Possibility of 8600m GT in a Vostro 1400?

No, the 1400 doesn't have a removable video card so the only way you'd have an 8600 on it would be if Dell built a motherboard for it. The Service manuals for each computer lists how to replace any part that is replacable/upgradable. The Vostro 1500/Inspiron 1520/1521 are upgradable and all 17-20" dell machines. The current crop of latitudes are also not upgradable.

The XPS m1530 and m1330 are not upgradable nor is any Dell machine of 14" or less in the last 5 years. In addition, any Dell with the integrated intel graphics is not upgradable.

The 8400GS is not integrated into the motherboard in the Vostros. You can purchase this card separately from laptop parts stores for around $129-$150. That is, when they show up.

I think I saw a Vostro 1400 with an 8600GS card back in November both on the Dell site and on eBay resellers but I'm not totally sure. I was shopping around for a laptop back then.

I initially got a Vostro 1400 pre-configured from a store with an 8400GS because I needed a laptop fast and couldn't wait for Dell to build it and send it to my country, two months later sold it to a guy I work with and got me a deal on a 1500.

I think that was the 8600GS. I kind of remember seeing both video card options on the 1400 and 1500. I was also visiting an international Dell site. A few non-english sites mention a 1400 with an 8600.

There is an 8600GS available but not sure what mobile systems sport it currently: http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_8600M.html

http://support.dell.com/support/edoc....htm#wp1106487

http://support.dell.com/support/edoc....htm#wp1180315

If you look at how to remove the motherboard, the 1520 makes clear the graphics card needs to be seperated from the motherboard first in disassembling the computer while the 1420 has no such instructions.

Dell has always had Service manual instructions for anything that can be changed but it's soldered into the MB

For 14" Laptops, Asus is your brand (I had the same idea last year).

Well, as the service manual says, the i1520 is a v1500 as the i1420 is a v1400. Other than the color options, they are the same thing.

Who cares if it fits, it produces too much heat. That is why there is no 8600 GS/GT in the Vostro 1400/ Inspiron 1420. Battery life would be horrible, like the LG P300-U.

grr.

There are a few issues that prevent this.

1. The video card is soldiered to the motherboard. Dell has done this with every 14" laptop in the centrino generation. The same debate happened over whether the 600m/Radeon 9000 could be upgraded to the Radeon 9600 since the 8600 came with either the Radeon 9000 or 9600. This is reflected in the Service Manuals with pictures and instructions on disassembling the computer.

Let's say I'm completely wrong.
2. The Vostro 1400 bios is not the same as the 1500 bios so unless Dell decided to sell a 1400/1420 with a 8600, there isn't support for it.

Let's say Dell did support it in the bios
3. The Vostro 1400 wasn't designed thermally to house a card with the 8600s thermal characteristics. There functions here are the volume of the machine, the location of the video card and the cooling system connected to it. The Vostro 1500 has it's processor accessable by removing the keyboard. The vostro 1400 has the processor accessable from the bottom. That difference may seem minor but in smaller machines, the thermal design revolves around the processor before the graphics card.

Dell designs many computers to have interchangable parts but it's been mostly between Inspiron 15" and latitude 15" and occasionally 15-17".

Even if it worked, the amount of money and time you'd spend to have a 14.1, 6lb gaming machine w/o warranty begs the question of why not get a 5 lb Asus 14" machine or a 6lb m1530.

it doesnt really matter IMHO...

the Dell 8600GT uses GDDR2 which is rated at 400mhz IIRC while the Dell 8400GS uses DDR3 which is rated at 600-700mhz IIRC

so even though the 8600GT has 128-bit mem compared to 64-bit on the 8400GS, since the ram is so neutered on the 8600GT, it doesnt really make much difference....

if you look on notebookreview.com, there is like a 90% success rate of overclocking the ram on the 8400GS 100% from 300mhz to 600mhz+... at that point it has the same memory bandwidth as a stock rated 400mhz 8600GT.

its not that the 8400GS is fast, its that Dell cheaped out and put crappy GDDR2 ram on their 8600GT parts.... thus its barely any faster than an overclocked 8400GS