Laptop with ability to add dedicated graphics at a later stage

[rene13cross]

Hi everyone,

As the title suggests, I am looking for a laptop which does not initially ship with dedicated graphics but has the space for one so that I can upgrade that in the future. This probably means it must support mPCI-E 2.0..? I am aware that this is a long shot but any help is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[hang-the-9]

Have not heard of a laptop with upgradable graphics not coming with a video card, unless you buy a made to order laptop. Sager maybe could offer something like this. Take a look at this "build your own laptop guide" as well http://carpesomediem.hubpages.com/hub/build-your-own-laptop

Either case, you will probably end up better off just buying the laptop with the video card.

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

It doesnt exist as an off the shelf laptop...

All the best Brett

 

[nbelote]

It has to have some sort of dedicated graphics from the beginning. Now, what you *could* do is order one without dedicated graphics then buy the cheapest card that fits the computer that you can find on eBay.

 

[Pyree]

May be if you wait, you get yourself a laptop with Thunderbolt to use with MSI GUS II.

 

[classzero]

Hi everyone,

As the title suggests, I am looking for a laptop which does not initially ship with dedicated graphics but has the space for one so that I can upgrade that in the future. This probably means it must support mPCI-E 2.0..? I am aware that this is a long shot but any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Good luck with that. This has been a dream for laptop users from the start. Laptops are disposable computers. When the tech gets old your only choice is to toss it and grab a new one. Upgrading a laptop is limited to ram, hard drive, and battery. Some don't even let you do the battery.

 

[chudddds]

Good luck with that. This has been a dream for laptop users from the start. Laptops are disposable computers. When the tech gets old your only choice is to toss it and grab a new one. Upgrading a laptop is limited to ram, hard drive, and battery. Some don't even let you do the battery.

nothing could be farther from the truth


mobos, cpus, wifi, all can be upgraded

 

[A Bad Day]

I've never heard of laptops with dedicated graphics. The best you'll get are replaceable mobile GPUs, but only the very top end laptops allow replacements of their GPUs, and mobile GPUs are more expensive than their faster (and hotter) desktop counterparts.

 

[mickey21]

nothing could be farther from the truth


mobos, cpus, wifi, all can be upgraded

In only the most rarest occasions can a mobo be upgraded. And at that only custom built laptops can really accomplish this. Not to mention within a certain degree of still new laptop. There are only a few end user grade laptops that can change much of anything. His comment isnt really that far from the truth. What you speak of is hardly readily available to most users, even though people like you and me know they exist.

Really though, upgrading wifi? Even in the last few years they shifted from MiniPCI to MinePCIE form factors within laptops and laptops made far enough back have no option to upgrade.

Memory, oh, okay, I can add (in virtually all cases prior to newer DDR3) up to 2 memory chips, of which it likely shipped with both filled (4GB) unless was custom ordered as well? You will still be locked into one memory type and likely adding more to your system like 6-8GB will do nothing for the overall usage of the still older laptop.

CPUs, this is mostly laughable. Lets say you did buy a slightly older laptop with a Core2Duo based CPU, without the aforementioned rare possibility of changing the mobo, you would hardly find it worth it to go from a 2.2Ghz C2D to a 2.6-3Ghz C2D. Though possible, the mostly still older C2D would not make much of a difference in overall use and hardly worth the investment since a new base build laptop would be more efficient dollar to performance ratio. And vastly cheaper than upgrading the one off components.

In short, what I think you are missing from the comment of get rid of the old and just get a new one, is that you will likely recoup more of your investment from the old unit and put towards a new unit, then to try to work with upgrading something like a laptop mobo, which I can tell you (from 20 years of laptop servicing), that the average even PC builder could disassemble a modern day laptop without breaking something, much less the average nontechiejoesomebody. And it is only getting worse, with the latest changes in consumer demand, apple design metrics, and overall tight designs, it is getting harder to break these units open and not show that someone has worked on it. Not to mention if you didnt buy a custom laptop and you want to upgrade something like the mobo, you are likely voiding your still good warranty, and that is a big deal for most users. Without changing the mobo, most of any upgrade is pretty worthless.

 

[chudddds]

I've never heard of laptops with dedicated graphics.

not sure you meant it that way



http://www.laptop-computer-comparison.com/laptop-video-card.html


http://www.ehow.com/facts_6914019_integrated-dedicated-graphics-card-laptop.html

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5213

 

[ram1009]

nothing could be farther from the truth


mobos, cpus, wifi, all can be upgraded

Enlighten us, please.

 

[chudddds]

In only the most rarest occasions can a mobo be upgraded. And at that only custom built laptops can really accomplish this. Not to mention within a certain degree of still new laptop. There are only a few end user grade laptops that can change much of anything. His comment isnt really that far from the truth. What you speak of is hardly readily available to most users, even though people like you and me know they exist.

Really though, upgrading wifi? Even in the last few years they shifted from MiniPCI to MinePCIE form factors within laptops and laptops made far enough back have no option to upgrade.

Memory, oh, okay, I can add (in virtually all cases prior to newer DDR3) up to 2 memory chips, of which it likely shipped with both filled (4GB) unless was custom ordered as well? You will still be locked into one memory type and likely adding more to your system like 6-8GB will do nothing for the overall usage of the still older laptop.

CPUs, this is mostly laughable. Lets say you did buy a slightly older laptop with a Core2Duo based CPU, without the aforementioned rare possibility of changing the mobo, you would hardly find it worth it to go from a 2.2Ghz C2D to a 2.6-3Ghz C2D. Though possible, the mostly still older C2D would not make much of a difference in overall use and hardly worth the investment since a new base build laptop would be more efficient dollar to performance ratio. And vastly cheaper than upgrading the one off components.

In short, what I think you are missing from the comment of get rid of the old and just get a new one, is that you will likely recoup more of your investment from the old unit and put towards a new unit, then to try to work with upgrading something like a laptop mobo, which I can tell you (from 20 years of laptop servicing), that the average even PC builder could disassemble a modern day laptop without breaking something, much less the average nontechiejoesomebody. And it is only getting worse, with the latest changes in consumer demand, apple design metrics, and overall tight designs, it is getting harder to break these units open and not show that someone has worked on it. Not to mention if you didnt buy a custom laptop and you want to upgrade something like the mobo, you are likely voiding your still good warranty, and that is a big deal for most users. Without changing the mobo, most of any upgrade is pretty worthless.

my current laptop had b/g wifi. i upgraded it to n, and not an add-on card. i replaced the internal wifi card, cheap and easy.

i upgraded my cpu. not so easy, but doable. my uncle upgraded his mobo so he could upgrade from ddr2 to ddr3. upgraded his cpu at the same time. we both almost doubled our clock speed

these were not custom laptops. they were both standard 17 in HPs. both had dual hd bays, so we also upgraded them to ssd and 1 tb.

i understand the upgrade vs new aspect, and you are correct, nowadays, it is usally not worth it, however, ebay is saturated with options to replace mobos, cpus, wifi, and just about any other internal part of a laptop.

do i recommend it, NO. but to say it is not possible would not be accurate

 

[chudddds]

Enlighten us, please.

i wouldnt say enlightening, however, the information is readily available.

with ebay and youtube, just about anything is possible

my current laptop is 7 years old. ive made many upgrades and have had this thing completely parted out, numerous times.

HP dv9040us, replaced the cpu, internal wifi, both hdds, ram, monitor (when i upgraded the wifi card to N, had to replace the monitor because the N card required 3 antennas, and they are in the frame of the monitor), and actually, i did not have to changed the monitor, but i did anyways to upgrade to higher resolution and anti-glare, plus the additional antenna

could i have just bought a new laptop ? sure, but we are a little old school. and probably much poorer because of it !!!!!!!!