Question about integrated graphics

[bigblockmatt]

Howdy there everyone.

My co-worker is looking to buy a laptop for her daughter for college. I have been helping her out and explaining what all the different things mean and what to look for and what not to look for.

My main question is about the integrated graphics. the Toshiba that i am looking at has a "Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900; 8MB - 128MB dynamically allocated video memory (shared)". what kind of power does that have? I know it isnt gonna run something like battlefield, but that should run something like the sims 2 (ya i know, but she is a highschool girly girl) fine right?

Thanks for the help.

[bigblockmatt]

any one got any thoughts?

[Apoptosis]

That graphics solution will hardly run BF2 at playable settings. I am typing this from an AOpen notebook that features integrated Intel Extreme Graphics and for fun installed Doom3 a number of months ago... at 800x600 I was in the single digits for frames per second. Not fun at all.

If she is a light gamer then she might be interested in the some of the discrete GeForce Go and RADEON mobility solutions. It is well worth the extra $50-$100 and will also be vista ready! The Intel Extreme Graphics GPU's will not run Microsoft Vista AeroGlass... that tells me to do discrete.

[T-Shirt]

.... the Toshiba that i am looking at has a what kind of power does that have? I know it isnt gonna run something like battlefield, but that should run something like the sims 2 (ya i know, but she is a highschool girly girl) fine right?

Thanks for the help.

SIMS2 won't be a problem.
That's a reasonable deal for what you get
she'll probably want an extra battery if she'll be taking it to class, and a kensington lock for in her dorm (laptops seem to walk away all to frequently)
also accept the fact that she'll probably need a replacement in a couple years, even if this one still runs.

[bigblockmatt]

cool dudes, thanks for the help.