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@isnoop wrote:
I'm a little bummed Dell hasn't had much to say on this topic in the 2+ months this thread has been around.  Rollie (or current mod), what's the good word?

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Errr, people have been demanding Dell offer officially supported video card upgrades in their notebooks for YEARS. I doubt very much this little thread is having much impact.

Dell should absolutely support upgradeable video cards.

Funny how this is probably the most desired thing from dell laptop owners.  With the way everything is being modded now days I'm sure it won't be too far in the future that a couple of individuals will get together and start a company based around producing video upgrades for laptops.  I'm sure they would do quite well too because this is the #1 factor leading to laptop obsolescence.  Laptop computers and all in one computers will definitely overtake clunky desktop computers within the next 5 years.  After a few years of looking at the loss in potential profits in producing such upgrades, dell will get off its derriere and provide them as well.  Its like any bureaucratic entity, takes some little guy to shake it up a bit before anything is done. 

 

 

-Rick

I'e had a great deal of success and fun upgrading my old XPSm desktop to PIII Dim 4100 specs and beyod, effectively extending the life of the old dog and giving me hours of pleasure.  It also taught me a great deal about the quality that Dell builds into their machines and the great support they offer for them.  I also have an Inspiron 8100, and one of the reasons I bought it was because it had a video daughter card, ie - I could upgrade it!  I knew at the time Dell would not officially sanction such activity, but they do support it after a fashion.  Now, the idea that Dell MIGHT officially offer support and upgrade parts to it's many computer customers is fantastic, and I hope they do it.  I for one would love to plunk a Radeon 9600 128 Meg video card in my Inspiron - "legally"!

I/8100 PIII 1Ghz, 512 MB RAM, ATI Radeon 7500 64 Meg, DVD, CD-RW, 30 GHD, 2nd 30 GHD, D-Link DWL-650+ 802.11 card, UXGA screen, XP Home

I/8500 P4 2.4 GHz, 512 MB RAM, Nvidia GF 32 Meg, DVD/CD-RW, WXGA screen

Dell since your such a lazy company that won't do anything for your older loyal costomers who have laptops with AGP slots,  just allow third party's to make video boards.

Make it and they will come i say.

I'm sick of this thread getting bigger and bigger with no feedback from dell.

 

I was able to play DVDs correctly even using my extigy card in 5.1 or also using the SPDIF out and putting it on the creative 5700 speakers. And I did that with a 2GH isnpiron 8500 with base ati 9000 32MB card on a WUXGA screen (1920x1200)...

PS: sorry for the off-topic but I didn't find any way to reply in another forum or privately.

I just purchased a i8600 and I would love if it were possible to upgrade the gpu in the future through Dell.  

Add me to the list.  I have just purchased a Dell Inspiron 8600 and would like the anility to upgrade at least to the ATI Radeon 9600 128 MB gpu in a month or so.  I am seriosly considering canceling my order and purchasing an Alienware laptop instead hust because of the upgrade option.  Of ocurse I have been unable to find a definite answer on whether or not I can upgrade the card to an ATI 9600 seeing how they offer it as an option on a new system I would think if I purchased the card I could upgrade it myself.  Fine I will take the risk of it not being supported by  Dell and I woulod have to pay for any repairs if it got screwed up but I need to know if it is at all possible.  If not I am probably going to have to cancel my Dell order and buy an Alienware.

In regards to dell upgrading their video cards in the Inspiron 8500 I too support this.  However understand that for you gamers out there, and I am one of them.  That the Front Side Bus on the Inspiron 8500 and 8600 is only 400mhz.  This is a small amount of bandwith for a P4 2.6 gig CPU.  Most new Home computers have a 800mhz Front Side Bus, some have as much as a 1.6 gig Front Side Bus. 

In addition the memory or ram of the 8500 is only in the 233mhz region, while the 8600 is in the 300 + mhz region.  Most newer home computers are 400 mhz for ram memory.

A faster graphics card will not always make your games play faster.  Checkout Sager Notebooks.  They offer you P4 processors with Hyperthreading enabled(supported by the motherboard) and  800mhz front side busses as well as 400mhz ram memory.  Power consumption is obviously not as good as a Dell, but if you are looking for performance in a laptop which is what I want, then they are the ones you want!  They even offer the new P4 Extreme CPU on their notbooks for those who want them. 

Of course we all could wait for the new AMD 64 bit processors in notebooks which are slated to come out in the next 2 months. (AMD has already begun shipping them) They may run hotter however but we will have to see(XP64 is required to take advantage of the full 64 bit performance of this processor but it can run 32 bit applications on ordinary Windows xp as fast as the 3.2 Gig Intel P4) .

Perhaps Dell's newest notebook the Inpsiron 9100 or 9200 (whatever it is) will have some of these new innovations!

 

Inspiron 8500 p4 2.6 gig

Nvidia 4200 64mb

1gig ram

Message Edited by stevehoward on 01-12-2004 11:28 AM

Message Edited by stevehoward on 01-12-2004 12:21 PM

Message Edited by stevehoward on 01-12-2004 12:28 PM

Message Edited by stevehoward on 01-12-2004 03:24 PM

Message Edited by stevehoward on 01-15-2004 11:53 AM

Steve,

XP 64 is not required for the AMD64.. It is not a cpu like the intel itanium, the amd chip is as capable as a P4 when it comes to 32 bit apps and OS..

It will probably not really shine till its running a 64 bit OS (be it windows or linux) but it certainly holds its own with 32bit stuff also..
There are already at least 2 laptops available now with the AMD 64 CPU.. and the pricing is dropping on them fast..

I am hoping my next laptop is based on AMD64.. I can tell you right now, it won't be a Dell, I've decided to "vote with my dollars" and go for one of the brands that do offer upgrades.


rgds

Franki

here's my vote for upgrading. it would definatley be nice to change vid cards.

Message Edited by krylon419 on 01-12-2004 04:00 PM

Dear Dell

I would like to upgrade my video card to one of those ATI RADEON Turbo 9600 thingies.

Please make it possible, or my next portable won't be Dell anymore. It is possible, so it makes me very angry that your company policy forbids such an upgrade.

 

Kind Regards

 

Xanthos

 

PS:Zoals wij in Belgie zeggen: Doe niet zo belachelijk en zorg ervoor dat dat in orde komt.

 

Inspiron 5151

3,06GHz

1 Gig RAM

Fx5200 64 MB (which is NOT ENOUGH) :-)

 

 

I own the I 5150 with the geforce fx5200 (64mb). This card is the bottom end of the fx series and its not up to my standards.
It only benchmarks like a 7000. (3DMARK 01 SE)
If you have 3 ghz of processin power then you should have the graphic power to back it up... or the optoins to. As you can tell from the length of this tread so does everyone else.
I do alot of gaming and would like upgrading options. and i will saddy pay for it if it is worth it.
in fact the majority would. it would be benifishial to everone.
Im pretty happy with my dell except for the video card.
so i short and closing

DELL MAKE BETTER VIDEO UPGRADING OPTIONS!!!!!!


ps also maybe get a better server goin on the forum. in the middle of the day when there is about a 1000 + people on it take forever to search. the community forum saves you guys alotta tech support phone calls because they can look it up in the forum first but if the forums take for ever to load then they just turn to the phone.

yeah, i agree with frankieh, although i'll probably just stick with my 5150 as i am more than satisfied with it, and depending on what comes out i'll probably end up getting something like sager or alienware for my next laptop since it'll be worth it.

                                            alien