MXM-Upgrade

Introduction

MXM was defined by NVIDIA as a 'take it as you want' standard. The best possible proof for that is the widespread addaptation of ATI GPU's in MXM cards. Unfortunately, this degree of liberty also has it's backside. Manufacturers can choose to follow large parts of the form factor and discard the parts that don't fit in their plans, or just pick a few pieces and do whatever they want with it. This still allows to design a few graphics cards and a single motherboard, hence limiting their efforts and costs, but it does screw the user out of upgrade options. Or rather, it makes sure all upgrades will be through them. This page contains a few examples of near-MXM, part-MXM and no MXM at all laptops. Please refer to the picture next to this paragraph for the 'real' thing.