HDX 16t - mini-PCI-e & video questions

Alright, I chose to make a new thread since the 16 thread is pretty busy wiht other topics.

1) I know that 99% of laptops cannot receive a video card upgrade. However, with the HDX line being so "premiere" I thought perhaps it might. Has anyone opened it up to look yet?

2) I read somewhere that there is a mini PCI-express slot near the HDD (maybe?). I assume it is probably used for the TV tuner which I did not get. If it does have such a slot, does anyone have a recommendation for filling it?

3) One more... the ExpressCard slot. Anyone have tips on filling it as well? I mean, it's nice storage for the remote, but I can leave the remote in my bag. I hear the "SSD" memory cards are really mostly just ExpressCard -> USB devices with a USB flash memory stick (more or less) built in. Meh. That seems dumb.


Thanks!

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExpressCard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XG_Station

The external graphics card sounds neat, but it must be limited by lower bandwith...

 

Thanks geek, not quite what I had in mind though. I know what the format is... I was just wondering if anyone had a card of usefulness that they could recommend for the mini PCI-e or the Express/54. The external video is pretty neat, but yeah... not terribly portable. I was hoping someone may have noticed whether the video 'card' itself was upgradable like they are in Dell XPS models and such.

 

Nobody, eh?

 

xepherys, I got your PM.

In a desktop, the graphics are primarily done through the pci express interface. On a laptop things are done a bit differently. The graphics cards are installed one of three ways:
1) they are soldered to the motherboard (intel gma, nvidia integrated and so forth)
2) the dedicated graphics cards are installed on a proprietary socket, (like dell , acer, gateway, and hp mainly do for their medium to high end graphics cards)
3) the graphics card works on a more standard MXM socket. Their are a few levels of MXM, based on size and the power factor of your system.
You can check out mxm-upgrade for more information.

Now, you may think that having a mini pci express port is going to allow you to upgrade your graphics card. Well, it doesnt work that way.
The mini pcie port on your laptop is a very small port, about 1 inch wide.
It is used for tv tuners, wireless cards, bluetooth, Intel Turbo memory and/or a small SSD.

I am not very familiar with the HDX16t, so maybe you can help us out.
What graphics card do you have in your system?
you can download and install GPU-Z to figure this out.
You can either report what the software says, or you can upload a screenshot of it.

K-TRON

 

From what I can find, it seems that the hdx was only offered with the 9600mGT.
Well the 9600mGT is a midrange card. Unfotunately the 9600mGt is not an MXM based graphics card. This means that the 9600 you have sits on a proprietary socket HP has installed on your motherboard.
This will limit upgrading to whatever Hp has sold the system with. If they had a 8600mGt option, you can downgrade to that, but for upgrades, the 9600mGt is as far as you can go.

K-TRON

 

K-TRON,

Thanks for the info. Yeah, it is a 9600m GT/512. I understand that I can't get a mini-PCI-e video upgrade. It was kind of a multipart question. Maybe that's why nobody responded. They break down like this:

1) Can you upgrade video? By what I understand from your text, theoretically if HP begins offering a 9800m GTS or some such on a later HDX 16 or 18, I could probably swap with that part (assuming I could get one either from HP service or online from a dead laptop). Is the HP socket the same across their product line or does each series generally have it's own special port?

2) Regarding the mPCI-e slot, can you recommend anything to put in it? I was debating a 4GB Intel Turbo Memory card. I'm running Vista64 with 4GB of system RAM as is. Would this make any valuable improvement? Again, I'm used to desktops. With laptops having such limited upgradability, I have a hard time leaving a slot open

3) What to do with the ExpressCard/54 slot. Right now it houses my remote, which I seldom use. I occasionally hook up my laptop to my TV to watch something on BD, but at that point it's as easy to fetch it out of my laptop bag as from anywhere else. Having the laptop out and about, if I watch a movie, I can reach out and touch the quick buttons. Sooo... I was looking at memory cards for Ready Boost... something I doubt will make any noticeable difference on a system that already has 4GB of RAM. Maybe it'd make nice built-in storage? As I mention above, most of the reviews of such cards I've read seem to feel the ExpressCard really just converts to USB and has a USB-type flash stick inside. If this is true, it's not even really that fast. So... what to do?

Thanks!

 

1)the graphics card in your system is proprietary meaning that it can only be used in your notebook. Usually like with Dell, they would offer a vostro, and insprion line, which shared the same motherboard, so graphics could be swapped on some models. Hp is not that way anymore. Each of their HDX laptops are very different on the inside, so you cant take say a 9800GT from a hdx 18 if it was offered and stick it in your hdx16.

2) The intel turbo memory modules are really designed only to speed up computers with less than 1gb of memory and a slow harddrive. Your system is pretty powerful, so the ITM is not worth it to buy. It practically does nothing anyways.

3) you can use the express card slot however you want, tv tuners, wireless, and sound cards are good options. You do not need readyboost, so do not waste your money on it.
If you have a desktop with 4 gb of memory and a decent core 2 duo/amd X2 processor, try installing a 2-4gb usb memory card and make it a ready boost card. You will notice no performance increase.

K-TRON

 

Does anyone know about this product? ( SUPER TALENT 64GB mini-PCI-e)

Surely it isn't a massively high speed device, but for an extra 64GB running on that mini-PCI-e slot that is currently barren. K-TRON? Any thoughts?


Thanks!

 

xepherys,
I just got my HP HDX 16t on Friday and have been exploring it ever since. My big question is this: How do you open the door to the Express Card slot? I wanted to put the remote in there but I can't figure out how to get it open. Does it push in, pull out and up, out and down, slide to the side (not likely), but how? It seems flimsy so I don't want to put too much pressure on it and break it. Did you ever find any useful Express Cards to use with it? I don't know anything at all about that format so I don't know that I'll do anything BUT store the remote there. Thanks for your help!

Mike