Upgrading notebook

I recently went to the store and bought "Delta Force: Black Hawk Down". I installed the game and everything seemed to run smoothly. That is until I actually tried to play it. When I logged onto the server to play online my game would crash within 5 seconds. I went through this 4 or 5 times, thinking it was just the connection. I then tried to play the game offline, going through the quest. I did ok, for just a couple seconds, but as soon as action started my computer dragged so slow it almost crashed. I went online to check things out and I found that on my particular notebook I may have 512 megs of RAM, but the notebook dedicates a certain amount to video and the rest is used to run all the programs. In other words, I may have 512 megs of RAM but I was only using like 400 at at time. I went in and changed the setting to use more RAM in my D: drive since that drive has the most memory in it. Everything works, but my computer still lags really bad when things start happening on screen. Now, my question is this: should I buy a new laptop (I'm thinking of getting one from Alienware or another game oriented manufacturer) or should I attempt to upgrade the one I have now? If I try to upgrade what I have now, I will need to install everything myself, which is easier said than done. I've put a computer together right out of the box, but installing RAM and a new video card is something I have yet to tackle. I found a few notebooks online I was interested in. One is the Area-51 m5700 and another is Acer - TravelMate 8104WLMi. I appreciate anything you guys can help me with. I don't care about the cost much, as long as it's less than $3000 USD. Thanks!

if youre thinking of upgrading the video card on your laptop....you cant, its embedded to the motherboard. Youre basically stuck with it since im pretty sure you cant add a video card to it like a PC.

the ram part is easy, a little hatch underneath and usually 2 slots and replace the RAM..easy.

if you want to play games, get another laptop i think..one that has a video card installed separate from the motherboard, thats about all i could help you with....dunno much else myself

I appreciate the input. I am still not completely sure if my video card is bad or if it's just the lack of RAM. I don't really want to go out and spend a couple hundred dollars on RAM to find out it was my video card. I'll take your advise and go buy a notebook built for games, since gaming and music is what I generally use this thing for anyway. That, and the fiances college homework.

Honestly, for a descent gaming computer from AlienWare, you're gonna spend way over 3G's. A buddy of mine recently bought one from them a few months back, he sent them a damn check for $6200 USD. Fucking amazing.

There aint no way I could spend that much on a damn computer.

Quote:

Originally posted by anemarules

I appreciate the input. I am still not completely sure if my video card is bad or if it's just the lack of RAM. I don't really want to go out and spend a couple hundred dollars on RAM to find out it was my video card. I'll take your advise and go buy a notebook built for games, since gaming and music is what I generally use this thing for anyway. That, and the fiances college homework.

since youre sharing RAM between programs and the video card, the video card would be inbuilt into the motherboard, and i doubt theres anything wrong with it. Try and download the latest drivers for it. Getting extra memory cant do it harm....extra RAM is always good..but dont take my word for it. Send Kanzen a PM..he should know more and be able to help you..

im a novice myself

lesson; laptops are never and i repeat never meant to game on buys a tower with a good gfx card

Hellcat speaks the truth. The majority of laptops are designed for work, not play.

Laptops by design are horrible choices for any real gamer.

- Very limited upgrade paths
- Very slow and small hard drives
- Very slow Integrated GPUs

In terms of hardware effects on a laptop it follows this order.

- Hard drive speed: 4200 and 5400rpm don't cut it
- GPU: Mobile GPUs are about half the power of their desktop cousins.
- RAM: 512MB is the bare minimum. 1GB for gaming minimum.

GPUs on SOME notebooks are upgradeable. But you have four major concerns with doing so.

1. Not all notebooks have upgradeable GPUs, these are the intergrated gpus.
2. Size constraints. Some notebook GPUs just won't fit in all laptops. ESPECIALLY the smaller/thinner notebooks.
3. Heat constraints. A laptop with a GPU too hot for it, is like having a rock to play with.
4. Stuck with sides. Nvidia has the NV and ATI has the AXIOM. Neither are comptabile with each other.

Anyways. If you really want to game, go with a tower. But if you're dead set on a real laptop gaming machine you are going to have to spend from 3,000 to almost 6,000.

VoodooPC and Falcon Northwest are the absolute boutique gaming rig builders. I can't say the same for Alienware now.

Master Kanzen speaks the truth!

If u want to play games u can get a desktop for a few hundred thatll run (games) as smooth as ur latest laptop...

kinda stuck with laptops for work and travelling... not even the latest laptops can hack the high game requirements... RAM u can upgrade, CPU if u buy the latest u can crawlt through a game, but video cards are way to shitty on laptop to really enjoy a recent game...

Quote:

Originally posted by Gigolo

Master Kanzen speaks the truth!

If u want to play games u can get a desktop for a few hundred thatll run (games) as smooth as ur latest laptop...

kinda stuck with laptops for work and travelling... not even the latest laptops can hack the high game requirements... RAM u can upgrade, CPU if u buy the latest u can crawlt through a game, but video cards are way to shitty on laptop to really enjoy a recent game...

AND REMEMBER
You buy a laptop for games, and it'll be great - for about six months. Then some new gaming technology will emerge, you'll want more ram, a faster CPU and quicker graphics - and you're screwed! Stick to desktops for gaming.

Just thought I'd give an update about my progress. I ended up getting a Gateway GM5702. It has 320 gigs of ram, a GeForce6200 video card, 2 gigs of ram, dvd burner and dvd player, and 5 usb ports. I bought a 5.1 sound system for it. I also got a Canon scanner/printer and an optical laser mouse. I bought Call Of Duty 2 with it and that game kicks ass! Also, with my sound system I have a remote that is pretty much a tv/dvd/movie/whatever else I can throw at it type controller. I payed around $1633 for the whole thing. Thank you all for the directions and input, it really helped as I am completely happy with my computer.