ASUS N73SV/general laptop upgrade question

Hello, I have some questions I was hoping some of you could help answer. I'm from the desktop PC world, where modularity is king, and am a little confused by the proprietary hardware layouts of laptops.
I'm considering an ASUS N73SV I've noticed that a lot of custom gaming laptop sites will let you customize the machines with several options for the processor and video card, so my question is....if I bought one of the lower-end or middle-end options, could I upgrade my machine later on and just swap in the new hardware? Are each of those processors listed on the site matched to a specific motherboard/chipset, or do they all use the same motherboard, just with different processors? How custom or proprietary are the heat sinks and such?
Same question goes for the video cards. I know they probably use PCIe slots for the vid cards, but are the heatsinks modular enough to fit most laptop cases, or most ASUS case at least?

Thanks in advance,
-M

 

I believe most laptops can have their CPU upgraded, but in most cases not their GPU. The GPU has one standard, the MXM, but it is divided into multiple subcategories (MXM 3.0, MXM 2.0, etc) that are not compatible with each other. Even GPUs in the same subcategories may not be compatible. In short, unless the website specifically claimed that such upgrade is availble, always rule out the possibility of upgrading the GPU.

It is also not to mention the fact that it is very difficult to obtain laptop GPU parts even if they are compatible. You can walk into BBY to get a new graphics card for your desktop, but the only two places that might sell laptop GPU, if at all, are eBay and Craigslist.

So if you want an upgraded laptop, buy the upgraded version first, and save yourself tons of headache in the future.

 

List of upgradable parts on N73SV:

- CPU
-Wireless card
-Screen
-CPU
-RAM
-Hard drives
-Optical Drive
-Webcam* (USB 2.0 device, if you can find something that'll fit into the chassis)

GPU is not upgradable since it's soldered on the mainboard, even their high-end G74SX with GTX560M video card is soldered on the mainboard as well.

 

Thanks for the good info, folks! I appreciate it. What do the internal USB connectors look like (webcam)? Just a small plug on the board like the fan plugs or dongle plugs on a desktop mobo?

-M