Hi, I've got a Gateway notebook computer with a 700 MHz celeron processor (not sure it really matters), but of course the laptop and video card on it suck. My question is: Can you put a new video and/or sound card on a laptop computer? How much would it cost? Any help would be appreciated. If there are any websites that might help, please post them.
On the newer ones, you can....sorta....but on a laptop as "old" as yours, the best you can hope for is more RAM.
That's the biggest problem with laptops -- very few upgrades available. You're stuck with what you've got as far as video card and sound card are concerned.
Second what Vengeance says.. On Laptops, the only upgrades you can perform are RAM, HD and different types of CD/DVD/RW if you have a bay that allows that sort of thing.. Sorry..
grrr. Oh well, maybe I can sell the thing eventually and save up some money for a new laptop that comes with a good sound card and video card. Thanks for the help.
That's true!! I completely forgot about that. Specifically, the <a href="http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=&submit=Go&description=extigy">Creative Extigy</a> is a USB soundcard. It's pretty expensive though. The reviews on newegg are pretty good, but I've read some other reviews that aren't as impressed with it though. Specifically they talk about the sound being "slow" because of the USB connection, and that it puts extra load on the CPU. I couldn't say who is right on these, as I've never used one before . . .
Are those using the USB 2 connections, or the old 1.1 ones? I think the old ones would not have the effective bandwidth to be really good..maybe if they use 2....I would have to see some good reviews from some testing labs before I would consider those a good option.. I guess what I mean is that I reserve judgement till I have more information..
It's a USB 1.1 part. Perhaps they'll release a USB 2.0 version sometime though . . . The thing is, it's not really the speed of USB that's the big downfall, but its reliance on CPU power, so if your CPU is under a high load, you're more likely to have sound cracking and distortion. Having a USB 2.0 version would probably help a small amount though.
I don't want super high quality sound, I'm just interested in getting rid of some of that popping/crackling sound that you get off of the laptop soundcard when you are running a program...
