Is it possible to replace GT 640m with 840m or better

[Deleted]

If it is, how and where might I find a card like that for sale? If not, can you explain why? Im aware that it would require me to disassemble the laptop.

Oh and btw, would the 640m be able to run WoD full HD at 30fps or higher? (at least on medium settings)?

[Deleted]

The chip is likely soldered to the board. Some laptops use a drop in card instead but this isn't common.

That's not very encouraging..

So basically if I want a better card, I have to buy a new laptop?

[Soisoisoi]

As is the way with most laptops. You can't upgrade nearly as easily as with a desktop.

[Arbiter]

That's not very encouraging..

So basically if I want a better card, I have to buy a new laptop?

Majority of the reason we don't game on laptops nor ever recommend them. Other reason being that they just aren't very powerful to begin with.

But yes, if you want a new card you need a new laptop. If you're going to buy a laptop again, I suggest grabbing a fairly large budget so that it can at least last you for a decent amount of time.

EDIT: I have a friend in the marines so he lives in the barracks. Been serving for almost 5 years and he's already went through 2 $2000 laptops because of how fast the technology becomes underpowered. He was so insistent on not having enough space in his room for a desktop, but I'm pretty sure when he gets back from deployment hes going to have me build him a desktop so that the laptops are no longer an issue. You should probably do the same if your purpose is gaming.

[Deleted]

Majority of the reason we don't game on laptops nor ever recommend them. Other reason being that they just aren't very powerful to begin with.

But yes, if you want a new card you need a new laptop. If you're going to buy a laptop again, I suggest grabbing a fairly large budget so that it can at least last you for a decent amount of time.

I know, it's just that I need a laptop for college anyway and upgrading/replacing a desktop and a laptop can get expensive. So far I've opted for an expensive desktop and a budget(y) laptop but I still don't want to replace it every year if I also want to play WoW and maybe some other games on it.

[Arbiter]

I know, it's just that I need a laptop for college anyway and upgrading/replacing a desktop and a laptop can get expensive. So far I've opted for an expensive desktop and a budget(y) laptop but I still don't want to replace it every year if I also want to play WoW and maybe some other games on it.

Unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world.

If your college work only requires basic tasks then I'm sure your current laptop would work just fine for probably the rest of your school years since you apparently game on it as it. I only see you needing to ever upgrade the desktop, and depending on your budget you probably wouldn't need to do for a good while and when you do, it's upgrades not a brand new computer.

And if you had both while using the laptop for school, why would you want to play on the laptop when you have a better computer sitting in your home? No reason to be playing games during class.

It comes down to this. You don't have a choice to upgrade the laptop (9 times out of 10) so you're only choice is to either buy a new one or buy a desktop and continue using that laptop for school. The desktop now would solve the problem of having this same issue when the new laptop becomes outdated.

What model laptop is it?

[Vermicious]

As prior responses have stated, laptops are not very upgradeable. RAM and HDD being the exceptions.

Installing an SSD in an older laptop can make it seem like new again, although that won't do much for graphics, other than let things load quicker in some cases.

[Deleted]

Unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world.

If your college work only requires basic tasks then I'm sure your current laptop would work just fine for probably the rest of your school years since you apparently game on it as it. I only see you needing to ever upgrade the desktop, and depending on your budget you probably wouldn't need to do for a good while and when you do, it's upgrades not a brand new computer.

And if you had both while using the laptop for school, why would you want to play on the laptop when you have a better computer sitting in your home? No reason to be playing games during class.

It comes down to this. You don't have a choice to upgrade the laptop (9 times out of 10) so you're only choice is to either buy a new one or buy a desktop and continue using that laptop for school. The desktop now would solve the problem of having this same issue when the new laptop becomes outdated.

What model laptop is it?

Well, there are a lot of boring lectures that require attendance And I spend most weekdays in the dorm so can't exactly drag the huge bulky desktop along with me.
It's Acer V3- something. I5-3210m, 1920*1080 IPS screen etc.

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As prior responses have stated, laptops are not very upgradeable. RAM and HDD being the exceptions.

Installing an SSD in an older laptop can make it seem like new again, although that won't do much for graphics, other than let things load quicker in some cases.

Yeah I was planning on replacing the optical drive on it with a SSD when I buy a new one for my desktop.

[Vermicious]

Yeah I was planning on replacing the optical drive on it with a SSD when I buy a new one for my desktop.

A better idea is to replace the existing HDD with the SSD, and buy an external USB case for the old HDD to use as backup storage

The external case is also handy for imaging the old HDD to new SSD, making the swap a lot quicker

[Masark]

That's not very encouraging..

So basically if I want a better card, I have to buy a new laptop?

Basically, yeah.

Some laptops (Most machines built on Clevo chassis (e.g. Sager, Eurocom, etc.), for instance) use MXM (Mobile PCI Express Module) for their graphics, allowing them to be upgraded, but they're the exception. Said modules are also quite expensive and not many places sell them. An 860m module is $425, an 870m will run you $700, and an 880m is $970, making that upgrade capability of debatable value, as the cost of the module would go quite a ways towards buying a whole new laptop.