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    Easiest laptop to replace parts for?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by casualattire, Apr 30, 2012.

  1. casualattire

    casualattire Notebook Enthusiast

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    i've seen many laptops that are a nightmare to work on. if you want to replace just one minor part, it requires taking out maybe 5 or 10 other parts first, before you can get to it.

    are there exceptions to this? is there a brand of laptop for which it's easy to replace the parts without having to take the whole computer apart?
     
  2. tijo

    tijo Sacred Blame

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    Clevo comes to mind, you can't access everything easily, but the usual suspects as well as the CPU and video card are usually easily accessible.
     
  3. dav_jw

    dav_jw Notebook Guru

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    Business notebooks in general should be easier to repair than the average notebook. They are usually made to last longer than the consumer variants, which also means they have to be easier to maintain in working condition; the parts are usually easier to find and detailed service manuals are available.
     
  4. mtrein

    mtrein Notebook Consultant

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    The clevo and the MSI barebones are the best ones to replace things.
     
  5. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Even the screen on the MSI is easy to get to. It accepts any standard MXM graphics card too.
     
  6. NotEnoughMinerals

    NotEnoughMinerals Notebook Deity

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    I second that, both companies make laptops that are real easy to open up and replace anything.
     
  7. casualattire

    casualattire Notebook Enthusiast

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    does this mean msi and clevo laptops have graphics cards that can be upgraded later?
     
  8. swiftden

    swiftden Notebook Guru

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    Yes.

    Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
     
  9. lidowxx

    lidowxx Notebook Deity

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    Clevo and MSI barebones both have easy access to the most important upgradable parts, like CPU, GPU, RAM, HDD. Alienware laptops are quite friendly to user upgrade too.
     
  10. jclausius

    jclausius Notebook Virtuoso

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    Physically... yes. Operationally... it depends on the card and the machine's BIOS.

    If the card is of the same architecture or is backwards compatible AND the BIOS supports that card or can be flashed to support that card, then yes, they can be upgraded.

    However, if, for example, a new version of MxM comes out and is not backwards compatible (which is not likely), OR a Video BIOS flash is required and your vendor will not create one (more likely), then you may be stuck with the last GPU offered for your particular make/model.
     
  11. tony211

    tony211 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Asus laptops are a pain in the to upgrade at a later time. I have the Asus g73jh and that thing is pain in the to clean. I cant wait to get rid of this POS laptop.
     
  12. Altair4

    Altair4 Notebook Consultant

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    Clevo and Alienware comes to mind.
     
  13. jclausius

    jclausius Notebook Virtuoso

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    I've heard getting to Alienware components (memory or processor) can be quite a task (at least for the M17x/18x). Is that incorrect?
     
  14. Karamazovmm

    Karamazovmm Overthinking? Always!

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    not that much