Laptop upgrade?

[Ploppy1999]

hi

i have a travelmate 5320 and i would like to play the forthcoming MMO Star Wars game, however according Can You Run It? my system falls just short of the requirements.

CPU
Minimum: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ or better, Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 2.0 GHz or better
You Have: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 530 @ 1.73GHz

Video Card
Minimum: 256 MB of on-board RAM and Shader model 3.0 or better support (ATI Radeon X1800 or better, NVIDIA GeForce 7800 or better, Intel 4100 Integrated Graphics or better).
You Have: Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family

Is it possible just to upgrade these components and roughly how much would they cost or do i have to buy a whole new laptop?

many thanks

[VHG]

It is very difficult to upgrade components in a laptop. The CPU may be upgradable, but it is not very easy.

Because of the small size of a laptop the graphics card is usually welded on to the motherboard so almost impossible to upgrade.

I also have to say your CPU, a Celeron, is one of the slowest CPUs you can get, and your laptop may not even be able to take in Intel Core 2 Duo (you cant fit an AMD CPU as your laptop is desigend to take in Intel not an AMD).

You graphics are also basic "on board" graphics so again at the very low end.

I am no expert on gaming, but to play this game you are going to have to get another laptop, and not just a "basic" one but one with a semi decent graphics card it it.

Most cheap laptops have basic "on board" graphics that are only suitable for "office" type work and watching basic videos like YouTube and cant cope with anything more demanding, and most games are very graphics demanding.

[VHG]

Bit more info.

If you do decide to buy a new laptop make sure you ask on a gaming forum for advice before buying it.

While I dont play games I do know enough to know that most laptops are not suitable for playing games so ask around before buying anything.

You dont want to waste your money.

Note also a laptop can often run too hot when it is playing games and a laptop is not designed to cope with a lot of heat due to its small size.

To be honest a deskstop PC is far better for gaming than a laptop. You can buy a desktop that is prebuilt for gaming, it will have a "proper" graphics card in it, and the box is designed to cope with the extra heat.

It is also much much easier to upgrade a desktop PC and change the CPU or graphics card.

[Ploppy1999]

ok thanks for the advice.