Upgrading video cards on laptops

I have a gateway 7426gx laptop and I'm having a hard time figuring out if I can upgrade my video card, it seems like the quick answer is no and the long answer is possibly.

Specs
-Mobile AMD Athlon 64-bit 3700+ Processor with HyperTransport technology (2.4 GHz)
-1GB of PC2700 DDR SDRAM
-ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600 graphics with 64MB of Video memory
-100GB HDD
-VIA K8T800 Chipset (not possitive about this, i couldnt find the motherboard on the gateway website)

if it has a AGP 8x video card slot does that mean i can put any AGP 8x card in there. I would like to go to a radeon 9800

Honestly, contact the manufacturer, unless you have a hatch that reads "video" or something along those lines the answer is no, it's not upgradeable, and even those that are are usually non-user-serviceable, and would require you to dismantle the laptop just to get access to the card.

Most laptops though, even those with decent graphics solutions are actually built into the mainboard.

Either way, contact the manufacturer to find out for sure, and if an upgrade is possible they can almost always handle the upgrade for you.

Laptop video cards are different than desktop cards. They are either onboard or a chip similar to the cpu. Unless it is a high end laptop such as alienware that is made for gaming, upgrading the card is either impossible, or should not be done by a novice. In your case, with the quick search I did, you can not upgrade your video card.

Edit: Basicly what Hash said, bastard beats me here every time lol.

thanks for the help,I'll email gateway...i have had to disassemble my laptop a few times, i just have never gotten far enough to see the vid card, if it can be swapped would it be something that i could tell by looking at?

thanks for the help,I'll email gateway...i have had to disassemble my laptop a few times, i just have never gotten far enough to see the vid card, if it can be swapped would it be something that i could tell by looking at?

Not necessarily, because even if it is removable, there may not be a better card available that actually fits that laptop.

Only certain models can be upgraded. Nvidia has been pushing for a video card standard for laptops called MXM for some time and while some notebooks have them, you don't know until 1-2 generations of video cards later if your video card is replaceable.

Odd situation, but you'll just need to Google and contact Gateway. If that fails, go the the Notebook review forums and ask:

Upgrade forum:
Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades - Notebook Forums and Laptop Discussion (http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=27)

Gateway forum:
Gateway and eMachines - Notebook Forums and Laptop Discussion (http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5)

I'm pretty sure I am able to upgrade my notebook to a pair of 8800m's ... =) it's just a matter of when the board will become available to consumers. (MXM II)