Laptop GPU replacement -- Acer Aspire V5 (possible y/n?)

[thebaronjocelin]

Hi there TechSpot. Long time since I last posted, but I had a very specific question I'm not sure I could get answered elsewhere.

So, my lady friend has been doing all her computing on her Droid RAZR, which is kind of sad for me - as a long time system builder and power user - to watch. With Christmas coming up, her parents and I were going to buy her a laptop.

Now, I work at an electronics retailer and on Black Friday we started selling the Acer Aspire V5 for $399. I impulse bought it, figuring with a 1.7GHz Core i5 and 6 gigs of RAM, it was no weakling for a beginner. I've always fantasized about playing games with an SO cooperatively and I thought maybe, just maybe, this rig could manage 30FPS in simple games like Magicka or even (ambitiously) Left 4 Dead. But no such luck, despite the age of those games.

My question: given that it's got Intel HD4000 integrated graphics, it's doubtful the machine even has a PCIe port on the motherboard. But before I tear it apart to find out, I thought I might ask the wise minds of TechSpot. So, anybody have any idea if I can upgrade this sucker?

TL;DR: Bought a budget laptop for my girlfriend. Want to know if I can upgrade from integrated video on this particular model (an Acer V5-571).

 

[magaman598]

There's no way to upgrade a video card in a laptop unless it's something from ASUS, MSI, Alienware, (If you're lucky)

But even if you could, the upgrade would probably be anywhere from $200-$600+ maybe even more. Old 7900GTX Go cards are still fetching roughly $100 on Ebay

 

[klepto12]

No there is no way this can be done most laptops with replaceable gfx cards cost upwards of $1200 usd

 

[Jad Chaar]

Even if you could replace it like Magaman said, the labor would be also pretty great.

 

[TheDevopsGuy]

To just say the whole thing for them if ur going to be upgrading the graphics card dont even bother and buy a new laptop cause youll have enough cash for the same thing ul be doing

 

[TheDevopsGuy]

To just share this as probably many have tried this people always tend to go for the budget stuff now dont get me wrong usally people have to go in a budget especially nowadays as were in serious economic problems but infact in the Computers world going for a Cheap device will infact even cost you more because lets make an example

you bought an intel g620 maybe a radeon 7750 and some extra componments to the rig and it costed u aprox 500 $ but will only serve you for 1 year of gaming thats would already be 500$ spent and you will have to reupgrade and reupgrade the computer until it will reach your current task intented to run

While the person who actualy payed 1000$ and Bought an i7-3770k and a gtx 660 will be using that pc for 4years tops or more

what im really trying to say is that that laptop is good but its just not fit for gaming if you would of actually tried to consider abit more higher prices you would of found abit more variety of pcs with a dedicated graphics