Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : Laptop Video card swap?


Delphi00
02-20-2005, 05:31 PM
I have a really old IBM x20 laptop (~500-600mhz, 10gb hdd, 64mb ram, win98), do you guys know where i can find out what kinda video card I can update this thing with?

i only do normal web browsing and programming on it so cpu speed is not a problem but i can't really stand 800x600 on such a small screen, but do guys thing that the resolution is limited by the screen itself or the video card?

thanks

crazed_weasel
02-20-2005, 07:40 PM
Almost without exception laptops' video cards cannot be upgraded.

SkyDog
02-20-2005, 09:12 PM
Originally posted by Delphi00
...but i can't really stand 800x600 on such a small screen, but do guys thing that the resolution is limited by the screen itself or the video card?

That's probably the native resolution of your laptop's LCD. The x20 shipped with two different LCD options: 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768, both 12.1 inches. If swapping the video card was even possible, it still wouldn't allow you to use more than 800 x 600 on your laptop's LCD.

...and if your ThinkPad x20 qualifies as "really old", the ThinkPad 600e I'm typing this message on must be an antique! ;)

Delphi00
02-21-2005, 02:06 AM
Originally posted by SkyDog
That's probably the native resolution of your laptop's LCD. The x20 shipped with two different LCD options: 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768, both 12.1 inches. If swapping the video card was even possible, it still wouldn't allow you to use more than 800 x 600 on your laptop's LCD.

...and if your ThinkPad x20 qualifies as "really old", the ThinkPad 600e I'm typing this message on must be an antique! ;)

how fast is your 600e? what resoultion is it running on? I'm not REALLY complaining actually, seeing that I have a powerful desktop, all i'm gonna use the laptop for is typing and programming, but it just seems like it owuld be betetr if I could see more text at a time...:)

SkyDog
02-21-2005, 11:53 AM
Originally posted by Delphi00
how fast is your 600e? what resoultion is it running on?

Pentium II 366, with a 1024x768 LCD. It's enough for just lounging around the house and surfing the web. :)

It's a bummer your x20 apparently has the low-res LCD. You could sorta compensate for that by decreasing the size of your screen fonts to fit more text on screen, but that's obviously not ideal.

kent1146
02-21-2005, 02:25 PM
Laptop video cards are not upgradeable, as an almost universal rule. If you bought a system that had an upgradeable card, you woould DEFINITELY know that you had one.

800x600 is limited by your LCD. About the only thing you could do about this is to see if you could buy a used 1024x768 screen that fits an X20.