Laptop help

[Too_Tall]

So currently I have a Sony Viao laptop which I purchased about a year ago for just under a grand. The specs are pretty out of date:

4GB of ram
2.20GHz intel core duo processor
290gb HDD 7200 RPM
ATI radeon HD 4570 680MHz 512mb

The really problem is the graphics card its not meant for gaming and the processor is a bit on the slow end. I am a desktop guy so I know little about laptops so my question is first off can you change the components in a laptop and if so would it be worth it to buy a new one or just replace the graphics card and CPU? I currently am a full time college student and my funds are limited because I only make 376 dollars a month due to disability so its possible for me to save up but it takes a lot of time. That being said I have more need for a laptop then a desktop at the moment but its becoming harder and harder to play games due to FPS drops and graphic issues even on the lowest settings. Still either way I need a new computer or new components to continue to game. Any words of advice?

 

[Snipeye]

1) It's always possible to change out parts of a laptop. Is it easy? No. Is it time consuming? Yes. Will it go faster the more experienced and practice you get doing it? Of course!

2) RAM and the hard drives are the easiest components to pull out of a laptop and replace. The CPU and graphics card are harder, as you have additional screws and parts to take out to get access to them. And with GPUs, you gotta remember the size and power requirements play a bigger role in deciding what you can use in the laptop.

I don't have much experience on pulling out CPUs or GPUs on laptops, so I'll leave that for someone to comment on that has that experience. Personally, I try to keep my gaming on a desktop, and focus on work/multimedia on the laptop. Either that, or I try to plan ahead for obsolescence when purchasing the laptop (aiming for 3-5 years of use).

 

[Logic Overflow]

Snipeye pretty much hit it dead on. You can easily upgrade the RAM and HD on laptops. As for the CPU & Graphics card, it really does take an experienced person to do it well. Additionally, most laptops have the graphics card integrated on the motherboard, which means you'd have to replace the entire motherboard. If you have to even deal with that, you're better off getting a new computer.

The video card you have, is that dedicated or shared RAM? That alone makes a good difference. What OS are you running?

 

[Too_Tall]

Windows 7 not sure if its shared or dedicated. And yea was pretty sure I was going to have to get a new laptop but the price on them spikes when you go from standard to gaming by a few hundred dollars(more so if you want a good gaming laptop).

 

[Snipeye]

Check out slickdeals.net, logicbuy.com, and dealigg.com. They'll have discount and promo codes for laptops from time to time, and you can find a $1500 gaming laptop being sold with a discount and a promo code for about $1000. There's a thread I made, looking to get a laptop, and I saved about $500 with the use of a $230 promo code on top of the manufacturer's discount.

 

[Krumlov]

I'll comment on replacing CPU and GPU. The CPU is a hard thing to replace. You have to open up the whole laptop, remove the board which is blocking the CPU, then be able to put it all back together after you do the change.

For GPU, a lot of GPU's are soldered to the board in order to help heat distribution and avoid replacement. (I work on computers daily, but not as many new ones so I may be wrong with the higher end laptops)

You are looking at about 10 man hours pulling apart and putting back together the laptop, as well as parts. AND if you aren't familiar with the innards of the laptop things will get crazy.

I recommend replacement. Like today on woot.com the deal is last seasons dv7. 4GM RAM, ATI GPU, triple core processor. http://www.woot.com/

 

[Too_Tall]

Thanks for the help guys looks like a new laptop it is time to save.

 

[Jubei]

I would buy a new laptop (as you have stated). The old machine does still have some value - either to sell 3rd party (craigslist) or to use as a media PC or something similar.

Or hell, use the laptop for school and build a desktop for gaming.