Integrated Graphics vs. Card ?

coffeehound

I'm looking at getting a new laptop and am unsure about which graphics option to go for.

My existing laptop is a 5-year-old Intel i3 running at 2.3 GHz with integrated Intel GMA HD graphics (according to Speccy) and has never seemed fully at ease even for playing DVDs or watching HD Youtube videos. Am I right in thinking these integrated systems use the main processor to do some of the work?

If so, I suppose a laptop with separate graphics board would take this burden off the main processor and things should work more smoothly? The other thing is, though: are today's integrated graphics more capable of dealing with video than those of five years ago? Are they fully up to the job for non-gamers?

Thanks

wongataa

Integrated graphics are perfectly fine for general computer use and watching videos. The current ones are also better than what was available 5 years ago.

Robisere

Any of the latest i5 laptops from the main manufacturers* will give you what you need. If you can buy one with an SSD fitted, either on its own or in conjunction with an ordinary hard drive, (for storage) you will have more speed.

* Lenovo, HP, Asus, Dell, Toshiba. To name the best brands (IMO)

Check out this guide, it gives "best & worst": -
http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/laptop-brand-ratings

jshm2

Intel crap is fine for light to general use. If you're looking for playing HD/4K media or more than you'll need to get a dedicated Radeon or Nvidia card in the laptop.

These "integrated" efforts by Intel are terrible in all their models as Intel do not make GPU's - they make CPU's. Thus it's always best to get a laptop with a dedicated card over a plain Intel.

bsod

coffeehound wrote: »

My existing laptop is a 5-year-old Intel i3 running at 2.3 GHz with integrated Intel GMA HD graphics

Thanks

Play 1080p youtube/dvd whilst watching task manager, there should be no problems with a machine of that specification or age.

Youtube buffering could be internet connection, antivirus, browser. too much FFing etc. (all of which can affect a newer machine with a dedicated graphics card).

coffeehound

Useful info, thanks all.

bsod wrote: »

Play 1080p youtube/dvd whilst watching task manager, there should be no problems with a machine of that specification or age.

Youtube buffering could be internet connection, antivirus, browser. too much FFing etc. (all of which can affect a newer machine with a dedicated graphics card).

Yes I was disappointed that it has never seemed up to HD. I suspect CPU temperature might be an issue now (after seeing it suggested here, I'll try re-sticking the heatsink on the CPU) but even when new, the frame refresh rate seemed poor. No doubt you're right that it has been a combination of factors.

Anyway for the next one I'll be following up on the useful leads here, cheers

bsod

You could investigate why it doesn't seem at ease, rather than replace it. HD is too vague, what does it struggle with

To reiterate, 1080p youtube and dvd's should work on your laptop, i5's and dedicated graphics cards are not necessary to play a dvd.

Sometimes technical opinions on mse are way off the mark, overheating is a rare occurrence (in a factory build), which is unlikely to be cured by wiggling a heatsink and applying some paste.

coffeehound

The fan blows near constantly now and it has taken a few drops over the years so disbonded heatsink sounded plausible.

But the laptop is pretty beaten up now; it's had a hard life. I'll keep it to experiment with adding an SSD and upgrade memory, but I need something reliable day to day.

bsod

are you using a high performance active cooling power policy rather than a balanced/power saving processor policy with passive cooling? Is the bios upto date?

It can make the difference between a silent machine which is a pleasure to use, and one where the fan revs up every time a web page is loaded.

Fightsback

coffeehound wrote: »

The fan blows near constantly now and it has taken a few drops over the years so disbonded heatsink sounded plausible.

Could just simply be crud in the fans and exhaust ports, particularly common with people who use their laptop on a carpet.