Laptop Vid Card upgrade possible?

[Captain Over]

Even though the video card I have now is pretty good, I'd like to upgrade from this less-than-best NVidia (64 megs GeForce4 460 Go) to one with a bit more kick.

The machine is a Toshiba Satellite 5200, which is a great performer, but the video suffers on some high-end programs and games sometimes.

This is not a "built-in" video card, and does not share RAM with the machine. If it is like a video card on a PC the replacement should be easy but I have never dared to open the laptop up.

Any suggestions?
C.O.

[Tinstaafl]

I've wondered about the same thing. I have the disassembly/field replaceable parts manual for the Satellite 5xxx series. It shows the graphics, USB & 802.11 modules are all replaceable.

It would be great to be able to upgrade the graphics from the Geforce 440 mine has, the USB to 2.0 & 802.11b to 802.11abg.

[goates]

Most laptops don't have upgradeable graphics cards. I think the new Alienware models are the first to do so. Maybe Toshiba is doing it now as well, but you would probably need to get the parts straight from them if they allow it. Does it mention anything in the manual about replacing the video card? Unfortunately the usual route if you want better graphics in a laptop is to buy a whole new one.

goates

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Captain Over,

Replacing the Video Card on a Notebook is very tricky. First as goates points out, it needs to be a card that is not hardwired to the motherboard, and second, you have to find another notebook video card, that will fit it.

Finding a video card for a notebook will be very difficult and I am guessing, very expensive. If you are able to, try to find the Radeon Mobility 9600, it does a great job with graphics.

Please let us know what you find.

Take Care,

Richard