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How to upgrade a Dell laptop video card?

Would it be better to upgrade current laptop or buy a new one entirely?

  • I have an Dell Inspiron 1521 that I bought in 2007. I was wondering if it was possible to or even worth putting in the effort and money to upgrade it. It runs on Vista. At school, we're using mainly Windows/Microsoft Office 2010. I need it mostly for school and I'm considering going into Info Tech Systems/ Cyber Security as my major. I really need a reliable computer/ laptop. Should i even consider going with a Mac book pro? I've also considered an Inspiron 15R as a replacement for my current laptop, but i want something good for the long run. And I'd prefer to stick with Dell, but i'm open to other manufacturers. I'd prefer to get a laptop, No price limit. Any recommendations? *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~… Inspiron 1521 Specs: General * Built-in Devices Wireless LAN antenna, Stereo speakers * Width 14.1 in * Depth 10.6 in * Height 1.7 in * Weight 6.6 lbs * Color Midnight blue * Notebook type Budget * Screen type Widescreen * Wireless capabilities IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g Processor * Processor AMD Sempron 3600+ / 2.0 GHz * Chipset Type AMD M690T RAM * Installed Size 2.0 GB / 4.0 GB (max) * Technology DDR2 SDRAM - 667.0 MHz * Form Factor SO DIMM 200-pin * Configuration Features 2 x 512 MB Environmental Parameters * Min Operating Temperature 32.0 °F * Max Operating Temperature 95.0 °F * Humidity Range Operating 10 - 90% * Shock Tolerance 142.0 g @ 2ms half-sine pulse (operating) / 163.0 g @ 2ms half-sine pulse (non-operating) * Vibration Tolerance 0.66 g @ RMS (random) (operating) / 1.3 g @ RMS (random) (non-operating) Storage Controller * Storage controller type Serial ATA Storage * Floppy Drive None * Hard Drive 160.0 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400.0 rpm * Storage Removable None * Hard drive type Portable Optical Storage (2nd) * 2nd optical storage type None Optical Storage * Type DVD±RW - Integrated Card Reader * Card reader type 8 in 1 card reader * Supported flash memory cards SDIO, SD Memory Card, Memory Stick PRO, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, xD-Picture Card Display * Display Type TFT active matrix * Max Resolution 1280 x 800 ( WXGA ) * Widescreen Display Yes * Features Glossy Video * Graphics Processor / Vendor ATI RADEON Xpress1270 HyperMemory HyperMemory Audio * Audio Output Sound card * Audio Codec STAC9205 * Compliant Standards High Definition Audio * Features High Definition Audio 2.0 Notebook Camera * Camera Type Integrated * Sensor Resolution 2 Megapixel Input Device(s) * Input device type Keyboard, Touchpad Telecom * Modem Fax / modem - MDC * Max Transfer Rate 56.0 Kbps * Protocols & Specifications ITU V.92 Networking * Networking Network adapter * Wireless LAN Supported Yes * Wireless NIC Dell Wireless 1395 * Data Link Protocol IEEE 802.11g, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, Ethernet * Compliant Standards IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g Expansion / Connectivity * Expansion Slot(s) 1.0 (total) / 0.0 (free) x Memory - SO DIMM 200-pin, 2.0 (total) / 1.0 (free) x ExpressCard/54 * Interfaces 1.0 x Hi-Speed USB - Phone line - 4 pin FireWire, 1.0 x Modem - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - 4 pin USB Type A, 1.0 x Display / video - Line-out/headphones - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15), 4.0 x Microphone - S-video output - Mini-phone 3.5 mm, 1.0 x IEEE 1394 (FireWire) - VGA - RJ-11, 1.0 x Network - Input - Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1.0 x Audio - 7 pin mini-DIN, 1.0 x Display / video - RJ-45 Miscellaneous * Features Security lock slot (cable lock sold separately) Power * Power Device External * Voltage Required AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz ) Battery * Technology 9-cell Lithium Ion * Installed Qty 1.0 * Capacity 85.0 Wh Operating System / Software * OS Provided Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic Edition * Microsoft Office Preloaded Includes a pre-loaded image of select Microsoft Office 2010 suites. Purchase an Office 2010 Product Key Card or disc to activate preloaded software on this PC. * Software McAfee SecurityCenter (30 days subscription), Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Manufacturer Warranty * Service & Support 1 year warranty * Service & Support Details Technical support - E-mail consulting - 1 year, Limited warranty - 1 year

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    If you're going to be in any kind of tech field, Mac is the worst thing you can get. It's a toy that limits you severely if you try to use it for tech work. You will need to become very familiar with Windows and Linux for anything in the security field. Cisco and general networking as well. PC is your best friend in this case. You can dual boot between a Linux and and Windows OS or just virtualize the Linux OS. As far as the laptop, I would say upgrade the hard drive to a faster 7200 rpm drive or even a solid state. Also, up your ram to it's maximum capacity. The laptop I'm on right now was purchased in 2005 and it's faster than my brother's who bought his in 2009. Yours still has lots of good life left in it, and you don't need anything particularly powerful for what you need to do anyway. If you really want a new one, Lenovo makes reliable machines. A Thinkpad may be best as it is more business oriented as far as build quality and less bloatware installed.

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Why would you have to upgrade it if all you are using is Microsoft Office 2010? Your old PC already out performs that incompatible and over priced mac garbage by the way. EDIT: If money is an object, put 2 more gigs of ram in. If you're trying to find a reason to buy a new PC, you don't need a reason. Go ahead and get one. Your old system will run any of these programming languages. As far as lag, be specific. Internet speed? Programs? Your PC is fully capable of performing these tasks without effort. You might clean the crap out of it, defrag it, etc.. Whatever you do, DO NOT be mislead by Apples bullshit, misleading ads. To make it simple, Macs are grossly over priced and incompatible with 95% of the software on the market unless you install windows anyway. Out of every 100 computers sold a day, 95 are PCs and I'll guarantee it isn't because all those people can't afford a Mac. They simply know better. Don't let a bunch off booby brained kiddies who facebook and check mail tell you they are anything special. I've been an industrial programmer for 40 years and Macs are nothing but bling.

What exactly is it on the 1521 that you want to upgrade?

any modern laptop with a dual or quad core processor and 4-6Gb of ram and 320+ Gb hard drive will do anything you need , unless you are going to play extreme high end games or video editing your current laptop is fine

You're RAM is incredibly low, I would definitely recommend upgrading to at least 4GB. Other than that your Dell sounds like a "general" laptop that an everyday user would use. 160GB is definitely not enough nowadays. I would recommend getting a new laptop completely that is more up to date. You could get a Macbook Pro but I wouldn't recommend it, not enough bang for your ridiculously large buck. If I was going to recommend a new laptop it would have to be the HP Envy series laptops. The 14" beats edition is what I have now and it lets me do great things with ease, like running multiple operating systems using VMWare. http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/series/category/notebooks/ENVY14be_series/3/computer_store It's rather expensive but you definitely get what you're paying for. You said you're going into IT as a major, so you need something powerful

I have a macbook pro and it works. It just works.

The only parts of your Dell 1521 that are upgradeable is the ram memory modules and the hard drive to one with a larger storage size. Buy a new and better PC laptop from Dell with Windows 7, the Intel i7 processor and a dedicated graphics/video card chip set.

I would just get a new computer, You processor, RAM, and Hard Drive are all outdated. I recently got a new MacBook Pro with and i7 processor (connects directly to memory), DDR3 RAM (double speed of DDR2) and a Solid State Hard Drive (many times faster than a regular RPM hard drive and a lot more durable). I had upgraded from a 2007 MacBook which had similar specs to your and the difference is AMAZING! I can start my computer from being completely shut down and be checking my email in under a minute, its really amazing the speed difference. Computer speed as about the system as a whole, so upgrading some of your components is never as good as upgrading the entire system.

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