Upgrading An Ultrabook Possible?

Hello. I purchased a Dell Inspiron 14z Ultrabook (5423) when it came out. It currently has an i5, with an Intel HD 4000. As you can imagine, it's pretty limited.

Does anyone know of upgrades that can be made to the laptop? I've been looking through search engines, youtube, and even social media, I but I can't find any evidence of serious upgrades. Thanks!

 

HDD/RAM, Wifi module, and may be M sata SSD that's all..
I hate ultrabooks because of that, you just pay the low weight and the thin lappy design..

 

most prob only ram and hard drive.
the intergrated HD4000 graphics is part of the motherboard and its only dedicated graphics cards that can be upgraded as far as i know.
ive got optimus which has switchable graphics between the HD4000 and a nvidia 680

hope someone else can advise better than me.

 

RAM, HDD and wifi are the only upgrades.
Dell Inspiron 14z Hard Drive or Memory or Keyboard or Wireless Module or RAM Replacement - iFixit

and even then very few dGPU's can be upgraded. mostly in some business laptops, portable workstations, Alienware, Clevo and MSI premium gaming units. and even then many models do not have an MXM card but are soldered on

 

Thanks for replies.

I agree with you. The design isn't great. This laptop has had issues since I've gotten it. Thanks.

I did find out the integrated HD 4000 is part of the motherboard.

I was looking for some sort of graphics upgrade. I'm not sure if an option exists?

 

It doesn't unfortunately.

 

the hd4000 is a part of the CPU anyway

 

KCETech1: the link shows the wrong model.

saturnotaku, Thank you for telling me.

And, sasuke256, yes, you're right.

 

the internals more or less look the same among all models. it is just a handy reference

 

For your HD 4000, there is only one thing you can do if you are really up for the upgrade: an external graphics card. However, if you do that don't expect for that graphics power to be portable, it basically consists of a desktop GPU with a desktop power supply hooked up to your laptop through the Express Card Slot, and then the GPU is hooked up to an external monitor. If you want to make a desktop this may be something to consider, just having the laptop dock somewhere on the desk while it is hooked up to the GPU and monitor, and using a better keyboard + mouse. Then when you are on the go just take the laptop out of the dock and that's it.

If you are really interested in this you can find out how to build the external graphics solution here: How to Upgrade Your Notebook Graphics Card Using DIY ViDOCK | NotebookReview.com

Or you can buy the much smaller pre-built ViDock here: Village Instruments : ViDock

 

You really can't upgrade much. That's the problem with most designs that are meant to compete with the MacBook Air.

 

The 14z doesn't have an express card slot so that option is out as well.