M17 upgrades

I bought my M17 a few months before they stopped making it (september2009). I was wondering what I can do to upgrade the graphics and the ram. As I have read i can put 8gb max ram in, but i also read somewhere its only 4. Which one is it?

For graphics, is there a way I can take out my 3870? Meaning, can I replace it with a better one or even find another one and crossfire them?

I am running windows 7 , and have 3gb of ram currently. I basically bought the bottom of the line m17 and want to improve it now.

extra: I read somewhere the m17 has 1920x1080 resolution, mine can only go to 1440x900, is this normal?

 

you can put up to 8gb of ddr3 ram but to use all 8GB you need the be runing the b14 or W840.29 bios or you could run into an issue using all 8GB
(potentialy you could put 16GB if you can find two 8gb stick but don't count on it most chances are you will only find 4gb ones or affort for)

you cand add a second 3870 with a cfx cable and have a cfx capable system (if you are extremely lucky you could find a 4850 but they are quite rare)

the m17 is capable of running 1900x1200
i'll give you the serial number of the compatible models once my system comes back unless some one else wanna provide it for you

 

Am I able to upgrade my bios/is it relatively easy?

 

upgrading to b14 require burning a disk of the bios(with disk checking enabled) and booting on it
the iso is availible on your my hive


.29 is a little more technical but considering what you ask .29 is not for you

 

My knoledge of bios' is very little yes. I do have the W841.B14, and if you can find out about the 1900x1080 that would be nice. I searched a little for the 3870 but could only find 2 on ebay for over $200 which is not worth it.

I realize this also makes me sound dumb but I just am finding it hard to find credible info on this computer.

 

due to recent devlopement from some one runing a m17x you could also run dual 280m in sli (that would require a bit more work and some one to mod the bios to accept them if you are not in DIY and high risk high reward thing it's not for you)

the m17 will not accept a 1900x1080 display it will only take 1900x1200 i'll give you the number thuesday when my machine comes back but the prices are arround 150 so if 200 is to high for a gpu the display will likely cost to much fo you to

also it's normal that you have a hard time finding info on the machine it got a preatty interesting story so the best place to find infos are this forum and 2 others that have preatty much the same users and almost anything you would like to know we can help you so just ask here

 

Okay so the 1900x1200 display is a whole new screen I would have to buy?

I can't find anywhere to buy a laptop graphics card either, if anyone knows a place a link would be helpful(besides ebay) I'm looking for a 3870 to crossfire but 2 of a better card (depending on sale price would work too).

I will at least put more ram in because thats cheap and easy/i've done it before.

 

ebay and mxm upgrade are the site most used by the members of this forum with the market place

so i don,t have much suggestion on that

 

the 1900x1200 screen model LG Philips LP171WU3-TL

there are many screen with similar names they will all fit as long as they are 1900x1200 and using non del backlight but to be sure post the exact name and i'll cheq it