Can I upgrade video memory on my A21m or A30?

[babyman1737]

I have both an A21m and an A30. I would like to get a little better video performance out of both. For the A21m, am I able to the A21P ATI mobility 128 16mb video card? For the A30, can I upgrade to the A30P ATI Radeon 32mb OR A31 ATI Radeon 7500? Thanks for any help or suggestions.

[ajkula66]

Not without changing the motherboard....and that doesn't pay in my modest opinion...

[babyman1737]

Alright, so the video card is part of the motherboard in both situations? Nothing removable I'd assume?

[rkawakami]

With almost all laptops (some Dells I believe are the exceptions), the video subsystem is firmly soldered down onto the motherboard. There really is no "video card" in the sense that a desktop system has. About the only hope of "upgrading" the video hardware is to install more main memory for those systems which use shared memory. The alternative is sort of what ajkula66 said; change out the entire motherboard. However, it may not even be possible to swap boards between two similar systems such as the A21m and A21p (conjecture here as I don't have those systems to know for sure). You'd have to do some checking with the Hardware Maintenance Manuals or find somebody that has already done this type of swap. What can work in most cases like this is to change out the entire base (i.e., keep your existing LCD/lid assembly). For something like that to make financial sense, you'd have to get a system that has a busted/missing LCD and a known good motherboard.