[RooneyX]

Apparently the new Radeon Mobility chips are upgradable modules and ATI wants to push upgradability because games and GPUs are progressing much faster than CPUs. Most people are happy having a 1 Gigahertz computer as long as the graphics card can handle games for at least another two years.

But which laptop manufacturers are going to allow buyers to upgrade the GPUs? The new Alubooks are completely sealed off so definitely not Apple.

[Luca Rescigno]

Well, Dell already offers GPU upgrades. You can upgrade the GeForce 2 Go in an older Inspiron 8xxx to a GeForce 4 Go by just removing a few screws.

[chabig]

I don't think any well designed compact full-featured notebook computer is going to have an upgradeable chip. I don't think the engineering tradeoffs and extra expense are justified.

Chris

[RooneyX]

Originally posted by chabig:
I don't think any well designed compact full-featured notebook computer is going to have an upgradeable chip. I don't think the engineering tradeoffs and extra expense are justified.

Chris

They could with the next generation of PCMCIA which is based on PCI Express. Imagine slot in cards (just the GPU and the RAM on them, the VGA/DVI connector on your laptop remains the same and is bridged to the card).

[bauhaus]

See Margi PC cards or the IBM 770Z for what you're talking about (it's been done before to a degree.) All in all, it could be done again...