Bought a laptop....waiting to arrive....quiestions about graphics

[mah300274]

Well I ordered this laptop (steal for $400) and I have a few questions.... specs below and so are the questions....

Model-
Brand: HP
Series: Pavilion
Model: dv7-4065dx
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
CPU Type: AMD Phenom II Triple-Core N830 2.1G
Screen: 17.3"
Memory Size: 4GB DDR3
Hard Disk: 500GB
Optical Drive: BD Combo
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 4250
Communication Gigabit: LAN and WLAN
Dimensions: 16.35" x 10.80" x 1.25" - 1.46"
Weight: 8.19 lbs.
Tech VISION Premium Technology
Other Features HP SimplePass with integrated fingerprint reader

Kensington MicroSaver lock slot
Power-on password
Accepts 3rd party security lock devices CPU
CPU Type AMD Phenom II Triple-Core
CPU Speed N830(2.1GHz)
CPU L2 Cache 3 x 512 KB Display
Screen Size 17.3"
Wide Screen Support Yes
Resolution 1600 x 900
LCD Features LED backlight & BrightView Operating Systems
Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Graphics
GPU/VPU ATI Radeon HD 4250
Video Memory 128MB Display Cache Memory
Graphic Type Integrated Card Hard Drive
HDD 500GB
HDD RPM 7200rpm Memory
Memory 4GB
Memory Type 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM
Memory Slot (Total) 2
Max Memory Supported 8GB Optical Drive
Optical Drive Type BD Combo
Optical Drive Interface Integrated
Optical Drive Spec LightScribe Blu-ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD±R/RW Double Layer Support Communications
LAN 10/100/1000Mbps
WLAN 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Ports
USB 4 x USB 2.0 (4th port shared with eSATA)
Video Port 1 x VGA
HDMI 1 x HDMI
Audio Ports 1 x Microphone jack; 1 x Headphone jack Audio
Audio Beats Audio and HP Triple Bass Reflex Subwoofer
Integrated digital microphone
Speaker Internal Speakers Input Device
Touchpad HP ClickPad with On/Off button
Keyboard 101-key compatible with island-style full-size keyboard with integrated numeric keypad Supplemental Drive
Card Reader 5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards
Webcam HP TrueVision Webcam Power
AC Adapter 65-watt AC adapter
Battery 9-Cell 93WHr Lithium-Ion Battery Physical Specifications
Dimensions 16.35" x 10.80" x 1.25" - 1.46"
Weight 8.19 lbs.

Do you think this laptop is good for what? I mean will it be good for gaming at all? Anyone else own one (any likes/ dislikes)? Do you think I got a good deal for $400 (used, with one tiny corner not broken but slightly messed up (nothing noticable)).

I also want to dual boot HACK-in-T0sh with windows 7 ultimate, but that brings a few questions. How hard is it going to be to find drivers? Any good programs that do not charge bs prices or other bullshit? Will I have an issue getting the finger print scanner to work still? My fathers laptop looks like the same thing almost and has the same video card and has some ati advance turbo thing when its plugged in, and disables when unplugged (do I have to install a program for this).

How much difference will I see if I change the ram from 4gb to 8gb?

Can I upgrade the graphics (I know its soldered on) but can it be desoldered and a new one soldered onto the motherboard (by a professional) or is there even a way to find sockets and do that stuff? (I doubt it very greatly but can a gpu on a normal card for a desktop be desoldered, reballed, and resoldered onto a laptop motherboard?

Thanks for all the help in advanced!

[mah300274]

Like I said in it I was thinking about upgrading the ram from 4 to 8GB (thinking that will cost $50-60, after selling the current ram) & upgrading the CPU from the current X3 2.1GHz to this http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-V-Series-V140-2-3GHz-CPU-VMV140SGR12GM-Socket-S1-/290550651103?pt=CPUs&hash=item43a62b18df (An X4 2.3GHz) for $60 and maybe sell mine for $30-$40ish... so in the end those upgrades would cost me an extra $160 first and then about 80-100 after I sell my ram and cpu. Is this worth it you think? Gaining a core + higher rating & twice as much ram, I am thining it will be....

[oalee]

Laptops are not really designed for gaming. One of the downsides of using a laptop for gaming is it becomes prone to overheating. The GPU is usually not designed to handle graphic intensive applications. There are, however, gaming laptops such as Alienware. Additional RAM is always good, you can never have too much RAM (of course only within the limits of the OS support) but I doubt that it would really be very effective anyway. But a jump from 4GB to 8GB should show significant improvements.

[mah300274]

I know laptops are not ment for gaming. I do not want to spend 3k on an alienware either. I am more wondering what I can push it to, as I am not a hard core gamer. It might be nice to have like mw2, but that is even semi-demanding....and wondering how I can upgrade my laptop.

[oalee]

As for upgrading the laptop, the only thing i can think of that you can upgrade really is the memory. Probably some usb connected stuff but those are not really much help in terms of performance. You can try and see how far it can go by running some graphic intensive games and let it shutdown when it overheats. At least it gives you an idea on what games can run on it. It shouldn't get damaged if it automatically shuts down after it reaches a certain temperature.

[mah300274]

I should be able to do the cpu as well (but depends in wattage and ram, etc). I was also wondering if anyone has heard of upgrading the graphics and not replaceing it. But by taking another chip, desoldering, reballing, and then soldering it onto the laptop.

[jingda]

8 GB would be faster but 4GB would be enought for normal uses. What oalee say is useful and you should follow his advice. $ 400 for a laptop like this is consider an awesome deal so i hope you could cherish it well. Dell alienware is not very good so you have manage your budget wisely. Good luck

[Portgas D. Ace]

8 GB would be faster but 4GB would be enought for normal uses. What oalee say is useful and you should follow his advice. $ 400 for a laptop like this is consider an awesome deal so i hope you could cherish it well. Dell alienware is not very good so you have manage your budget wisely. Good luck

Alienware is not very good?.. Do you even understand the concept of a good laptop?. Stupidity amazes me.

[oalee]

I should be able to do the cpu as well (but depends in wattage and ram, etc). I was also wondering if anyone has heard of upgrading the graphics and not replaceing it. But by taking another chip, desoldering, reballing, and then soldering it onto the laptop.

I honestly am not aware of any methods to do this. A word to the wise though, I wouldn't void the laptop's warranty by cracking it open and making modifications just yet. I'd probably do this on an older laptop but not on a new box.

[jingda]

I honestly am not aware of any methods to do this. A word to the wise though, I wouldn't void the laptop's warranty by cracking it open and making modifications just yet. I'd probably do this on an older laptop but not on a new box.

I agreed with you oalee, is always good to play safe

[mah300274]

Its not a new box, I am buying it used like I said. I think this model came out 18months ago (but it does not look that old) Ill look at the warrenty status on HP's site, but usally the warrenty is only a year. So I figured time was up anyway. (TODAY I WILL GET IT, AS LONG AS UPS DOES NOT FU*K UP!!!). I would say aleinware laptops are nice, especially the slim ones.... very few laptops can just shove an i7 16gb ram (4 slots) and cool it all, within a little space. But the price of them are not reasonable for most people. I dont think its worth 2-5k because desktops are a lot cheaper, but its my opinion.

[caperjack]

my 2 cents!
you will be disappointed in the performance of this laptop as a medium to high end gaming computer ,good for office work and low end gaming[like www, that will play on a netbook ] ,and as already said only upgrades possible will be ram and maybe a bigger hdd, enjoy

video review
http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Radeon-HD-4250.29664.0.html

[oalee]

Try to bring us up to speed after you've modded your laptop. I'm interested on what the results are gonna be.

[mah300274]

Ok I will. I should get the laptop today but I need to get a little $ before and then I will buy extras for it. Ill do research in the meantime though. Right now I am mainly looking to see what scores I get normally on it and see what the maxs will be on it

[jingda]

Tell us what is the speed i have never had an 8 GB ram, i only use a 4 GB. Is it dammn fast if yes i maybe considering to upgrade my laptop

[oalee]

Tell us what is the speed i have never had an 8 GB ram, i only use a 4 GB. Is it dammn fast if yes i maybe considering to upgrade my laptop

Right now I have 6G on my laptop, it's been working nicely so far. Games sometimes screw it up, GPU overheats and shuts down so I try to avoid games on this machine.

[mah300274]

I have heard of 8gb but a few months ago it was (at least at td) $100 a stick (2x4gb) and did not seem worth it but on ebay I am seeing 2x4gb go for 100$ total. My fathers laptop has 6gb as well. oalee, what is your processor, as in how many cores? (I do not feel like looking up the cpu). My fathers is just an AMD X2 2.9GHz. Which is not bad but I would like to have more cores for different things that I do.

I found this cpu for socket s1, AMD Phenom II X4 X940 BE, but I can not find it for sale anywhere. It looks new as of 2011 but I should at least be able to find it on amd's site? I know it is 45watt and my cpu in the laptop is only 35watt but Ill check it out later if it is possible for that upgrade. I want to know the price of it though. I am thining maybe $200ish?

[oalee]

I have an Intel i5-460M. Below are the processor specs.

Processor Number i5-460M
# of Cores 2
# of Threads 4
Clock Speed 2.53 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency 2.8 GHz
Intel® Smart Cache 3 MB
Bus/Core Ratio 19
DMI 2.5 GT/s

[mah300274]

later today I should get the laptop, and I will run tests... what are the best programs that you guys recremend for testing my speed, 3d graphics, graphics in general, and etc.?

[jingda]

Try passmark products