Upgrading (not replacing) my laptop

[ImaginarySoldier]

I have an ASUS UL30VT

4 GB RAM DDR3
Core 2 Duo SU7300
Switchable graphics (Intel & Nvidia G210M)

It's a great laptop but it's also 3 years old.

The main reason i wanted to upgrade was because of all the upcoming games.
Assassins Creed III
Dishonored
Skyrim
and more...
My computer struggled to play the last AC Revelations (Gameplay was tolerable but the cutscene's video would lag behind the audio, by heaps)

I don;t have enough money to buy a new laptop, and definitely not anything with decent gaming potential in the same form factor.

What I was planning on doing was upgrading the internals.
Eg. I wanted to upgrade to a 500GB SSD when i upgrade to Windows 8 but that's not a big problem, neither is upgrading the RAM.

I want to upgrade the graphics card to an Nvidia 600M series
Also the CPU to an i7 (3rd Gen)
to do all that I'll need to upgrade the motherboard though

I can't seem to find any of this stuff on the net so I can get an estimate.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thx in advance!

 

[jonathan_569]

sadly all you can upgrade is the RAM and the HDD to SSD..

All other internals will require you to buy a new laptop..

 

[bignastyid]

Sorry man but that upgrades not going to happen. You can't upgrade a laptop like you can a desktop.

 

[jasont78]

would be cheaper to buy new than even think about updating. sorry

 

[ImaginarySoldier]

Yeah, I had a feeling when i couldn't find anything.

Thx a lot, everyone!

Do you know any laptops I could upgrade to? Maybe I'll try saving up.
It has to be at least lighter or thinner than my current laptop and needs dedicated graphics.

 

[jasont78]

Yeah, I had a feeling when i couldn't find anything.

Thx a lot, Jonathan!

Do you know any laptops I could upgrade to? Maybe I'll try saving up.
It has to be at least lighter or thinner than my current laptop and needs dedicated graphics.

its an imaginary laptop, imaginary soldier. unfortunately outside of ram and hdd realistically its cheaper and easier to replace. if you want gaming maybe look at a 'higher end' amd trinity based laptop as they have built in raedon graphics onchip (this is not an upgrade option its looking for a balanced system for gaming)

 

[ImaginarySoldier]

Best answer selected by ImaginarySoldier.

 

[jasont78]

i know you want a laptop but have u considered maybe a micro atx/mini itx system they can get pretty damn small and powerful these days. this way you have some portability if need be, obviously not anywhere anytime but battery life is gonna be terrible anyways playing games flat out, and you also retain your upgradability and it will be seriously cheaper to get similar performance, just a thought

 

[jonathan_569]

The cheapest laptop that could fit in your budget and requirements would be AMD trinity.. maybe something with an A8 or an A10.. not so familiar about AMD anymore.. but the dedicated GPU that they have is powerful enough to run your games but not in high settings though.. take a pick on any asus Trinity based laptop..

 

[ImaginarySoldier]

I was looking for something that's also light, and not too big.

What do you think of the Asus UX32VD?

http/www.cnet.com/laptops/asus-zenbook-ux32vd/4505-3121_7-35307495.html

has an Nvidia GT610M (i have the 210M)

Seems pretty decent. Out of my price range but if it lasts me another 3 years while being able to play mid-range games i'll be more than willing to work something out.

 

[jonathan_569]

hmmm the asus Zenbook series is really sleek and sexy.. but the internals are all ultrabook specifications.. so more likely intel HD Graphics, but the UX32VD has a GT620M? i think it will do, but dont push your luck, in a year or so that GPU will be really slow, based from research, i think that is a rebadged GT525M and i think the GT525M is also a rebadge.. well it's up to you...

How much is your budget?

 

[ImaginarySoldier]

Yeah, I've checked. It has a 1.7 Ghz i7
my current laptop has a 1.3 Ghz Core 2 Duo

I was thinking $700-$800 but after seeing what's out there and what I want I don't think that's cut it.

At the moment, I'm pretty sure I can still play games better than any Intel Graphics in the market (which is all that's available in the price range) so maybe I'll try and stick with my UL30, for now until the price drops or some new gaming ultrabooks crop up.

I have my fingers crossed for cloud-based gaming It'll solve all of these problems.

 

[jonathan_569]

if you want your laptop to gain a bit more speed why not try to upgrade your HDD to an SSD, it will actually be on par or perhaps even better than any stock 700-800$ laptop in the market.. actually ultrabooks specs are meant to run on intel's HD graphics, since it can handle most games at relatively low settings but that's IMO.

 

[jasont78]

if you want your laptop to gain a bit more speed why not try to upgrade your HDD to an SSD, it will actually be on par or perhaps even better than any stock 700-800$ laptop in the market.. actually ultrabooks specs are meant to run on intel's HD graphics, since it can handle most games at relatively low settings but that's IMO.

a ssd will hardly help the game once its loaded but yes it will make the sys as a whole snappier

 

[ImaginarySoldier]

So, you're saying that upgrading my SSD won't really help game performance but it'll increase system stuff like:

boot time
file transfer
program loading

I'm looking at this 512 GB Crucial SDD

http/www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004W2JL3Y/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=vgamereviews-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004W2JL3Y

Well within my current budget and it's really easy to replace my laptop's hard drive, there's a few videos on youtube. What do you think, is it worth it?

I'm not sure if this will affect the games but recently my C: has been in the red zone (I have a partitioned 500 GB HDD (C: 116 GB, D: 334 GB)

So I've been installing the games in my D:. Would that make the games run less efficiently and I understand a cluttered C: makes the system run slower but would it greatly affect gaming?

If that's the problem maybe all I really need to do is clean up a bit (probably when i make the Windows 8 upgrade)

 

[jasont78]

if you install a ssd it will make it boot, load programs in general make everything snappier, but in saying that outside of loading your level/loading the game it will not give you any real increase in frames per second. also when was the last time you did a clean install on it (has it ever had a clean install, thats not with a oem boot cd filled with bloatware) if its been a while your lappy will run alot better too. if your primary reason for upgrade is game performance, save your cash till you have enough to buy the lappy you need. a 512gb ssd isnt cheap save that money,sell your current laptop and your probably only a couple hundred off a laptop with playable graphics. the partition thing wont slow your system, its good practice to do have your os and programs on primary partition and files on the other so you can format your c drive without having to backup to a portable hdd