Laptop Advice ref graphics card

foxsmum

I am in the market for a new laptop and am very confused by the graphics side of things.

My laptop will be used for general use, a little browsing, and editing photos ( main use )

All the ones I look at seem to have Intel HD Graphics 4000 with 1696MB memory, is that enough ?

Would I need a dedicated graphics card like NVida or AMD Radion ?

The software I use is Photoshop Elements 11 / Lightroom / Corel Paint Shop Pro 4 / with the add on from Nik Software, which recommends 256mb min

My budget is £500 - £700

So has anyone got any advice ref the graphics side of things and if you know of a great deal for something please point me in the right direction.

Thanks Guys :T

Viscount

4Gb is minimum and quite sufficient these days for new laptops.

Viscount

Few options here

https://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-17r-5720/fs#overrides=

gonzo127

ok you have two seperate things there

1/ graphics card ram - the intel HD graphics used shared ram, so the 1698mb of ram is actually beening 'taken' from the normal laptop ram (taken is '' because this is dynamic in that it doesnt always use that amount), a dedicated graphics card will usualy have its own ram, which although might only be 1gb, can be better as its not reducing the system ram.

2/ the need for a different graphics card - now graphics cards dont make a hugh difference to things like photo editing, however they can be some use, it all depends on the program you use, for example

some programs are designed to use CUDA hardware acceleration, this however is a nVidia specific thing so wont make a difference if you dont have a Nvidia graphics chipset.

other programs favour OpenCL which tends to favour AMD graphics, although nVidia does accelerate in OpenCL it tends to not be as effcient as AMD since they also spend development money on CUDA, OpenCL will also usualy run on intergrated graphics such as the intel HD but this is usualy is less effcient than AMD and nVidia, and is also hampered by the reduction in system RAM

although even with all this, unless you are doing really heavy encoding and editing you are not likely to notice that much of a difference by using hardware accelation, and i would be more inclined to spend more money on as good of a screen as you can, compared to the power of the graphics chipset

AlecEiffel

Intel HD4000 is plenty good enough for everyday computing, beating many lower end dedicated graphics cards. It's even good enough for some 3D gaming if you aren't fussed about max resolution/all the bells and whistles. For example BioShock Infinite (one of the most eagerly awaited first person action games of the year no less) OFFICIALLY supports HD3000 (lower spec than HD4000.

Cisco001

With £500 - 700, you can easily find something with dedicated GPU...

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Lenovo_ideapad_Y570_1337472.html
And spend £60 for a 750GB 7200 rpm HDD