That doesn’t mean it’s possible for you to’t upgrade your gaming laptop at all!
There are ways to get more from your gaming laptop.
What Components Can You Upgrade on a Gaming Laptop?
Jason Fitzpatrick / How-To Geek
In a gaming desktop PC, the sky’s the limit when it comes toupgrading.
Related:How To Upgrade or Replace Almost Any PC Component
With laptops, things are a little different.
The laptop maker is responsible for the entire system design.
This means that components such as the motherboard,CPU, and GPU are all custom jobs.
There are two general exceptions to this:RAMandstorage.
However, even in laptops where these components are socketed, they have rarely been user-replaceable.
At the very least, you’ll want to meet or exceed those recommended requirements.
Related:Has the Time for 32GB of RAM Finally Come?
So it’s possible for you to benefit from better performance and additional space for games.
What About an External GPU?
These are GPUs in an external enclosure that work through a high-speed cable connection.
The most common connection isThunderbolt 3or 4, which would also include some implementations ofUSB 4.
Related:What Is PCIe 5.0, and Why Does It Matter?
In practice, this results in real-world performance that’s significantly less than the card’s true unfettered performance.
Where eGPUs make the most sense is in adding GPU grunt to a non-gaming laptop with a decent CPU.
If you have a laptop that offers a non-Thunderbolt connection method with more PCIe bandwidth (i.e.
a proprietary solution), then things may be different.
The eGPU waters are further muddied by where your PCIe lanes go.
With newer M.2 slots offering more PCIe bandwidth than Thunderbolt, this could be a viable solution.
