Asus W7S graphics expandibility?

I'm looking at a W7S (specific model not given) with an 8400m. Wondering if this is expandable in any way, to an 8600 or 9300 for example, or an ATI of any kind. Haven't been able to find anything except for W7's with 8400 so not too hopeful. Thanks.

 

I had the Asus W7S and unfortunately, the graphics card is not upgradable. The GPU is soldered to the motherboard.

 

Thanks for the info. Saw soldered 8400's and MXM's.

Asking here a lot quicker than anything else, thanks!!

 

You can consider the W7Sg if you can get it, it has a somewhat better video card.

Or if you're willing to buy a new computer, you can get one of the newer 13" models with a dedicated video card, which will definitely be better than the W7S card -- such as the UL30 variants.

 

W7Sg is alright.

Could only see the UL30a and UL30vt at Asus' site. Only P45 crap on the 'a' and 210m on the vt. That's not bad, but couldn't find one for sale and doubt it would be affordable.

 

I think it's available on Amazon for US? But I'm not sure.

 

I have a W7S, but the GPU died twice in 2.5 years. Asus finally switched the MB to the W7Sg and I think it has the 9300m (? not sure). Just a warning though, the W7S's GPU will die sooner or later because the 8400m is known to be defective, so I advice you to get W7Sg if you really like the W7S series.

 

Good to know wawawa. And sorry to hear that.

Ich bin ein Canucker. Amazon.ca doesn't give me anything. Oh and yes, I believe it is a 9300m

 

Did the second failure happen out of warranty? I had the 8400M in my W7S die on me about 15 months after purchase, and it was replaced with a W7Sg. 11 months after that, the 9300M in my W7Sg also died, and because it was 2 months out of warranty I couldn't get it fixed for free. They were also unable to quote me an price estimated price for repair and that the only way I'd find out was to send it in at my expense and wait for the call, so I said screw it...not worth spending a couple hundred to fix an old laptop that'll end up failing the same way a year later when I can simply buy a new one without faulty GPUs for $500.

Once I get a chance, I'm going to take my laptop to the range and add some new bullet holes to it.

 

At least scrap the lcd, HDD etc.

That's crappy. I've heard of Asus' reliable reputation, and I've also heard no less faulty product stories compared to any other brand. The 8400's were nVidia's problem, but the second time, doesn't seem so.

 

Yes, it was out of warranty. Fortunately, I bought my laptop with a visa signature card, so they reimburse the repair cost. The total cost was $230 ($190 part + $40 labor) + the shipping you pay to ship the laptop to Asus (I used USPS, cost like $10).

My situation was kind of the same as yours. They replaced the MB the first time during warranty to W7Sg, then it died about 1 year later and it was 3 month out of warranty. Then they replaced the MB again to W7Sg and this time I immediately update the bios to the latest version (that suppose to fix the issue). Now I am just crossing my finger everyday and hope it will last another year or so.

 

The second time, I think it's kind of my fault because they had a bios update that supposed to fix the GPU issue. When they replaced the W7Sg the second time, Asus updated the bios to 3.07 (which address the GPU issue) and then i updated the bios to 3.09 on my own (which is the latest bios update). I did notice the laptop runs a lot cooler than before, so hopefully it will last a bit longer than 1 year.

 

Ahh. Alas my CC doesn't have a warranty extension feature so I'm SOL.

Yep I'll be salvaging all of the working parts. Doubt they're worth much, but hey anything's better than nothing.

Honestly Asus isn't to blame for these malfunctions. Even the 9x00M line is dodgy from a reliability standpoint, and that's solely Nvidia's fault even though Asus has attempted to mitigate the problems (if you've been following the W7S BIOS releases, the later versions spin up the fan much quicker and set the baseline speed higher than on the early BIOS revisions). I'd have no issue buying another Asus notebook, especially because their warranty is so good compared to virtually every other manufacturer.

 

True about the warranty. Interesting about the BIOS, didn't know that.
Too bad ATI is more uncommon in notebooks. Had a Dell with a 9700 mobile that lasted 6 years, and is still going as far as I know (sold it).

 

My Asus W7J is still going strong... but I guess it has a less powerful GPU than the W7S.