Video card

So im looking to upgrade on my laptop, but what does it take? is it literally unscrew it then pull out the old card and put in the new one?

Yeah. More or less. But if you are changing Ati for Nvidia or the other way around, you better uninstall the drivers beforehand. Or just to play safe, just uninstall, then get the card changed.

Also make sure your power supply is powerful enough for the new card.


Ahh crap, sorry, laptop... Well if you have a GPU slot, check if the card fits there. If it does, then you are set to go. However, not every card can be installed in every laptop.

it's dollars to doughnuts that you can't upgrade the video card on your laptop.

yeah the whole concept of gaming laptops is horrible. When it comes to gaming, desktops or nothing, for many many reasons.

I'd save your money on new laptop hardware and put that towards a desktop.

This. It should be integrated...I can't think of any laptops that would allow you to do this though there is probably one out there. You are typically limited to basic upgrades like HDD/RAM as a tradeoff for portability.

Alienware (Sager,Clevo) used to have an upgrade feature. Gaming notebooks usually ship with the latest greatest GFX card as it is dependent on the maker. I know I had my Alienware lappy playing GW since release right up until last year with no probs at all.

What I've seen is that general usage lap tops with shared memory for GFX don't quite cut it. You definitely need a laptop with its own RAM for gfx. And usually those cost quite a bit more.

and even then, the vast majority of laptops with discrete graphics won't be upgradable, because the graphic cards are literally soldered onto the motherboard. even assuming you can get it out, there's no guarantee that you can put another card in there. most manufacturers will purposely make parts out of spec to fit thermal limits, so some cards have their contacts fit backwards, or mounted chips onto different spots.

all in all, with VERY few exceptions, laptop graphics are not upgradeable.

Let's clear one thing up - laptops don't have a video "card" in the sense of a "card" for a desktop. Due to space, power, and thermal limitations, there is no standardized method for connecting a GPU to a laptop.
The closest you come to a "card" for a laptop would more accurately be called a "module". These modules are small sub circuit boards which are only designed to fit a particular make/models of laptop - usually used by companies that allow you to choose video options at time of purchase.
You are not going to be able to go to, say, Newegg, and buy a "card" or "module" for your laptop. The best you could do would be to check with the manufacturer to see if they use/have a better module for your machine. Even then it would be pricey and would involve completely dismantling the laptop.

In any case, as has been said, most of the time the graphics in a laptop are either "integrated" as part of the motherboard chipset, or are a discrete gpu soldered directly to the motherboard - not replaceable.