Upgrading graphics cards in Ultraportable laptops

Is there some easy way to tell if I am able to upgrade to a better graphics card in an ultraportable laptop? I really want the luxury of a portable laptop like the sony s/z or dell xps 15z, but the even the highest possible graphics cards for these laptops seems weak.

Where can i determine which better graphics cards are able to fit within the laptop and if the stock graphics card isn't attached in?

Or, alternatively, which ultraportable laptops have the best graphics cards? I've looked at the Samsung Series 7, but its a larger, heavier, has a worse display and worse battery life, which doesn't seem worth it.


For reference, I'm planning to use my laptop for gaming such as SC2 and GW2.

 

The easy answer is that laptop graphics are not upgrade-able. Go to the "which notebook should I buy" forum and post your needs there. You will get some good recommendations.

 

Upgradeable ultraportable, not a chance. Just setting up the MXM connector, heatsink etc. would make the laptop too thick.

For exact recommendations, huai directed you to the right place. Be certain to fill out the form stickied at the top.

 

Hi! I don't know if you researched Razer's new Razer Blade but its probably what your looking for. The Razer Blade (0.88") is 17 inch laptop how ever its 0.9" thinner than the Dell XPS 15Z (0.97") which I think makes it portable, but I think that's for you to decide. It has a Core i7, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 320GB 7200RPM SATA HDD, 1080p screen, NVIDIA GT555M 2GB GDDR5 and it has a customizeable keyboard for gaming. The only catch is that it's not out yet.

 

At 17" it should also fold more than once to be actually "ultraportable"

 

See http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/418851-diy-egpu-experiences.html . What you really want is a Thunderbolt-based enclosure (x4 2.0), an ultraportable with a Thunderbolt port and a desktop GPU of your choice. The technology is unfolding now but I'm estimating won't be readily available in PC form for at least another 6-9 months.

 

Why would you ever want to upgrade the graphics in an ultraportable? That seems counter-intuitive to the whole point of an ultraportable (thin, light). You'd be lucky getting any kind of discreet graphics (usually so crummy, Intel HD 3000 might be able to match it these days). Plus it's not meant to game.

X220's i3/HD 3000 can play SC2 on low/medium settings @ native resolution.

Sony Z might be your only option, but with prices starting at 1800+ and easily hitting 4-5k, it most certainly isn't the cheapest option.

 

There are some nice gaming ultraportables out there w, all in fierce and expensive competition, and not upgradeable. The sony Z series usually comes out on top, if not the LG p3** series which is not available in the USA.

Back in the day... there were lots of 14" Acer laptops. I'm about to build one myself. For these MXM 2.1 machines (acers more so than others) The interface is the limit, form factor doesn't matter, chassis space and thermals can be dealt with.
Its crazy to think with a 4870 it would be one of the most powerful 14" inchers out there......
Now the 6770m gddr5 is type A and can beat the 4870 easily... but unfortunately every MXM 3.0 laptop out there today is 15.4" or bigger

I share your wishes for upgradeable ultraportables, maybe someday it will happen.

A few notable 15.4" laptops out there in the very portable category that are upgradeable and pretty powerful, the MSI gx640/gt640/ms-1656. Also the ge600 and ms-1675. They don't weigh a lot, they also can't take a beating at all and tend to overheat, but these problems can be fixed.
There are also business laptops, like the HP 8540w. With SSD and no optical drive you can get it down to about 6lbs with 8 cell battery.

 

It's probably never going to come out.

 

Agreed, razorblade was a flop.