Alienware M15X Graphics Card Upgrade

Guttmann1983

Estimable
Jan 12, 2016
1
0
4,510
Hi all, I have got an old Alienware M15x i7 Q840 (1.86Ghz) with 8GB RAM. I dont play computer games any more and just use the PC for movies and for work. (I'm a Business Analyst and work with very large spreadsheets / data tables / VB / SQL etc.)

I just got a new monitor to make working from home a bit easier as it is great for multi tasking and has a very high resolution. (Dell UltraSharp U3415W 34-Inch Curved LED.) Problem is that the graphics card on this machine sucks. (NVIDIA GeForce GT 240M) I have two questions, 1. Is there a graphics card I could throw in there that would allow me to get the full resolution from my monitor (3440 x 1440) and how hard would it be to install? I am pretty handy and have swapped parts out before but my experience there is relatively limited when it comes to laptops.)

2nd question - which is another option if I can find a good deal, is: Are there any sites or companies that I can pay to custom build a tower PC for me? I dont want to spend an arm and a leg and like I said, I do not play video games any more.. but I am, what you'd call a "power user" due to the large data I work with... so would want to get a solid setup for home use. I've been wanting to build my own the time has not been available to do that yet so thought I would throw it out there and see if anyone had any suggestions for me.

Side Notes: I got a very good deal on a Samsung SSD 850 PRO 256GB (Also have a Seagate 4GB Fast HDD Portable Drive that I use for all my storage)

Appreciate any input or help thrown my way regarding these 2 questions! Thanks!