graphics card upgrade for inspiron e1505?

I'm planning on buying a new laptop, as my old Dell Inspiron 1150 is dying. I'm currently debating between the Inspiron e1505 and the Toshiba p200; the e1505 is a little cheaper, and since it's a smaller screen (15" instead of 17") it should be somewhat lighter, which would be nice since I'm a student and take it to class with me. However, the only graphics card that the e1505 comes with is the 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 HyperMemory, while the Toshiba has a NVIDIA GeForce Go7800(?), which is significantly better.

The current specs of the Inspiron I'm considering:

Intel Core 2 Duo T5300 (2MB Cache/1.73GHz/533MHz FSB)
Windows Vista™ Home Basic
15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display with TrueLife(glossy)
1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHZ, 2 DIMM
160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
256MB ATI MOBILITY RADEON X1400 HyperMemory

Would it be possible to remove the Radeon card and replace it with something stronger, and if so, with what? The graphics card is the only thing I've been really unhappy about with my Inspiron 1150; I currently have the integrated Intel 8252/8255 GM/GME Graphics controller, and it's complete crap. Much as I would love the Nvidia graphics card, I don't really *want* to have to lug a 17" screen around, and I'm not willing to pay more than $1400 for a laptop, which puts a lot of other laptops out of the question.

There's a site with instructions for upgrading the graphics card in an Inspiron 1705, and while I assume the process is similar for the 1505, I'm not positive, and I don't know if this is something that should only be attempted by an expert. Any advice?

 

You cannot upgrade an integrated graphics card like the Intel GME IGP...

From what I understand, the E1505 will never be offered with more than an X1400...

Dell makes proprietary modular GPU designs for most of their notebooks. These cards are not used nor available elsewhere. So the X1400 is the highest it will ever go.

However, there will be a Santa Rosa Dell release soon...all vendors will be updating to provide SR processors and DX10 GPUs. I suggest you wait to purchase a notebook until HP, Dell, Toshiba, etc have refreshed all their models...and then decide.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=122340

 

Not sure if you are aware - but ASUS is supposed to release an external video solution to be used via an express port. This would be about the only option for notebooks per video upgrades. But if you have a very light integrated solution (E1505, for example) having a discreet solution (even if it's only 1 lane of PCIe) would help a LOT.

I'm keeping my eyes open for the release sometime this spring/summer.

 

Wait for santa rosa release, because that will bring out more powerful DX10 gfx cards. And don't buy a notebook hoping to upgrade the graphics card later, because it is very rare to find a notebook with an upgradable graphics card, and even if you do, upgrading it will be too expensive and risky. Do some research and buy exactly what you need, don't leave anything out for upgrades (except for perhaps RAM and HDD).

 

It requires an external monitor, will be bandwidth limited (meaning whatever card you use may not perform as well as you hope), is supposed to only be available at first via an ASUS laptop purchase...too much trouble and too many unknowns to count on it being commercially available any time soon.

 

When is Santa rosa supposed to come out?

 

It was announced on May 9th.


The notebooks are very slowly being released...verrrrry slowly

 

Any thoughts on when Dell would have something to release? I'd like to get situated with it before I head off to school.

 

Right now the consensus is probably in the 2nd 1/2 of June to the 1st 1/2 of July. So 4-8 weeks tops. Any later, and Dell will miss the party.