PCMCIA Video Card

C

Cameron

Geek Trainee
I have just installed Windows Vista Ultimate, and have been beta testing it for some time before now. The ATI Radeon IGP 345M integrated video card in my Sony Vaio PCG-K33 notebook doesn't support the Windows Aero interface as it's lacking Pixel Shader 2.0.

I just finished having a lengthy conversation with someone on Sony's Technical Support Chat. I asked them about an alternative, already knowing that it's integrated and that it can't be upgraded (or easily, at least). They ended up saying that "the computer came with a PCMCIA CardBus slot which could be used with a video card". I'm a bit skeptical on whether or not there's a video card of any sort that can be used in the PCMCIA slot, but that gives me reason to yell at Sony some more if there isn't.

Does this PCMCIA Video Card even exist? If so, where would I get one and about how much would it cost more than a standard PCI Express video card?

Thanks in advance.
 
Welcome to hardwareforums Cameron! :beer:

I dont see any reason why a PCMCIA Graphics card would not exist, but i have NEVER (ever) seen or heard of one... before you yell at sony, ask them for suggestions as to what cards exist and which of them would be suitable for use with Vista.
 
I know some laptops have an upgradeable MXM module that nVidia was pimping, but that's typically found on gaming laptops and may not have been all that successful. This is entirely different than PCMCIA, starting with the fact that it's internal, and PCMCIA is external.

I found this, but I'm not sure if that's at least DX9. I don't believe it would cut it for Vista due to the 32MB RAM for video, well below the 128MB of the requirements.

There's some other external solutions that don't seem to use the PCMCIA slot from the likes of Matrox, but I think these run in about the same price range as that PCMCIA video card I linked. Secondly, they're more about adding display capabilties to a laptop rather than graphics horsepower.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I would most definitely save $250 towards a new laptop before I'd invest in a device that may or may not do it, because, as you said, it's intended for adding monitors.

I've taken this laptop apart before, and I don't remember seeing any sort of slot of any sort on the interior for expanded capability.

I guess I'll probably end up waiting and buying a new HP notebook with a shiny nVidia GeForce in it. :D
 
Or you could just avoid vista!

what does it offer you that XP doesn't? and its going to cost you a new laptop... switch back to XP / Win 2000 (or even better, take a long hard serious look at some Linux distributions!)
 
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