Hey guys.

This is my first post, and now I am kinda mad. I was told by someone at Office Depot(where I just bought my new laptop) that I could upgrade my graphics card no problem, and he said that they were just out of them. Now I have been reading and it looks like I can't. I have a HP dv8000. It already has the ATI express 200m. So is there no way to upgrade my graphics chip? He said that since I had a card slot, or somthing like that, that they make external ones that plug in and add to your graphics chip. Any help would be great. Thanks

 

u have a right to be mad, there is no such thing as a "plug in card" for graphics. take it back if u need/want better graphics, the ATIexp200m is a integrated chip, it cannot be upgraded.

me personally? id take it back just on principle that the salesman either 1) blatantly lied, or 2) has no idea whats goin on

 

Unfortunantly thats not true, there are no external cards that add to your video card. (there are external cards that allow multiple monitor hookups though.)

I actually signed up here to respond to you, i have no clue why.

Edit: only to be beaten by a couple of seconds.. What a shame.

 

There are upgrade cards for laptop graphics, but as far as I know not for HP (yet) and another small detail: the are not for sale (yet).

On top of that, it's questionable that guy even knew MXM exists. So basically: you've been royaly screwed.

 

The only graphics cards that are (possibly) upgradeable are the one's that have MXM or AXIOM. That is a big selling point and it will be noted in the specs. These may not even be upgradeable unless ATI and Nvidia actually decide to make some of these cards compatible. But in theory there are some Sagers (NP5320 and NP5720, Dells (i9300 and i9400 (e1705) but they are only upgradeable within Dell (i.e. you can upgrade your 6800 to a 7800), and some models from the ODM Quanta, such as the KN1-PM that have upgradeable video cards. I probably missed a couple but there aren't a whole lot of notebooks that offer it.

Matt

 

No offense, but MXM is really not advertised or used as a selling point.

Quite the contrary.

 

Yup...what everyone said is quite true. You CANNOT upgrade the graphics on your computer at all.

I'd go back and complain if I were you.

 

If you bought it in the last week or two, you should be able to return it with little trouble. Even if not, you should definitely be able to based on the fact that the salesman, who I'm sure the company assigns a title like "product specialist" gave you incorrect information that lead to your purchase. While I don't have a law degree, I imagine it is tantamount to fraudulent advertising.

 

Yeah, sorry dude. I believe they made a fast attempt to take your cash. What he said was exactly right. The card may not be exchnaged within the system. Since it has an internal drive you cant change it.

 

If the guy who sold it to you got a commission, he might have miss lead you so he could get $.

 

I'm not entirely sure it was some dastardly lie - more likely opportunistic guess-lying.

"Can I switch out the video card?"
(Hm... I don't know, but ...) "Uuuhhh ... yeah."

Should be a simple return. Bold-faced lie, big mistake, or something in between, it was a major selling point.