I want my computer to deliver a better gaming experience

[GD]

My laptop has 2gb ram, Intel Core 2 Duo processor T5450 (1.66 ghz), 160 Gb HDD and Mobile Intel Graphic Media Accelerator. I downgraded to XP after consulting a friend as far as gaming is concerned. So Is it possible to have a Nvidia graphic card on a laptop which runs on Intel Centrino technology? Which is the most affordable Nvidia graphic card available in the market for me as far as display, movies and game play is concerned? My knowledge about graphic cards is very shallow and I want you guys to help me out.

[Xero]

Never done it myself, but from what I've gathered, unless you have a REALLY high quality laptop it's likely that the graphics card is not upgradeable. I believe yours is integrated so I'm pretty sure it's impossible.

If you expect decent gaming out of a laptop you need to buy high-end and take a loss on upgrade-ability.

Now, I could be wrong, but I've looked into the issue for myself and that's pretty much what I've gathered.

[El Fangel]

If it is upgradeable

My suggestions is the ATI 2400 Pro (I use it, it costs around $100 and I am able to play WoW fine without much lag except in large citys, but its barely noticeable)

If you want to go all out though, you could get a high end, GeForce 8600 or 8800

[Vietnamese Crippler]

Xero is right, it is pretty much impossible to upgrade the video card on your laptop. Because you already have the integrated graphics, you don't have the optional connection for a "stand alone" card. The only way for you to expand your options is to replace the motherboard, but I'm sure that's not feasible for you.

Upgrading a laptop is MUCH more restrictive than a desktop if you haven't noticed by now :p

You COULD upgrade the processor (which I think goes up to 2.2 GHz), but I'm not sure how substantial the difference would be.

You could also just upgrade the RAM up to 4GB.

[Bad Company]

Yeah, laptop.

[GD]

How much does a decent motherboard cost?

[Vietnamese Crippler]

What's your laptop's model?

[GD]

Acer Aspire 5920

[Vietnamese Crippler]

My guess is that it'll cost you at least $200 to buy a motherboard from a higher end model of your laptop. That's just a rough estimate, but you'll have to buy a motherboard from something like a 5920 that came with a non-integrated video card or a 6920 model and up.

Trust me, at this point, it's hardly worth it.

[GD]

Thanks man.