Need help, new to laptops, fully upgrade?

Hey all. So I have a load of questions and I hope you guys can help me out. I have extensive experience with desktops but am a total noob when it comes to laptops.

So I am currently in the market for a new gaming laptops. Preferably, I would like it to be fully upgradeable. What companies would you recommend? I currently have my eye on:
Gaming Laptops, Gaming Notebooks, Custom Gaming Laptops | Factor Gaming

&

Eurocom Corporation - Number 1 in Desktop Replacement Notebook Technology (Eye on the Panther)

My main concern is the fact that they use desktop processors, wouldn't that make the laptop very hot/overheat?

After the research I did it seems like the biggest issue is upgrading the GPU. I couldn't find any of them anywhere for under about $700 until I found this site that offers some at prices like $350:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M GDDR5 MXM 3.0 Graphics Card N13E-GS1-A1 - Graphics Card - Parts - Computer

1) Is finding recent cards like this at prices like this common?
2) How long do the current standards for these cards last?

Basically I want to know if I should drop a ton on one that is upgradeable, or just get a more mid priced one (around 1000-1200) and replace it in a couple years.

Any advice you guys have would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

-The Kvlt Kitty

 

What I saw was last year/ last gen components on there. The np8150 had the 485, which I bought in spring of 2011, so that is why you see low prices.

 

Is it possible to have a fully upgradeable laptop though? I'm wondering what would truly be cheaper in the long run.

 

Honestly ...you can have a fully upgradable laptop to a certain extent ....I have only dealt with alien wares ..so I'll talk about them. .. ex m18x - which is more of a desktop replacement but yes you can upgrade the CPU/GPU ...for example .... a sandy bridge 18x can go from a 2630qm to a 2920/2960xm processor ...and you can buy the latter on eBay from 350-900 (depending on whether you go for a es (engineering sample ) .. qs ( qualification sample) or OEM version ...next up GPU ...they can pretty much be upgraded to most new ones but you would need specific drivers and thr off course would be some issues ...but can be done .. ram ..HDD. wireless cards are pretty much super easy upgrades ...similarly you can upgrade the m17x ...anything further down the line in terms of a 14" or a 15" have the CPU GPU soldered like the m14x or mbpr....the latter pretty much has everything soldered ....I believe clevo based laptops are equally upgradable ...and all these companies just sell re badged clevo laptops . Hope this helps ...finally you can buy graphic cards in the forum marketplace ...you'll always get a great deal if you look out for one


Also you should only drop a ton if you plan to use the computer for 3-5 years ... ex dual 680m can pretty much max out any games ..as of now and even the future ... quite confident ...and you can always buy a mid range gfx card and upgrade down the line ....you'll get cards on great pricing on the forums on a regular basis
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

Fully upgradeable notebook?

Not one I've seen yet... (ever)

To me; fully upgradeable would be the ability to replace not only the cpu, gpu, ram, hdd/ssd and fans - but also to replace/upgrade the motherboard and/or cooling systems too.

Unless you're the owner of a notebook manufacturing plant - you're not going to have the above options.

Upgradeable notebooks (in their current form) are a huge source of money drainage - they don't offer any upgrades (just side-grades, imo) for the priviledge of giving even more $$$ to have the same level platform year after year.

My recommendation is to buy at the highest performance level you can within your budget and when the performance falls below your expections - sell/donate/give away your current system (remember, you'll have enjoyed it for at least 3 or 4 years by now, easily giving you your money's worth in between) buy the next gen platform that will more than likely double or triple the performance your 'old' system offered - even with any possible 'upgrades' that you could do to it.

Any other option going forward is you simply fooling yourself that upgrading (with the associated 10-30% performance improvements) is as rewarding as buying a new system, with a new platform and the included warranty with the anticiptated 200 to 300% improvement that would bring (every few years).

(And of course; I'm assuming that you're buying at or near the 'top' of the performance curve - not the entry-level or 'bottom' when you start this journey).

While there seems to be options as to 'upgradeable' notebooks - remember - they are there first and foremost to make money for the manufacturers and not for the benefits of the users.

(At least, not as beneficial vs. upgrading a desktop anyway).

Hope this helps.

Good luck.

 

That's Tiller's long way of saying desktops will be cheaper in the long run.

 

Yeah, I have a nice desktop already. i7 980x, 32GB Ram, AMD HD 6950, Gigabyte OC motherboard, PCI card w/ three external USB 2.0 and 1394 and two internal USB headers, 120GB OCZ Vertex SSD, 256 GB Corsair SSD, 1tb Western Digital 7200 HDD all in the Thermaltake Level 10 Gaming FTW case. As you can imagine though, it is far from portable which is a total pain for LANing on my weekends off.

Being it seems like it would be more trouble than it's worth, what site would you guys recommend? Any you could recommend that use desktop processors in their laptops that don't get absurdly hot? I have been looking at Cyberpower PC as they have some pretty great deals in terms of just straight forward mobile computers. An aesthetically pleasing case would be great too, nothing ridiculous as I prefer the more low key subtle but elegant approach. Also one big question is how much of a performance difference am I going to get between the HM66 and HM77 chipset? I ask because according to Cyberpower's FPS tests, the performance seems pretty drastic.

CyberPower PC Gaming Notebooks

I have my eye on:
-Xplorer X6-9750 (with an upgraded processor to 2.6ghz and a 256 gb SSD)
-Xplorer X7-7500 (with a 256gb SSD and 750gb HDD)
-Xplorer X7-8100 (with a 256gb SSD and 750gb HDD)

I am wondering if the fact that the X6-9750 would have 2.6ghz i7 processor as opposed to the 2.3ghz i7 if this would put it on part with the other two or if the chipset is much more important.

 

Lol...


Nah, I don't upgrade desktop's either: a working old system plus a new platform is better than a new platform (with the inevitable bugs/workarounds that will be needed) made from the parts of a perfectly good (although slower) system every time.

Parts, time, performance and $$$$ are all the same to me - you don't save a penny in the end (if you're lucky) - but if you're unlucky - you'll have dropped a few $K's for no good reason (I've seen that too, too many times with different clients) and with no systems to keep you floating while it gets all sorted out.

Upgrading your main system is like doing brain surgery to yourself, imo.

I'd rather do a transplant.

 

You generally cannot upgrade a chipset or motherboard in a laptop. Although, its interesting how untrue that is with these particular gaming laptops. I believe the Clevo HM series uses the same motherboard layout as the newer EM series, so while there would be little point to that upgrade, you can expect the next model to share that layout.

When looking at MSI vs Clevo however, MSI clearly is the winner when it comes to motherboard and GPU upgrades. They have been manufacturing laptops built on the same chassis since Arrandale (the GX660, gt660 etc) thats 3 generations while the HM series was totally redesigned compared to the equivalent earlier Arrandale models (CU series).

Actually, looking at it again, I doubt the next generation Clevo laptops will use the same chassis and motherboard layout because going back to the Core 2 era, their 2 popular 17" models that use the same chassis (m570tu and m570ru) were preceded by the m570u, a laptop with an entirely different chassis and proprietary graphics card interface. And, their 15.4" Core 2 chassis (m860tu) was used for only 1 chipset (pm45)
Looking at MSI laptops from this era, MSI seems to be the manufacturer of the some of the only laptops that can all be upgraded from AMD CPUs with Nvidia and Core 2 chipset all the way to Arrandale i5/i7 CPUs, also upgrading the graphics card interface to MXM 3.0 B supporting cards like the 7970m and GTX 680m.

Unfortunately, the big problem here is with availability of the motherboards. Even I do not know how to get them at reasonable prices, if at all.

On buying MXM cards at good prices however, I can definitely advise you, once you have 5 posts (enough to PM).