can the videocard in my laptop be upgradeed?

[Jzeidenb]

I have a dell inspiron 8500 pvi 2.4ghz with a geforce4 go ti4200 64mb video card



from what i hear, this is dell's first laptop capable of a video card upgrade. Is that true?


if so, is it worth getting the 9600pro mobile when the price comes down a little bit, cause i love ati and i am not a fan of nvidia.

 

[Bateluer]

Yes it is possible to upgrade notebook video cards. Is it possible for your notebook? Maybe. If it uses the same card design as the next step up, you can likely drop in a GF FXgo 5650, but its going to cost you. Check Dell's support forums, when I was exploring the possibility of upgrading the M9 in my i8200, I found a wealth of information there. (My i8200 could only be upgraded to some mobile Quadro card, I forget which one.)

 

[Peter]

IF that notebook has the graphics solution on a module AT ALL. The vast majority of notebook designs has the VGA chip right on the mainboard - and that of course means no upgrades.

You need to check with the notebook vendor - because if there are upgrade modules, they're proprietary solutions not available from anyone but whoever made that machine.

 

[MichaelZ]

isn't the ti4200 on integrated on the MB as far as notebooks are concerend? i know the mobility radeon 9100 certainly is.

 

[Peter]

There's chipset integrated graphics, discrete graphics device down on the mainboard, and discrete graphics device on upgradeable module. And there are a couple of notebooks that have chipset integrated graphics AND an upgrade path by module.

As I already said - have your notebook vendor tell you what you have and whether there are upgrades.