Is it possible...

Conor108

I have a Dell Vostro 1000 laptop and it has ATI Radeon Express 1150 integrated GFX Card. Are you able to install a dedicated graphics card or would you have to buy some external card? Probably a stupid question but I've little experience with Lappy hardware.

Thanks

toco123

Nope sorry!

RoyalMarine

afraid there are only about 1 - 2 % of laptop's where you can change the graphics cards.

i think its because they are soldered? onto the mobo's.

as for external graphics cards, if only we were there yet...... if only...

all you can do is buy a newer laptop.

zilog_jones

I used to build those. The graphics chipset is integrated on the motherboard. No provisions for graphics upgrades at all. Only the Vostro 1500 and 1700 have separate graphics cards, and even then only when you get one of them in the first place, i.e. you can get one with Intel integrated graphics but that has no connection for a graphics card (because the LCD connection is on the motherboard), or you can get one with an Nvidia graphics card, but there's usually only a choice of two graphics cards anyway.

Voodu Child

There was an external graphics solution for laptops touted last year at some stage.... Asus XG Station. Afaik it hasnt seen the light of day yet - havent a clue if it was cancelled or what...Im sure a bit of googling will throw up any relevant info.

AlmightyCushion

voodoo_child wrote: »

There was an external graphics solution for laptops touted last year at some stage.... Asus XG Station. Afaik it hasnt seen the light of day yet - havent a clue if it was cancelled or what...Im sure a bit of googling will throw up any relevant info.

I remember that all right. I haven't heard anything about it since then. If I remember correctly you had to hook it up to an external monitor for it to work.

Voodu Child

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

I remember that all right. I haven't heard anything about it since then. If I remember correctly you had to hook it up to an external monitor for it to work.

Ah right, never read up on it much at the time. The oul external monitor requirement makes it a lot less practical. Tbh, if it ever does see the light of day, I can't see it doing too well.

Ah well, at least they're up to something, better than not trying anything at all. Lately, the high-end Nvidia mobile cards have been upgradable to a degree. Hopefully it's something that catches on.

toco123

External graphics cards like the XG Station will be too slow (no bandwith thru USB) and too expensive. And since most laptops wont have a eSATA connection they would probably have to do it through ethernet.

TerrorFirmer

toco123 wrote: »

External graphics cards like the XG Station will be too slow (no bandwith thru USB) and too expensive. And since most laptops wont have a eSATA connection they would probably have to do it through ethernet.

It used an express slot. but I always thought it was a pathetic idea, it would cost about 300-400E and you have to have an external monitor to use it, completely defeating the purpose entirely.

AlmightyCushion

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

It used an express slot. but I always thought it was a pathetic idea, it would cost about 300-400E and you have to have an external monitor to use it, completely defeating the purpose entirely.

If they could make a fairly cheap version that would allow you to put your own card in and use the laptop monitor then I'm sure it would sell quite well. The way it is now though I can't see it doing all that well.

zilog_jones

The problem is the laptop display is directly connected to the graphics card or integrated graphics, and I don't think there's any provisions for ExpressCard or mini PCIe to communicate directly to the display.