Laptop that CAN be upgraded to CLASS 1 graphic cards

What Laptop(s) that CAN be upgraded to CLASS 1 graphic cards?

Class 1
» GeForce 9800M GTX SLI
» GeForce 9800M GT SLI
» GeForce 9800M GTS SLI
» Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2
» GeForce 8800M GTX SLI
» Mobility Radeon HD 3850 X2
» Mobility Radeon HD 4870
» Quadro FX 3700M
» GeForce 9800M GTX
» Mobility Radeon HD 4850
» GeForce 9800M GT
» GeForce 9800M GTS
» GeForce 8800M GTX
» GeForce 9800M GS
» GeForce 9700M GTS
» Quadro FX 2700M
» GeForce Go 7950 GTX SLI
» GeForce Go 7900 GTX SLI
» GeForce 8800M GTS
» Quadro FX 3600M
» GeForce Go 7950 GTX
» Quadro FX 3500M
» GeForce 8700M GT SLI
» Mobility Radeon HD 3870
» Mobility Radeon HD 3850
» GeForce Go 7800 GTX SLI
» GeForce Go 7900 GS SLI
» GeForce Go 7900 GTX
» Quadro FX 2500M
» GeForce 8600M GT SLI

 

Mostly Clevo and Sagers (and the others like AW which use the same chassis).

 

the high end dells can also be upgraded.
It really depends on the model
You will only find those graphics cards is 17" or larger laptops
The only 15" which can use one of those cards is the alienware m15x

just whatever you do, never buy from voodoo, they rip you off, and they do not back up their products one bit. If it breaks, they dont care, you pay for it.

Good retailers for clevo, and flextronic are xoticpc, sager, OCZ, Alienware, dark smiley, rjtech, pc microworks

K-TRON

 

so far the MXM-IV for Clevo notebooks (M570RU, M570TU/ETU, M860TU, D901C) have seen:
- 7950GTX
- 7950GTX SLI (with Clevo D901C)
- 8700M GT
- 8700M GT SLI (with Clevo D901C)
- 8800M GTX
- 8800M GTX SLI (with Clevo D901C)
- 9800M GTS
- 9800M GTS SLI (with Clevo D901C) ... not confirmed yet.
- 9800M GT
- 9800M GT SLI (with Clevo D901C)
- 9800M GTX*
- 9800M GTX SLI (with Clevo D901C)
- Quadro 1600M
- Quadro 1700M
- Quadro 2700M
- Quadro 3700M*
...... more to come.

* not recommended for the M860TU... due to power and heat.

Thats a lot of videocards that's supported by one MXM Type IV slot...

 

Cool, many options. This may sound dumb, but say I buy a laptop that can be upgraded graphic wise, would that "void" my guarantee with the company? If so, I sure as heck ain't risking it.

Thanks for the quick post guys.

 

AW does not use the same chasis anymore but still remains upgradable.

 

Those B*STARDS! I wonder why HP and Voodoo merged. Like merging with Compaq wasn't good enough for them.

 

Sounds good

 

I was interested in Toshiba Satelltie A305. Is that upgradeable to Class 1 graphic cards?

 

i am not sure about the upgradeablility, but i think it comes with a nvidia 9700 or 9800 card, so most likely it is removable.

You may have to look in the toshiba section to find out whether the card is mxm or not.

Upgrading the graphics card will void your warranty, but you can get around that as long as you do not break anything, and you keep the stock card.
If anything breaks, put the stock card back in, and you can rma it. Its lying, but thats the only way to get support afterwards.

alienware uses quanta, and flextronics shells for most of their laptops

K-TRON

 

No. Most of the Clevo vendors will even sell customers a new videocard to have them upgrade it themselves.

It is pretty straight forward to install a videocard in a current Clevo model.

 

Toshiba has been known to not have standard videocards... very proprietary.

 

Hey K-Tron, so I was checking the laptop and I came across this info.

Graphics
Discrete Video Memory No
Expandable Video Memory Yes - Up To 1470MB Shared
Graphics Chipset ATI Radeon 3100
Integrated Video Memory Yes
Native Screen Resolution 1366 x 768
Upgradable Video System No
Video Memory Up To 1470MB Shared

Now I am not sure if this has the card to the max or not. Maybe its the Discrete Video Memory? :S

 

That doesn't sound upgradeable one bit. It sure seems to be integrated due to shared memory/no discrete video memory.

 

so which one did you see and said it does NOT upgrade? Discrete Video Memory?

 

just the notebook itself is not videocard upgradeable.

sorry, you are stuck with the integrated card.

please read the sticky if you havent yet:
Upgrading Mobile Graphics Cards


..... therefore, you better be looking for a high-end notebook if you want to have a chance of upgradeable videocards.... anything cheaper, then dont expect anything.

 

the ati radeon 3100 is a very low end card.
To be general, almost all low end cards are never upgradeable.

That laptop cannot be upgraded, you may want to look at a toshiba system which offers a higher end card to begin with. That should make the card removable, thus upgradeable in the future, if toshiba released a more powerful card for that socket.

K-TRON

 

Ahhhh alright. Sounds good K-Tron