How much do these GPU's cost nowadays?

[dothackjhe]

I would like to ask how much would a NVIDIA GeForce GTS 300M or an NVIDIA GT 400M costs as of today? Depending on the price, I might consider adding a dedicated video card for my laptop as an average gamer that's why I ask. If cheaper, I might consider going with the generic ones. .

 

[RST101]

Sorry to inform you but upgrading your laptops gpu will be nigh on impossible, I'm afraid your basically stuck with what you've got.

Desktops are the way to go for gaming.

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

Its 99.99999% impossible to install any graphics on a laptop......Laptops are non-standard + usually there is no empty spaces inside....

 

[stormy13]

Even less chance if it is the Acer in your specs, as the GPU is integrated into the CPU and I doubt there is even a slot on the motherboard for a discrete GPU. You want to game on a laptop that is something you have to take into consideration when buying one, and make sure that it is up to it (going to cost big $$$).

Also unlike desktop cards, you can't just walk into any computer store and buy a laptop GPU for the reasons listed by the others above.

 

[Keiichi25]

As most of the guys stated here, unfortunately, there is no real good way to 'upgrade' a laptop's graphic adapter. Majority of the laptops are made with the method of compactness in mind. With that, most laptops only have access ports for Memory, Hard drive and media bay updates. Only replaceable parts on the laptop is the monitor, the keyboard and touch pad and the media bay drive. You can get USB to VGA adapters to expand your video option, however, they are also not designed for gaming, more for desktop expansion to a limited degree.

 

[dothackjhe]

Apparently, this laptop of mine fits the category of being not upgradable thus I'll have to stick with it as it is. Not that it isn't good though -- it is, but not for gaming definitely. Somebody from another thread also mentioned about most laptops as not being upgradable due to some factors, and I guess I had to stick with that fact. Thanks everyone for the info.

 

[Keiichi25]

To be honest, you also really don't want to look at a laptop for gaming. Mostly the cost, in the long run is just not worth it.

 

[dothackjhe]

To be honest, you also really don't want to look at a laptop for gaming. Mostly the cost, in the long run is just not worth it.

I see. Thanks for the info.

 

[smarteyeball]

To be honest, you also really don't want to look at a laptop for gaming. Mostly the cost, in the long run is just not worth it.

For most people, yes. They are expensive for what they are and the vast majority have a limited shelf life due to upgrade limitations.

But for a smaller percentage of more 'enthusiastic' users, the question of how long constitutes 'a long run' and is it worth trading better performance now that will last longer for mediocre performance out of the box?

Admittedly, for what I paid for my laptop I could have bought a Macbook Pro or a high end desktop (current desktop is good enough), but instead I opted for something I needed and that is essentially a portable desktop replacement.

17.3", 8GB, 2 drives+blu-ray and easily upgradeable CPU and GPU. With a few key upgrades, I could still have this laptop when others are already on to their third. Ultimately spending more money in the long run too may I point out

For me, it suits my needs now (I'm sitting in a hotel room, listening to music , browsing the web after watching some vids and playing some games at 1920x1080 with high details.) Much more preferable to using some of the laggy "browser/music only" laptops I've used in the past.



However I digress to reiterate that it's not for everyone. Initially expensive and quite heavy/cumbersome to carry around compared to a smaller 15"> 'normal' laptop. Battery life is a paltry ~2hrs with all power savings on. The power pack is also the size of a xbox 360 power pack...


If you have the means, and the need; go for it. otherwise, save the money and buy a good desktop, as mentioned above.

 

[dothackjhe]

To be honest, you also really don't want to look at a laptop for gaming. Mostly the cost, in the long run is just not worth it.

For most people, yes. They are expensive for what they are and the vast majority have a limited shelf life due to upgrade limitations.

But for a smaller percentage of more 'enthusiastic' users, the question of how long constitutes 'a long run' and is it worth trading better performance now that will last longer for mediocre performance out of the box?

Admittedly, for what I paid for my laptop I could have bought a Macbook Pro or a high end desktop (current desktop is good enough), but instead I opted for something I needed and that is essentially a portable desktop replacement.

17.3", 8GB, 2 drives+blu-ray and easily upgradeable CPU and GPU. With a few key upgrades, I could still have this laptop when others are already on to their third. Ultimately spending more money in the long run too may I point out

For me, it suits my needs now (I'm sitting in a hotel room, listening to music , browsing the web after watching some vids and playing some games at 1920x1080 with high details.) Much more preferable to using some of the laggy "browser/music only" laptops I've used in the past.



However I digress to reiterate that it's not for everyone. Initially expensive and quite heavy/cumbersome to carry around compared to a smaller 15"> 'normal' laptop. Battery life is a paltry ~2hrs with all power savings on. The power pack is also the size of a xbox 360 power pack...


If you have the means, and the need; go for it. otherwise, save the money and buy a good desktop, as mentioned above.

Thanks for the info.

 

[smarteyeball]

No worries mate. Each choice has it's own pros and cons. It's simply up to you to decide what's right for you and then take it from there.

 

[Keiichi25]

To be honest, you also really don't want to look at a laptop for gaming. Mostly the cost, in the long run is just not worth it.

For most people, yes. They are expensive for what they are and the vast majority have a limited shelf life due to upgrade limitations.

But for a smaller percentage of more 'enthusiastic' users, the question of how long constitutes 'a long run' and is it worth trading better performance now that will last longer for mediocre performance out of the box?

Admittedly, for what I paid for my laptop I could have bought a Macbook Pro or a high end desktop (current desktop is good enough), but instead I opted for something I needed and that is essentially a portable desktop replacement.

17.3", 8GB, 2 drives+blu-ray and easily upgradeable CPU and GPU. With a few key upgrades, I could still have this laptop when others are already on to their third. Ultimately spending more money in the long run too may I point out

For me, it suits my needs now (I'm sitting in a hotel room, listening to music , browsing the web after watching some vids and playing some games at 1920x1080 with high details.) Much more preferable to using some of the laggy "browser/music only" laptops I've used in the past.



However I digress to reiterate that it's not for everyone. Initially expensive and quite heavy/cumbersome to carry around compared to a smaller 15"> 'normal' laptop. Battery life is a paltry ~2hrs with all power savings on. The power pack is also the size of a xbox 360 power pack...


If you have the means, and the need; go for it. otherwise, save the money and buy a good desktop, as mentioned above.

What is constituted as 'long run' is basically the games it will be able to support. Given how things are progressing over time, especially if your desire is to have decent FPS, the thing that cuts into most games will be the Processor, Memory and Graphics card.

While you can still use the laptop for other things, such as videos, basic office use, and web browsing, the cost of the high performance hardware in a small chassis is a bit unnecessarily high IF YOU ARE ON A BUDGET. If you don't care, then it isn't really a problem.

I am more of the 'frugal' type, despite spending the money to get an Alienware computer myself (Mostly cause I wanted to replace my ailing Dell XPS 720 (Which was also a gaming computer) and lacked the time to really research the hardware), I only state that Gaming Laptops are not really worth the worry for long term gaming purposes due to the occasional need to put in a better card.

Gaming computers suffer the same problem, to a degree, although the limitations of monitor support, graphics changes, and expansion of drive space is less of an issue and in the long run, can be easier to deal with due to more user replaceable parts and hardware. You can eek out a bit more use out of a desktop.

As part of another thread I was in, someone wanted to upgrade his laptop graphics card, which is practically not possible. And to be honest, it is also a problem for some desktops as well when you look at integrated hardware some of the cheaper systems will be using, as they forgo things like having PCIe slots (Earlier, they forgoed the AGP slots for integrated video) due to the integrated hardware.

Also, it really depends on what you want to to. A desktop replacement laptop is also great, but I know some people would like to tinker with their system and have more space without having to tack on yet more hardware on. It is just a matter of preference, but again, unless you really need heavy duty computer that you can tote around at a whim, you are sacrificing some things for others, but as far as gaming is concern, you will have about 1 to 2 years of reasonable gaming out of it before the crunch of space and hardware limitations nip at you. (This is coming from a person who still plays Planetside, World of Warcraft, and the random First Person Shooters and watching the disk space requirements shooting up.)

 

[dothackjhe]

To be honest, you also really don't want to look at a laptop for gaming. Mostly the cost, in the long run is just not worth it.

For most people, yes. They are expensive for what they are and the vast majority have a limited shelf life due to upgrade limitations.

But for a smaller percentage of more 'enthusiastic' users, the question of how long constitutes 'a long run' and is it worth trading better performance now that will last longer for mediocre performance out of the box?

Admittedly, for what I paid for my laptop I could have bought a Macbook Pro or a high end desktop (current desktop is good enough), but instead I opted for something I needed and that is essentially a portable desktop replacement.

17.3", 8GB, 2 drives+blu-ray and easily upgradeable CPU and GPU. With a few key upgrades, I could still have this laptop when others are already on to their third. Ultimately spending more money in the long run too may I point out

For me, it suits my needs now (I'm sitting in a hotel room, listening to music , browsing the web after watching some vids and playing some games at 1920x1080 with high details.) Much more preferable to using some of the laggy "browser/music only" laptops I've used in the past.



However I digress to reiterate that it's not for everyone. Initially expensive and quite heavy/cumbersome to carry around compared to a smaller 15"> 'normal' laptop. Battery life is a paltry ~2hrs with all power savings on. The power pack is also the size of a xbox 360 power pack...


If you have the means, and the need; go for it. otherwise, save the money and buy a good desktop, as mentioned above.

What is constituted as 'long run' is basically the games it will be able to support. Given how things are progressing over time, especially if your desire is to have decent FPS, the thing that cuts into most games will be the Processor, Memory and Graphics card.

While you can still use the laptop for other things, such as videos, basic office use, and web browsing, the cost of the high performance hardware in a small chassis is a bit unnecessarily high IF YOU ARE ON A BUDGET. If you don't care, then it isn't really a problem.

I am more of the 'frugal' type, despite spending the money to get an Alienware computer myself (Mostly cause I wanted to replace my ailing Dell XPS 720 (Which was also a gaming computer) and lacked the time to really research the hardware), I only state that Gaming Laptops are not really worth the worry for long term gaming purposes due to the occasional need to put in a better card.

Gaming computers suffer the same problem, to a degree, although the limitations of monitor support, graphics changes, and expansion of drive space is less of an issue and in the long run, can be easier to deal with due to more user replaceable parts and hardware. You can eek out a bit more use out of a desktop.

As part of another thread I was in, someone wanted to upgrade his laptop graphics card, which is practically not possible. And to be honest, it is also a problem for some desktops as well when you look at integrated hardware some of the cheaper systems will be using, as they forgo things like having PCIe slots (Earlier, they forgoed the AGP slots for integrated video) due to the integrated hardware.

Also, it really depends on what you want to to. A desktop replacement laptop is also great, but I know some people would like to tinker with their system and have more space without having to tack on yet more hardware on. It is just a matter of preference, but again, unless you really need heavy duty computer that you can tote around at a whim, you are sacrificing some things for others, but as far as gaming is concern, you will have about 1 to 2 years of reasonable gaming out of it before the crunch of space and hardware limitations nip at you. (This is coming from a person who still plays Planetside, World of Warcraft, and the random First Person Shooters and watching the disk space requirements shooting up.)

I like this forum. I'm learning a lot from experienced people.

 

[smarteyeball]

What is constituted as 'long run' is basically the games it will be able to support. Given how things are progressing over time, especially if your desire is to have decent FPS, the thing that cuts into most games will be the Processor, Memory and Graphics card.

True. Particularly the GPU's which are largely underpowered to begin with.

While you can still use the laptop for other things, such as videos, basic office use, and web browsing, the cost of the high performance hardware in a small chassis is a bit unnecessarily high IF YOU ARE ON A BUDGET.

Question: Name three words that do not belong together in a sentence-

Answer: 'Gaming, budget and laptop'

If you don't care, then it isn't really a problem.

Oh I cared - I cared very much as my wallet haemorrhaged

But since I've had the 'pleasure' of using nothing but boggy ******* laptops in the past, I 'cared' not to repeat the problem

I rarely upgrade laptops and even if I don't upgrade a thing, I still have a good 1-2 years for high/medium option gaming followed by several more years of 'light' usage.

Barring component failure, and if I opt to not upgrade another thing, this machine could conceivably last 5+ years. When broken down, thats the same as buying a ~$500 laptop a year with the advantage of having better performance for longer. Swapping out parts isn't for everyone, but I personally like having the option.

The word budget has connotations of 'cheap outlay' and I certainly can't claim my purchase fits that category. However in the long run (on a different tangent ), an initial higher specced, higher priced laptop can end up being more 'budget effective' than a 'budget' machine.

Obviously not everyone can afford the outlay, because not everyone has a few spare grand to throw on a laptop. I agree there. But for those that do and are on the fence - it bares consideration.

I like this forum. I'm learning a lot from experienced people.

And with the many varied experience also comes many valid opinions and options. Since there is no true correct answer, pick and choose what suits your situation the best