Hi,
A couple days ago, I decided that I was tired literally and of the risk of hauling my Dell XPS desktop up and down 6 flights of stairs and 4 times each semester at my college. Packing all of it up was also getting annoying. With this decision came the decision that I was going to buy a laptop. ...And as quickly as I decided I wanted to buy a laptop....I ordered one.
As I said, I decided I wanted one a couple of days ago and already have one ordered. This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't my first laptop and I actually knew about them in general, but my knowledge currently only includes that of desktop hardware.
This is what I ordered:
Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop:
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7700 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)fficeffice" /><O
></O>
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition<O></O>
High Resolution, glossy widescreen 17.0 inch display (1920 x 1200)<O></O>
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT<O></O>
FREE! 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz<O></O>
FREE! 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)<O></O>
CD / DVD writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)<O></O>
Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-Card<O></O>
No Webcam Option<O></O>
85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)<O></O>
Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™HD Software Edition
I've never ordered an electronic based upon so little research before. I'm now second guessing my choice. It seems like a pretty setup for just being a plain old laptop but what I wanted, is a laptop capable of playing games such as BF2.
Will this system be able to provide decent gaming?
Also, I was annoyed by the fact that a 512mb geforce card was not an option. Actually, I have a 256mb geforce 6800 in my Dell XPS and it does great on BF2....so I guess this 256mb Geforce 8600 should do fine too?
***See edit_____________________
I don't know much....nothing rather... about upgrading and replacing parts in notebooks - but would it be possible for me to buy a 512 geforce card and replace the other one? Or are laptop graphics cards created specially for each manufacturer due to size requirements?
If I can replace/upgrade the card myself - where can I buy one? Do desktop replacement laptops use full sized versions of the graphics cards or as I believe, scaled down ones?
_______________________________
One last question because I clearly don't know anything about graphics cards in general. I'm searching for geforce graphics cards and they're coming up listed under different brands like PNY, XFX and BFG. I thought Nvidia created all their own cards and such but apparently they don't. Do they simply sell their drivers to these other companies who make the cards?
***Edit: Okay - So I just read some thread that says "No, you cannot upgrade a laptop gphx card - So don't ask!!!"
I read the manual for the Inspiron 1720 and it appears as though you can remove the entire graphics card from the machine - its not integrated and built in or whatnot. ....So why not?
A couple days ago, I decided that I was tired literally and of the risk of hauling my Dell XPS desktop up and down 6 flights of stairs and 4 times each semester at my college. Packing all of it up was also getting annoying. With this decision came the decision that I was going to buy a laptop. ...And as quickly as I decided I wanted to buy a laptop....I ordered one.
As I said, I decided I wanted one a couple of days ago and already have one ordered. This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't my first laptop and I actually knew about them in general, but my knowledge currently only includes that of desktop hardware.This is what I ordered:
Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop:
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7700 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)ffice
ffice" /><O></O>Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition<O
></O>High Resolution, glossy widescreen 17.0 inch display (1920 x 1200)<O
></O>256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT<O
></O>FREE! 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz<O
></O>FREE! 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)<O
></O>CD / DVD writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)<O
></O>Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-Card<O
></O>No Webcam Option<O
></O>85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)<O
></O>Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™HD Software Edition
I've never ordered an electronic based upon so little research before. I'm now second guessing my choice. It seems like a pretty setup for just being a plain old laptop but what I wanted, is a laptop capable of playing games such as BF2.
Will this system be able to provide decent gaming?
Also, I was annoyed by the fact that a 512mb geforce card was not an option. Actually, I have a 256mb geforce 6800 in my Dell XPS and it does great on BF2....so I guess this 256mb Geforce 8600 should do fine too?
***See edit_____________________
I don't know much....nothing rather... about upgrading and replacing parts in notebooks - but would it be possible for me to buy a 512 geforce card and replace the other one? Or are laptop graphics cards created specially for each manufacturer due to size requirements?
If I can replace/upgrade the card myself - where can I buy one? Do desktop replacement laptops use full sized versions of the graphics cards or as I believe, scaled down ones?
_______________________________
One last question because I clearly don't know anything about graphics cards in general. I'm searching for geforce graphics cards and they're coming up listed under different brands like PNY, XFX and BFG. I thought Nvidia created all their own cards and such but apparently they don't. Do they simply sell their drivers to these other companies who make the cards?
***Edit: Okay - So I just read some thread that says "No, you cannot upgrade a laptop gphx card - So don't ask!!!"
I read the manual for the Inspiron 1720 and it appears as though you can remove the entire graphics card from the machine - its not integrated and built in or whatnot. ....So why not?
