Personal Computers Questions

Can I upgrade the video card on a new alienware laptop?

by on June 4, 2010

Q: I am thinking of buying a laptop from alienware with a budget of $2400.00. I have a few questions or concerns first.

Can I upgrade the video card in the future? (m17x) and also would the Intel® Core i7 720QM 1.6GHz (2.8 GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache) work just fine for gaming or do I have to get the next one up Intel® Core i7 620M 2.66 GHz (3.33GHz Turbo Mode, 4MB Cache)?

Is there anything else I should think about since I will be using this laptop for video games?

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One Response to “Can I upgrade the video card on a new alienware laptop?”
  1.  
    Picked as best answer

    The video card can be replaced (see m17x service manual http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/M17x/en/index.html )

    However, laptops don’t use the same video cards as desktop computers. So you can’t go out to a store a buy a video card that will work in your laptop. Parts need to be specially compatible with your model of laptop. So don’t expect to be able to upgrade to anything better than what is available for the m17x.

    Either the 720QM or 620M should suit your needs fine. I’d probably go with the 620M, but here are some debates for more reading.

    http://bit.ly/bEDIK3
    http://bit.ly/bLcU84

    The best advice I can give you is to not buy a laptop for gaming. You’re going to pay close to double for the same level of performance as a desktop PC, and have very limited upgrade options.

     

    Mark (Uber Geek) says: on June 4, 2010 at 3:32 pm