not my day
May. 24th, 2006 19:40![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
piranhathe graphics card on my laptop just tanked. damn. if it can be replaced (if it's not integrated; i am not sure) it's probably not worth doing so, because the laptop is nearing its useful life for me anyway; too slow by far to run any of my high-end graphics software well enough to actually do work without waiting around a lot. i had glanced casually at desktops when we were last at future shop to buy a mouse, and had been pleased by how much oomph one can get for one's bucks, but this is lousy timing, because the money from the last contract hasn't come in yet, and might not come in for another 2.5 months if they drag their feet. *gnarg*.
and wow, i can't remember my IM settings. there is a drawback to never typing in one's handles and passwords after the initial setup because they're handily stored by trillian. and the laptop is firewalled tight against anyone incoming. good going, *snrk*.
i guess we might be buying the paramour's new double-processor system sooner than expected, so i can take over mjollnir.
and wow, i can't remember my IM settings. there is a drawback to never typing in one's handles and passwords after the initial setup because they're handily stored by trillian. and the laptop is firewalled tight against anyone incoming. good going, *snrk*.
i guess we might be buying the paramour's new double-processor system sooner than expected, so i can take over mjollnir.
no subject
on 2006-05-25 05:36 (UTC)or is that a windows box?
no subject
on 2006-05-25 07:04 (UTC)yes, it's a windows box, but that's not really relevant. once upon a time i ran an ssh daemon on it, but later on i locked everything down because of travelling to strange and potentially hostile networks.
i'll just grab the hard drive once i got myself an adapter. *peeve*. i'd love buying new hardware, really, but not with cash flow problems.
no subject
on 2006-05-25 10:35 (UTC)no subject
on 2006-05-25 15:56 (UTC)no subject
on 2006-05-25 17:07 (UTC)laptop video upgrade
on 2006-05-25 19:05 (UTC)for the most part we're not talking about actual cards, but about a chipset on the motherboard, and that chipset was not made to be replaced at all. at best the chipset will be a separate module piggybacking on the MB. integrated graphics can't be upgraded at all. if it's a module, you might be able to upgrade it yourself if the laptop is of relatively recent issue, and you're really good with that sort of thing (laptop internals are horrible compared to desktops), but you'd have to be able to get ahold of a fitting upgrade model -- and i don't remember seeing anything like it available for endusers, like at fry's (but that's been a couple of years, maybe it has changed).
some laptop producers will probably upgrade it for you (if it's a module), but that'll cost, and it might not be worth it, depending on how old the laptop is. they do fail a lot faster than desktops. i think i've seen dell offer video upgrades.
the newer laptops have some form of microAGP cards which look like they might be semi-standardized, as in, you can replace one nvidia module with another one, or one ATI module with another one (but not an nvidia with an ati one). and there is something really new called MXM, which might be the first real standard trying to push its way through, but i don't think we're quite there yet.
in short, i am afraid, most laptops can't have their video upgraded. if you buy one now, you can pick one that touts its upgradeability, but i don't think you'll know for sure for another couple of years whether it can be done safely (newer cards might produce more heat, and in a laptop, that sort of thing is deadly). i'd check the major geek gaming sites for info, since those are the people at the cutting edge.
Re: laptop video upgrade
on 2006-05-25 19:58 (UTC)Re: laptop video upgrade
on 2006-05-25 20:21 (UTC)Re: laptop video upgrade
on 2006-05-25 20:24 (UTC)