Laptop video options

Fallanthas · Post by **Fallanthas** » November 17, 2003, 6:47 pm

Ok, so I have a Dell Lattitude that is a couple years old. I'd like to beef it up a bit, both for gaming and for GIS work.

Finding RAM is a cinch, but I am drawing a blank on getting a beefier video card/chip. Anyone know of a source for something like this, or am I fucked without replacing the machine?

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » November 17, 2003, 6:58 pm

Some of the newer Dell models will let you add ram to the video but most even today will not. Unless you are using it with a docking station, where you can add a new video card, I think you are probably screwed on the video

Marb

noel · Post by **noel** » November 17, 2003, 7:00 pm

To my knowledge, there isn't an older laptop of any brand that will allow you to change the video card. I also have yet to see REALLY good performance from any portable vid card. Passable performance yes, but really good, no.

Fallanthas · Post by **Fallanthas** » November 17, 2003, 7:13 pm

Well, I wasn't really counting on GOOD performance.

Something better than the 16MB crawl would be nice, though.

cid · Post by **cid** » November 17, 2003, 9:07 pm

I do belive that the vidoe card is intergrated with the motherboard. So I think your screwed.

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » November 18, 2003, 12:02 am

My D600 has a 32MB Radion9000 built in, no upgrade path on memory or chip. The D800 however has a 32MB GeForce 4200TiToGo which comes with 32MB and can be upgraded to 64MB... not the best, but not to shabby either... The only problem is that D800 has the widescreen etc... and they are pretty proud of it.

Marb

Fallanthas · Post by **Fallanthas** » November 18, 2003, 12:28 pm

Interesting, I have the C800....

noel · Post by **noel** » November 18, 2003, 2:50 pm

Just fyi, Marb (and you probably already know this),

My Alienware has the Radeon Mobility 9000 64MB, which is a great video card, but falls significantly short of anything close to desktop performance. I'd be highly hesitant about paying the video RAM upgrade cost. I think the performance increase will be negligible. Remember, it's largely the CPU of the PC itself that keeps track of the vertices etc in graphical applications. Mostly, the video RAM is for storing textures to be filled quickly (among other things).