Laptop Upgrading...

Hello everyone. Just joined the forum - hopefully I can get to the bottom of my perils with you all! I bought a laptop last year and I am not entirely pleased with it's performance on newer-type games and even some older ones...(Planetside!)

I have an unlimited budget, but I'd rather not upgrade EVERYTHING to super-awesome-level at this point. I'm looking for what certain piece of hardware is holding me back the most right now, and upgrading it to something compatible. I don't want to buy a new computer, since this thing is really only a year old! Yes...it's an Alienware. They've been good to me in the past, and that's the only reason I really buy from them. Plus, it's a laptop and I'm not too familiar with building your own laptop..

I plan on upgrading to Windows 7 when it releases; planned to go back to XP Pro because of it's supposed better gaming enviroment but 7 comes out so soon, I'm passing on it.

Anyways, here's my specs:

Time of this report: 7/27/2009, 17:13:52

Operating System: Windows Vista™ Ultimate (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.lh_sp2rtm.090410-1830)

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T7200 @ 2.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.0GHz

Memory: 2814MB RAM (I have a total of 4GB's installed)
Page File: 1337MB used, 3400MB available

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT Dual SLI-mode enabled

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I'm thinking I need the video cards upgraded the most, but the nVidia site is saying I'm not compatible to upgrade to the 200 series, and it only shows me that I can install 9700 series cards.

If ya'll need anymore info, please just ask! Thanks a bunch, ahead of time.

 

I would probably upgrade your HDD first to a SSD, such as Intel's Gen2 SSD. Then get a better CPU and then finally upgrading to dual 9700M GTS. The latter two, I'm not sure exactly how much you will notice a difference, because there are a lot of other factors to consider (ie. what games you play, the resolution, etc.)

 

Should I attempt the 200 series nVidia graphics or does the 9700 handle most everything out right now with considerable ease?

 

I suggest you call Alienware, they would be the most familiar with their systems and be able to answer your questions better than I would. Their support is there to help you as much as we are.

The 200 series isn't much different than the 9800M series (for the most part, just rebadged, though it might have a die shrink). The 9800M/200 series can be a big step up from the 9700M series and if you can and are into gaming at high resolution, then I would definitely inquire if you can upgrade.

 

Thanks for the input. I probably will have to check with Alienware, but I've got to dig through and find my order information, I suppose. Thanks again.

 

The problem with a CPU upgrade is that there is very little room upwards on a Socket M system such as your Alienware - only the T7400 (2.16 GHz) and T7600 (2.33 GHz) are options, and neither are worth the cost and hassle.

 

Sell and get a new one may give you a lot more performance for your money.

 

Can you even upgrade the video cards? A lot of laptops you can't but I'm not familiar with alienwares too much

 

You can upgrade most Alienwares AFAIK.

 

Unlimited budget...hmm, I'd like to have THAT. Haha.

Well as everyone else said, you'd get a kick out of getting SSD's instead of the default one--haven't tried this one yet since I'm still not sure about how upgrading's gonna affect my warranty with Acer Singapore, and because SSD's still aren't openly available here in the Philippines. I'd say go for the 200 series cards, since they might have less heat due to the possible smaller process, and even if I haven't seen an SLI laptop I'd bet my palms on it that it might be hot already in there with two GPU's..

And perhaps grabbing a cooler or something might also help. (The perks of unlimited budget lol)

 

You might as well get a new M17 or something. It will be too much of a hassle to upgrade the processor and GPU as any 9800M or 200M SLI will be handicapped by the processor.