upgrade possibilites for Mobility X1600

[Hyperlite]

I plan on ordering an Acer travelmate 8200 at the begining of this week. I really wanted a 15.4" solution with a 7800, but none existed. Dell and gateway (and i think HP) all have 17" 7800 options, but no 15.4' options. the 8200 was the fastest 15" i can find. what are the odds i will be able to upgrade my mobility x1600 in the future? will i be able to drop in a MX1800 or 1900 when they become availible?

 

[AmigaMan]

it's doubtful. Laptops are not like desktops in terms of upgradability. The x1800 or x1900 likely will be more powerful with different pin configurations, size, and cooling requirements. I think there was a line of Dell Inspirons that could be upgraded by the end user, but they were more like hacks than real upgrades. Plus you end up voiding your warranty and on a multi-thousand dollar notebook means that one wrong step and you've thrown away your investment. If you need the x1800/x1900 GPU performance, buy a desktop.

 

[Tarrant64]

As mentioned by AmigaMan, most laptop companies don't offer upgrades for mobility graphics cards. I know alienware had a model where in the future it could be upgraded. Not sure whether they still do or what happened to that. But I remember them having one. I think most laptop graphics cards today will last you until it is absolutely necessary to upgrade. By then it would be most likely you'll be buying a new laptop anyways.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: Tarrant64
As mentioned by AmigaMan, most laptop companies don't offer upgrades for mobility graphics cards. I know alienware had a model where in the future it could be upgraded. Not sure whether they still do or what happened to that. But I remember them having one. I think most laptop graphics cards today will last you until it is absolutely necessary to upgrade. By then it would be most likely you'll be buying a new laptop anyways.

MXM is the NVidia standard in some notebooks. The problem, still, is that, while physically the cards may fit, there may be different power or heat requirements reventing a swap.

Personally, I think an X1600 would be great. Nice compromise between power and energy and heat.