Murphy's law of computer acquisiton
 

The day after you buy any piece of computer equipment, it becomes obsolete. Or outdated, anyway.

Case in point : I bought a laptop from Dell yesterday with a 512mb Dual Nvidia 8700M with SLI. Today, they offer the same laptop with a 8800M, 1GB video card. It *is* six hundred bucks more, and delays the order, but DAMN! I would have at least thought about it. Although six hundred bucks would have made the whole thing a *bit* too expensive, I guess.

The worst part is, I'd told myself I'd wait until today, because I figured the 8800 would be offered soon, but figured I'd better c... or get off the pot.

Damn. Frustrating.

This is closer to Moore's Law than Murphy's :p

Personally, I never buy bleeding edge technology. I usually buy a generation behind. For instance, I recently upgraded. My video card is now an 8600GT SSC ($100 after rebate). Yes, the 8800GTs are out and supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread, but they also cost $100-200 more. Now, am I supposed to believe that paying twice the price will net me twice the performance? It's just not worth it.

I entirely agree with you; however I don't know how feasible it is to change a video card in a laptop computer. With a desktop computer, just wait until the price goes down, swap 'em out, and you're in business... With a laptop, lifespan kind of goes with it.

In a related matter, is the video card in an XPS laptop replaceable?