External Graphics card for laptop

[Tanner The Monotone]

I have purchased a new laptop, a dell insprion 5720. I realized now, after doing some research, that I made a mistake not spending the extra money on a gaming computer. It apparently has an integrated graphics card and the only way to upgrade my laptop would be to replace the motherboard along with the graphics card.

Now, I've been doing some research and I have heard about External graphic cards. The only problem is that any sigh that has any information on them goes into great detail, using terms and numbers that I don't know.

Is there anyone here that knows anything about them and could help me understand it. Could anyone point me in the direction of a sight that explains it in lamens terms?

 

[SnowyGamester]

Sorry to say that, while such things exist, they will be connected via USB or firewire and are generally just for displaying an additional desktop or something. I don't think you'll find anything with any power behind it, certainly nothing you'll be able to play games with. Ultimately there isn't anything you can do without getting another laptop.

 

[Tanner The Monotone]

Sorry to say that, while such things exist, they will be connected via USB or firewire and are generally just for displaying an additional desktop or something. I don't think you'll find anything with any power behind it, certainly nothing you'll be able to play games with. Ultimately there isn't anything you can do without getting another laptop.

Not quite.

While its damned expensive there is one fairly decent option available; assuming you have the cash desire to get an external GPU and your laptop supports PCIe graphics cards via an ExpressCard slot.

You'd need a ViDock 4 Plus (Assuming your going for a higher spec card.)
http://www.villageinstruments.com/tiki-index.php?page=ViDock

Thats $280 plus your graphics card.

You've gotta really want it.

If I just want to replace the motherboard with another one with a better graphics card attached to it, would that be cheaper than buying a new laptop?

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

You'd be better just buying another laptop if your considering replacing the motherboard.
Even the external graphics card would probably work out cheaper.

This is assuming it's even possible at all; which there's a high likelihood it isn't.

Yeah, as you said, beyond RAM and HDD most laptops have non-existant upgrade paths. Even if you, say for example, grabbed the mobo from a higher level model of the same series as a laptop you'd like the upgrade there's no guarantee it will fit in the case nor that all the mounting screws will line up or that any of the components will fit inside the case once plugged in to the mobo (assuming we're not dealing with models where everything is soldered in place anyway, which many of them are). A big part of the problem stems from laptop motherboards not have a standard form factor.

Also, as you mention, laptop components are extremely expensive when compared to desktop components... and that's assuming you can even find somewhere to buy the hardware in the first place. That's because there's almost no upgrade market to support a larger scale operation and because, to be honest, laptops are not designed to be repaired past their warranty. If you're not a computer tech with access to a wholesale supplier that carries laptop parts you're probably going to end up having to source your parts from shady chinese companies on eBay.

The upside is that given the involved expense of repair/upgrade compared to just taking the laptop out behind the shed with a shotgun Ol' Yeller style and buying a new laptop, less people bug you about fixing their laptops, which is great because no sane person likes working on the fiddly little fucks.