How difficult to replace D900C mobo ?

Hello there,

I am a proud owner of NP9260 with 2.66 core 2 duo and a single 7950GTX graphic card. Recently as every body knows Sager has announced the introduction of the new 8800GTX graphic card which kicks the ass off all older models. Of course as any other buyers I was hoping to utilize MXM 5 (what ever) to upgrade my notebook as soon as a new more powerful DX10 card is release. Unfortunately it was not the case.

Anyway during my research before buying my laptop I came to know that Sager always provided the customer with alternative (maybe only for rich users) to replace their laptop mobo in case a new technology cannot fit inside.

Having to pay around 1000$ to upgrade my laptop is still very pleasant, so far is so good, but I have some serious problem here. I live in Saudi Arabia and to take advantage of this offer I need to pay the bloody money for shipping which is at minimum around 600$.

Sorry to make this lengthy story but I felt like talking how I feel.

Now my real questions behind this post are:
1- I had experience assembling my own desktop system, how difficult/impossible to replace the laptop mobo myself? I would really appreciate experienced users?
2- If I can manage to order the new mobo and 8800GTX with around 100$ shipping (I can pay less for slow delivery service since I don’t care about the delay). Do you think it is more economical for me to order this way?

Finally sorry for my bad English and please ask me if something unclear!

 

Possible yes, probably of damaging something during the change? Likely. I've taken out my minipci card and ram but looking at everything, I personally would not risk it.

Is there nowhere closer to you to ship to? I.e. A reseller in Europe?

 

There are a few in Europe but I guessing the cost is still pretty much the same by the time currency conversions are done. It does seem like this os another of those hobbies were it pays to be are richer side of the train tracks.

 

if you have to ask you are probably not skilled enough to do it. i have posted below in another thread;

i have done motherboard swaps with my D900T. it is very difficult. if you are not an experienced desktop builder do not try it. i would say that building notebooks is about 10 times more difficult than building desktops. the parts are so small and so many damn screws that it makes it easy to get lost and start to panic.

 

Well I havent seen the insides of a clevo, So I could be wrong, but I completely took apart two laptops this weekend and put them back together. Other than missing 2 screws(not important ones) it was quite a bit easier then I expected. Though I did not remove to cpu, or heatsinks, but only because I dont have any thermal compound, arctic silver and such.The 2 laptops were a dell 9300, and a 9100. The 9300 was much easier, as it came apart into almost half the amount of parts as the 9100, which shows me that dell improved their skills quite a bit in the time period between the two.

Though keep in mind, I used a service manual from dell.com for the 9300, but after seeing how simple it was, I was able to take apart the 9100 without help. All it takes is extreme patience, keeping track of each screw with some kind of system(I used cups with labels, and still came up 2 short), and major attention to detail. If you have built a desktop from parts without help, I would say you should be fine. Just make sure you keep track of the order in which you took it apart, and where each of the hundred or so little screws go(probably more like 40 at most).

 

Thanks everyone for the nice advice and links !!

Actually after reading the posts I feel more comfortable to assemble the mobo myself .....