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Need help choosing a new Laptop!

post #1 of 7
7/22/10 at 11:58am
Thread Starter 
Good morning forumers,

I'm currently in need of buying a new laptop. I tried to look up from a lot of online store and still haven't made up my mind yet.

I'm wondering if anyone know a website that allow customize a laptop, please let me know.

Anyway, I only have two "must have" in my laptop list:

First of all is the 4GB DDR3 RAM (3GB is fine too) coz I'm thinking upgrading it up. Therefore, the max should be at least 8GB

Also the second important thing is DEDICATED graphic card. I don't need it to be awesome, just as long it's a dedicated card so I can upgrade it in the future as well

The price range is below $800 if possible.

Please help me with this.

P.S: Just a question. I heard the ATI Mobillity Radeon 4250 is an integrated card. But some places say it has dedicated memory. Just wondering if I can upgrade this card in the future (replacing it with a better graphic card)


THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR READING! All the help are much appreciated!
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post #2 of 7
7/22/10 at 2:58pm
Replacing GPU ... Dell and Alienware are pretty much the "only" ones that can offer you this (upgrade) option.

But below $800 is gonna be a tough call. Searching for used gaming machines?

cheers ...
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post #3 of 7
7/27/10 at 6:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alankevis View Post
P.S: Just a question. I heard the ATI Mobillity Radeon 4250 is an integrated card. But some places say it has dedicated memory. Just wondering if I can upgrade this card in the future (replacing it with a better graphic card)
I found this:
"The AMD ATI Radeon HD 4250 (sometimes also ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 called) is an onboard (shared Memory) graphics chip. It is based on the HD 3400 graphics core and features the UVD 2 video engine to decode HD videos (Avivo HD - can decode two HD streams simultaneously). Compared to the HD 4200, the 4250 offers a similar performance, but the power consumption could be a bit better.
The graphics core of the HD 4250 stems from the Mobility Radeon HD 3400 series and is therefore DirectX 10.1 capable. Because of the missing graphics memory, the performance of the card is a bit lower than of the HD 34x0. Theroretically, dedicated memory chips can be directly added to the chip, making it a dedicated graphics card. Because of pricing it is unclear if any manufacturer will add memory to the chip."

So I guess it depends on a particular manufacturer's implementation.

Either way, it doesn't sound like a discrete gpu that can be swapped for a better one. Or am I misunderstanding the above text?
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post #4 of 7
7/27/10 at 12:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1shado1 View Post
I found this:
"The AMD ATI Radeon HD 4250 (sometimes also ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 called) is an onboard (shared Memory) graphics chip. It is based on the HD 3400 graphics core and features the UVD 2 video engine to decode HD videos (Avivo HD - can decode two HD streams simultaneously). Compared to the HD 4200, the 4250 offers a similar performance, but the power consumption could be a bit better.
The graphics core of the HD 4250 stems from the Mobility Radeon HD 3400 series and is therefore DirectX 10.1 capable. Because of the missing graphics memory, the performance of the card is a bit lower than of the HD 34x0. Theroretically, dedicated memory chips can be directly added to the chip, making it a dedicated graphics card. Because of pricing it is unclear if any manufacturer will add memory to the chip."

So I guess it depends on a particular manufacturer's implementation.

Either way, it doesn't sound like a discrete gpu that can be swapped for a better one. Or am I misunderstanding the above text?
yep - unless it is being offered at time of system configuration before ordering.

cheers ...
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post #5 of 7
7/27/10 at 1:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
yep - unless it is being offered at time of system configuration before ordering.

cheers ...
Even if other graphics options are listed, they often require different motherboard versions so upgrading at a later date would still not be possible. It is a good idea to always assume that whatever graphics card you get cannot be upgraded in the future.
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post #6 of 7
7/28/10 at 2:44am
As well GPU can't be upgraded due to higher TDW and power requirement. I do know Dell provided semi graphic card upgrade to their old 17inch laptops but i've found out recent laptops comes with dedicated GPU and RAM and are rather soldered to mobo. Asus N61 series is a good example.

I guess the methold for manufacturers to save production cost and to design much more compact laptops.
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post #7 of 7
8/3/10 at 3:23pm
i think u need more than $800...
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