B00MSTICK

Aldi and Lidl should have laptops on/around 3rd Dec as in Bargain alerts. Usually a good deal.
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