Upgrading Gaming Laptops

[James Fullard]

Please humor me folks, I am not a pro at this sort of stuff. My questions may seem silly but they are questions I do not know. I am aware laptops have not been where you can upgrade them, like upgrading video cards and such. Are there laptops where you can upgrade them over time to keep them current with the times?

I am a gamer, so I am always keeping my desktop up with the current times. When something new releases (I usually wait a short bit till the price comes down a little) I interchange my old component with the newer one.

Let me just ask it like this - I want to have a Laptop where over time I can keep my graphics card up to par, interchange to newer processors over time etc etc etc to keep my gaming laptop "current" Sucks several years ago I spent $3,000 on a "nice" gaming laptop, but overtime the graphics card became too small to run the current high end games. All that money wasted, but with my desktop I am constantly interchanging to new components to keep up with the times, I really would rathewr do that with a laptop where I can take it places and such. Have we reached the point in laptops where I can interchange my components to keep up with the times?

 

[superninja12]

no we have passed that point because it would break the warranty.

 

[Rogue Leader]

There are laptops that are somewhat upgrade-able. Boutique gaming laptops like Sager tend to have GPUs that can be replaced which use mobile PCIe. Upgrading the processor is trickier, as usually you're buying the best one for the socket in that gaming laptop, so there literally won't be a better processor you can upgrade too without replacing the whole motherboard (and in that case the whole laptop).

In short what you want is possible, but way more limited than you are hoping.

 

[James Fullard]

There are laptops that are somewhat upgrade-able. Boutique gaming laptops like Sager tend to have GPUs that can be replaced which use mobile PCIe. Upgrading the processor is trickier, as usually you're buying the best one for the socket in that gaming laptop, so there literally won't be a better processor you can upgrade too without replacing the whole motherboard (and in that case the whole laptop).

In short what you want is possible, but way more limited than you are hoping.

Well, if I buy an top of the line Laptop machine, the processor should be fine for a long while and if I may the RAM at purchase that will be good as wwell, I think the primary thing I need to upgrade on a laptop over time is the video card. Are there Laptops that can upgrade cards over time?

I think thats the main thing on my laptop now that never gets used, is my GFX card is behind the times, it will not run the high end games, everything else is fine. It already has a high end I7 CPU and 32gig RAM, but runs a card thats a little behind the times. I think if I could change the card I would be fine so thats why I asked this question here. I want a laptop but hate buying one and wasting money in the end because it falls behind.

 

[Dooop805]

http/www.eluktronics.com/w650kk1 wont help with the gpu, but you can run desktop cpus...

 

[Rogue Leader]

There are laptops that are somewhat upgrade-able. Boutique gaming laptops like Sager tend to have GPUs that can be replaced which use mobile PCIe. Upgrading the processor is trickier, as usually you're buying the best one for the socket in that gaming laptop, so there literally won't be a better processor you can upgrade too without replacing the whole motherboard (and in that case the whole laptop).

In short what you want is possible, but way more limited than you are hoping.

Well, if I buy an top of the line Laptop machine, the processor should be fine for a long while and if I may the RAM at purchase that will be good as wwell, I think the primary thing I need to upgrade on a laptop over time is the video card. Are there Laptops that can upgrade cards over time?

I think thats the main thing on my laptop now that never gets used, is my GFX card is behind the times, it will not run the high end games, everything else is fine. It already has a high end I7 CPU and 32gig RAM, but runs a card thats a little behind the times. I think if I could change the card I would be fine so thats why I asked this question here. I want a laptop but hate buying one and wasting money in the end because it falls behind.

As I said, boutique builders use mobile PCIe, so unless the standard changes you should be able to replace the GPU in them. Check out Sager. MSI and Gigabyte laptops also use a similar setup.

 

[TMTOWTSAC]

The other option is a laptop with Thunderbolt 3 that supports external GPU's. There are still trade offs. A bit of processing overhead, and high end GPU's can still saturate the bus depending on the resolution and refresh rates and texture sizes. The better versions sell a dock that can accept almost any aftermarket GPU, others have limitations on the physical dimensions of the card. And it's another peripheral to lug around that will require its own power outlet.

 

[Rogue Leader]

The other option is a laptop with Thunderbolt 3 that supports external GPU's. There are still trade offs. A bit of processing overhead, and high end GPU's can still saturate the bus depending on the resolution and refresh rates and texture sizes. The better versions sell a dock that can accept almost any aftermarket GPU, others have limitations on the physical dimensions of the card. And it's another peripheral to lug around that will require its own power outlet.

Kind of defeats the purpose of being a laptop IMO. Thats why I never reccomend.

 

[boosted1g]

Reality of the matter is you can buy 2 top end laptops for the price of a highly upgradeable boutique laptop (like clevo).

Sure you can upgrade the GPU, and CPU with one that conforms to the same socket.
However in 3 years when you feel like the CPU is sluggish you wont be able to upgrade to that year's cpu because it will be a new socket
Nor can you add ports or new features to the board that the new computers have