Is it possible to upgrade Graphics Card on a laptop

[Cataphract]

I have a compaq presario 1800 T a BTO unit I bought couple of yrs ago.

It's ATI rage pro video card only has 8 Mb Video Ram and thus I can't run any of the high end PC games on this machine. Does anyone know if I can upgrade the video card? Can I replace it with Nvidia Geforce 4 or something I saw which is specially designed for notebooks.

Any help will be appreciated.

 

[datallah]

almost definately not.

Notebook graphics cards are "built-in" to the main boards of the notebook and there isn't a way to replace them.

I have yet to see a notebook with a replaceable graphics card.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Dell's 8xxx series has replaceable cards (possibly only since the 8100). Uses a "mini-AGP" slot with the GPU on a small card. Some of their GF2Go laptops can be given a GF4Go. But they may be the only company that does it, and you have to get the card from them.

Any chipset that supports an AGP connection for an external graphics chip could technically be used to make such a laptop. A non-integrated graphics chip is mounted on the notebook motherboard, but is still connected to the chipset by the same paths as a normal AGP port, just like an external chip on a motherboard connects to the PCI bus. You don't even technically have to use the same brand of upgrade chip as the existing video, since you're swapping out the card the same as a video swap in a desktop (though of course most manufacturers would only sell one brand).

 

[dabuddha]

really??
i have a dell inspiron 8100 and i'd really love to upgrade the vid card that it came with (geforce2 go)
i'll definitely have to check it out. Can i get it online or do i have to call?

 

[amdskip]

Originally posted by: dabuddha
really?? i have a dell inspiron 8100 and i'd really love to upgrade the vid card that it came with (geforce2 go) i'll definitely have to check it out. Can i get it online or do i have to call?

try calling, I searched all over their site and couldn't find it