Okay guys I know that I see a lot of posts and questions being asked about the possibility of upgradeable graphics in Toshiba laptops, as well as laptops in general. Hopefully this thread will help you all to understand the situation of graphics cards a little better.
A while ago there was a major change within the computer industry including notebooks. This was the change from AGP x8 graphics to PCI-Express x16 graphics cards. At the time it was widely hailed as the key to allowing user-upgradeable graphics in notebooks. To some extent the idea of upgrades had already existed and was being offered in notebooks by Alienware and Dell. But the hard switch to PCI-Express had rendered those AGP systems obsolete as far as upgrades are concerned.
Consumers however do still want to have the ability to upgrade. This meant that several manufacturers decided to make upgradeable laptops. To this end we have Dell who have upgradeable graphics cards in their XPS and 9300 and 9400 series laptops, as well as Sager/Alienware/Hypersonic/Voodoo etc who all use the same basic d900 series body some with more modification than others. The d900-based laptops go under such names as the sager 9750 (AMD version), Sager 9890 (Intel version), and Alienware 7700 series laptops, along with many other brand names. All of those brands and systems offer user upgradeable graphics cards, however it comes at a cost.
The cost is that it is not only in terms of price as they are extremely expensive systems sometimes topping $4000 USD. The cost also comes with the size and weight of these systems. All of them are DTR systems meaning they are both large and heavy. They all have 17inch screens and usually are topping 10 pounds in weight. There is only one current notebook with an actual upgrade available that is under this size and that is the 15.4inch Alienware Area 51-M 5500 notebook, which offers now the upgrade from the base Nvidia go6600 to the Ati mobility x1600. There is also an Asus model that has a removable graphics card however this should not be thought of as upgradeable since no actual upgrade is available.
The key to upgrades is the ability to remove graphics cards at all. This up until recently has been the key issue, as notebooks have been built with the graphics “card” actually an integral part of the motherboard and no ability to ever remove it. This meant that whatever you bought you would be having in that notebook forever, baring of course you replacing the motherboard. Manufacturers are building notebooks now with removable graphics “cards”. This however is not a universal thing, not all manufacturers are making their notebooks with these cards. As well the vast majority of notebooks with them now are there with cards that are of a proprietary design meaning that cards used in one manufacturer cannot be used in another. There is some promise of this changing with the use of MXM type cards but this is slow in being adopted, and at this time there is nowhere that stocks a replacement MXM card that is universal. These cards still are in some ways proprietary since the cooling systems and the shape of them is unique between machines.
PCI-Express has not yet become a universal sign that there will be an upgrade available and should not be regarded as such.
So this leads us to Toshiba who sadly up to this point have only produced one system with a removable graphics card, the 5105 (thanks protosh), but otherwise have produced no other upgradeable graphics solution let alone an actual upgrade. No current models have upgradable graphics. This may happen in the future however it has not occurred for the models currently on the market.
Hopefully this clears up some of the questions about upgradeable graphics in notebooks that it would appear many people are having.
A while ago there was a major change within the computer industry including notebooks. This was the change from AGP x8 graphics to PCI-Express x16 graphics cards. At the time it was widely hailed as the key to allowing user-upgradeable graphics in notebooks. To some extent the idea of upgrades had already existed and was being offered in notebooks by Alienware and Dell. But the hard switch to PCI-Express had rendered those AGP systems obsolete as far as upgrades are concerned.
Consumers however do still want to have the ability to upgrade. This meant that several manufacturers decided to make upgradeable laptops. To this end we have Dell who have upgradeable graphics cards in their XPS and 9300 and 9400 series laptops, as well as Sager/Alienware/Hypersonic/Voodoo etc who all use the same basic d900 series body some with more modification than others. The d900-based laptops go under such names as the sager 9750 (AMD version), Sager 9890 (Intel version), and Alienware 7700 series laptops, along with many other brand names. All of those brands and systems offer user upgradeable graphics cards, however it comes at a cost.
The cost is that it is not only in terms of price as they are extremely expensive systems sometimes topping $4000 USD. The cost also comes with the size and weight of these systems. All of them are DTR systems meaning they are both large and heavy. They all have 17inch screens and usually are topping 10 pounds in weight. There is only one current notebook with an actual upgrade available that is under this size and that is the 15.4inch Alienware Area 51-M 5500 notebook, which offers now the upgrade from the base Nvidia go6600 to the Ati mobility x1600. There is also an Asus model that has a removable graphics card however this should not be thought of as upgradeable since no actual upgrade is available.
The key to upgrades is the ability to remove graphics cards at all. This up until recently has been the key issue, as notebooks have been built with the graphics “card” actually an integral part of the motherboard and no ability to ever remove it. This meant that whatever you bought you would be having in that notebook forever, baring of course you replacing the motherboard. Manufacturers are building notebooks now with removable graphics “cards”. This however is not a universal thing, not all manufacturers are making their notebooks with these cards. As well the vast majority of notebooks with them now are there with cards that are of a proprietary design meaning that cards used in one manufacturer cannot be used in another. There is some promise of this changing with the use of MXM type cards but this is slow in being adopted, and at this time there is nowhere that stocks a replacement MXM card that is universal. These cards still are in some ways proprietary since the cooling systems and the shape of them is unique between machines.
PCI-Express has not yet become a universal sign that there will be an upgrade available and should not be regarded as such.
So this leads us to Toshiba who sadly up to this point have only produced one system with a removable graphics card, the 5105 (thanks protosh), but otherwise have produced no other upgradeable graphics solution let alone an actual upgrade. No current models have upgradable graphics. This may happen in the future however it has not occurred for the models currently on the market.
Hopefully this clears up some of the questions about upgradeable graphics in notebooks that it would appear many people are having.
Maybe someday userupgradeabled graphics in notebooks will be common place. Hopefully sooner than later.
guess i need to brush up on my specifics. nice job fidge 
.. like me).. I just dont think it's fair to have to shell out $3,500 EVERY YEAR!! to be up to date... when only the $400 GPU is behind 
