help needed......newbie

hi all
great site...credit to whoever runs it.....as you now know im a newbie...my question is...
ive just bought my daughter a dell 6400 inspron 1.6....i got told at my local computer fair that graphic cards can not be updated for a laptop (ie cant swap one card for a better one)...the card in my daughters 6400(when it arives) is (quoted from the site) a intel media accelerator 950 (up to 256) can anyone tell me if this is a good card as she likes to play games over the net...call of duty 1+2 plus others....or is there another card we can buy to up the graphics a bit if so is there a web site to brows them
thanks for any help guys
take care
les

 

GMA 950 is not a gaming card. I would highly advise you get a better graphics option if your daughter is a gamer. If she likes her games then I'd advise looking for something with an X1400 card.

 

thanks for the reply sionyboy
i dont know anything about laptops at all couldnt i just replace the graphic card thats in the 6400 with the x1400
thanks m8
take care
les

 

No, you can't replace integrated graphics chips with anything good. You have to have it in there from the beginning. Sounds like you should've checked out before you bought it

Hope the store has a liberal return policy.

 

To do that you'd have to send it back to Dell to do it for you, and I don't know if that particular model has interchangeable graphics cards. You'd have to check with Dell for that, and if they do swap the cards out chances are you'd have to pay for the card and the service, so you'd end up worse off than buying a laptop with the card you want straight off.

I gather from your post that you have already ordered the laptop, though it has not arrived yet. You have a 7 day period in the UK (I assume you're from the UK with a log in name like Scouse) when you can return items No Questions Asked. I'd check with your daughter what her expectations are of games, and find a machine that is more suited to her. The GMA 950 is not something you want to game on, you would need a dedicated card really. X1400 is a good budget gaming card, I have an X1300 which is fine for my needs, I do a bit of gaming though I'm not too fussed on having all the bells and whistles switched on whilst playing.

 

I am sorry you cannot upgrade videocards in notebooks. Like sionyboy said, call Dell and order the model with the X1400. The 945GM is enough for games on the net, but not for Call of Duty 2.

Good luck,

Charlie

 

cheers guys
you have all been very helpful thanks ...ill phone dell asap tomorrow
take care all
and thanks again
les

 

No problemo, I hope we could help you. Good luck!

Charlie

 

Since the system you ordered has integrated graphics, there is no way to update it to another GPU.

In this particular case, it would have to be a return/exchange for a system with a dedicated graphics card.

With very few exceptions, this is pretty much universally true about notebooks' GPUs.