The graphics card has now the possibility to send the right kind of message from the laptop to the screen in order to display 2D or 3D image. You need a very good quality graphics card and enough memory if you want to play computer games with a high resolution and complex graphic design, because otherwise you won't be able to see the graphics and the movements of the characters on screen would not be natural and fluent.
Most Gateway laptops nowadays have an integrated Gateway laptop graphics card, that is the video card is integrated in the motherboard and you can only change it if you change the motherboard, too. This solution is usually prefered by older laptop models or by the economic versions of laptops.
If you want to be sure about your kind of graphics card, just check the laptop specifications for your laptop model here and you will see if the video card is integrated or not. If it is then, bad luck - you will have to change everything in case the video card gets burnt and you also have no possibility to upgrade this card. Or you can consider saving money for a new laptop model that has all the components of a higher quality and also offers more improved features.
Things change if your laptop model is a bit more actual and the graphics card is not integrated. So if it gets toasted or if you want to upgrade it, you will have this possibility. The only concern will be to find a matching video card model , as if the garphics card is too advanced, its features won't be supported by the processor. And you will have to upgrade the processor, too, and maybe some other components to have a matching system. So, in the end, you will spend a lot of money and you will have no guarantees that the new system will work.
People who decided to built-in the graphics card knew what they were doing because they chose all the right components for every system. And if you take out one of the major components and replace it with something else, all the coordinates of the system will change. In this case you will need either a lot of knowledge in the laptop business and a lot of skills to replace the delicate component without harming other tiny components around or another laptop.
If you are not sure what to do, you'd better call the Gateway support centre and ask for a professional opinion. They will give you some specialized advice and you will know exactly what to do next. Or if you think that Gateway people are only there to make you buy their products, you can go to a laptop repair shop or two and make a comparison between different opinions until you make a decision.
Tags: gateway laptop, gateway laptop graphics card, gateway laptop memory, laptop