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How do I tell if a laptop can use dedicated graphics cards?

I'm looking to buy a laptop, and I want to buy one with a ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics card. How do I know if my laptop can take graphics cards and that it doesn't have an integrated card that I can't upgrade? Okay, so what would be a good laptop to get if I wanted to play--let's say atleast Half-Life 2. Like I'm looking for a decent graphics card...not too high end, but not low end either. What most people would get.

Public Comments

  1. Just buy one with the graphics card installed in the first place. Trying to install a graphics card in a laptop would be a pain.
  2. look at the manufacturer's specs. upgrading the graphics of a laptop is most of the time not possible.
  3. I've never heard of a laptop, which will allow you to install a graphics card. I might be wrong, of course.
  4. Look for any laptop that you can configure at least an NVidia 8400GS. Should be enough to play Half Life 2 at decent settings, plus it's DirectX10 capable so you will be able to run future games. Here are some computers that feature the 8400 card: Dell Inspiron 1420 Asus A8 Dell XPS 1330 HP dv6500 and many more Also, here is a comparison of all cards in the market. You should probably aim for the 'Mid-range' or 'Performance' graphic cards, so if you see any of those cards on a laptop you like, that's the one to pick: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=39568 And yes, sadly, once you build a laptop with x graphic card, it can't be upgraded.
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