Laptop graphics card?

I didn't read each and every post here, but I did do a search for the word dedicated to see if anyone mentioned it... And did not find it... So, here's the opinion of a computer programmer and systems administrator - more important than whether your video is dedicated or not is video RAM. Most laptops for sale on the market now have "shared" video ram. That means that while you have say 2GB of RAM, really you don't. Most assume that the video has its own RAM, but if the specs say that the video ram is shared (often it will say something like 256MB (shared) video RAM) it means your video is using main memory. This means that your main ram sticks, while 2GB, are really only giving you 1.75 GB of use, because 256 of this is reserved for displaying video. Keep in mind also, that if using shared RAM, the work that the video card is doing is going through the same pipe as everything else, so video will actually slow you down. If you have dedicated video RAM, it doesn't have to go through the same pipe as everything else that uses RAM and it will be optimized for video.

IMHO, I would not buy a computer to use for any kind of graphics work if it didn't explicitly state that it has dedicated video RAM. Unfortunately, this is getting hard to find, and will probably cost you.

hopmedic wrote in post #4299313
I didn't read each and every post here, but I did do a search for the word dedicated to see if anyone mentioned it... And did not find it... So, here's the opinion of a computer programmer and systems administrator - more important than whether your video is dedicated or not is video RAM. Most laptops for sale on the market now have "shared" video ram. That means that while you have say 2GB of RAM, really you don't. Most assume that the video has its own RAM, but if the specs say that the video ram is shared (often it will say something like 256MB (shared) video RAM) it means your video is using main memory. This means that your main ram sticks, while 2GB, are really only giving you 1.75 GB of use, because 256 of this is reserved for displaying video. Keep in mind also, that if using shared RAM, the work that the video card is doing is going through the same pipe as everything else, so video will actually slow you down. If you have dedicated video RAM, it doesn't have to go through the same pipe as everything else that uses RAM and it will be optimized for video.

IMHO, I would not buy a computer to use for any kind of graphics work if it didn't explicitly state that it has dedicated video RAM. Unfortunately, this is getting hard to find, and will probably cost you.

A few people in the thread certainly did mention it.

hopmedic wrote in post #4299313
Most assume that the video has its own RAM, but if the specs say that the video ram is shared (often it will say something like 256MB (shared) video RAM) it means your video is using main memory. This means that your main ram sticks, while 2GB, are really only giving you 1.75 GB of use, because 256 of this is reserved for displaying video.

Actually, they use more than the shared RAM because it needs to be managed. On the new MacBooks that use the X3100 chipset, it uses 128 mb as VRAM and another 16 mb to manage the VRAM. Thus, you've lost 144 mb of system RAM. This why you should get 2 gigs (or more) of RAM.

But the reality is the difference is pretty much imperceptible for 2D work, such as image manipulation and video. I've done this side by side with a MacBook and a MacBook Pro and there is very little difference between them for photo manipulation.

Today's on-board video processors and chipsets (e.g., Santa Rosa) are substantially better than they used to be. The biggest limitations for photographers, as I see it, is that they generally are not able to drive large (e.g., 30") external displays and they're not too good for 3D tasks, such as gaming. But for 2D tasks, they are usually pretty good. For Mac people, you have to decide if it's worth another $900 ($1200 vs. $2300) to get all the additional bells and whistles that come with the MacBook Pro. For me, it was because I do more with my laptop than just photography and video capture.