Laptop Upgrades?

[Helpless]

Having never owned a laptop, I know nothing about the internal components and the amount upgrades you can do over time?so I was wondering if they are easy to upgrade and what you can upgrade

?it seems with their size that most of the components are fixed on the mobo, but not quite sure?I see stand alone dimms for sale, so I assume Ram upgrades are easy?I also have seem some laptops being offered with 2 hard drives, so I assume you can add another one depending on the model you get? How about the chip? Graphic card? I am thinking about getting a 700MHZ or so, but hate for it to be totally outdated in a couple years...like to cut costs on a few other things, but would like to upgrade as I get the $$$

 

[Gunbuster]

The only easy upgrades are HDD and RAM.

Maybe upgrade to a DVD if you feel like fiddleing (I put a DVD in my CPQ. M305)

Thats about all

 

[LadyNiniane]

<< The only easy upgrades are HDD and RAM. >>



And expect to pay about twice as much as you would for the equivalent upgrade to a desktop machine.

Both HDs and RAM for laptops are sized smaller, to fit the available space. Some machines have semi-proprietary RAM slots, and most have a limited number of slots, so &quot;upgrade&quot; usually means &quot;replace&quot;. HDs are the same way.

If you want a laptop, buy the best available, with as much RAM and HD as you can pack into it - then use it until it is completely out of steam.

YMMV

Lady Niniane

 

[AndyHui]

Graphic &quot;cards&quot; are not upgradeable, sometimes the CPU may be upgraded (rarely).

 

[Helpless]

thanks for the info...looks like I should buy a laptop that I am prepared to &quot;go the distance&quot; with You guys have any thoughts on the price differential between the regular TFT screens and the Ultra XGA or whatever they are? quite a price difference and not sure the extra cost is worth it...

 

[Helpless]

>>>If you want a laptop, buy the best available, with as much RAM and HD as you can pack into it - then use it until it is completely out of steam.


In that case, as a poor college student, maybe I should start with a PDA

 

[Workin']

Whatever you do, get a TFT (aka &quot;Active Matrix&quot screen. Get a slower CPU or smaller screen if you must for budgetary reasons. But for the love of God, just say NO to Dual-Scan, HPA, Passive Matrix, or whatever else they might be calling it these days. No matter what the sign in the store or the pretty advertisement says, anything but a TFT screen is a virual guarantee that in the long run you will be exteremely dissatisfied with your investment, because the poor display quality will make you want to pluck your own eyes from their sockets.

 

[wyvrn]

Whatever you do, get a TFT (aka &quot;Active Matrix&quot screen. Get a slower CPU or smaller screen if you must for budgetary reasons. But for the love of God, just say NO to Dual-Scan, HPA, Passive Matrix, or whatever else they might be calling it these days. No matter what the sign in the store or the pretty advertisement says, anything but a TFT screen is a virual guarantee that in the long run you will be exteremely dissatisfied with your investment, because the poor display quality will make you want to pluck your own eyes from their sockets.


LOL! I agree, staring at one of those screens over time will make your eyes cross. They should be outlawed!

 

[LadyNiniane]

<< thanks for the info...looks like I should buy a laptop that I am prepared to &quot;go the distance&quot; with You guys have any thoughts on the price differential between the regular TFT screens and the Ultra XGA or whatever they are? quite a price difference and not sure the extra cost is worth it... >>



I've used both - biggest immediate difference is in the viewable screen size available. I can tell you that the quality of the graphics on an XGA screen will convince you never to go back to anything less. The really good LCD desktop screens use an XGA-based format.

And Workin' and wyvrn are correct - don't settle for anything less than TFT/Active Matrix - Passive is very hard on the eyes.

Lady Niniane