The days when you had a few options for your PC when it came to graphics card are gone, as there are now a multitude of choices, and this is one of the reasons why the people are confused. ATI set the standard when it released the high-performance Mobility Radeon 9600 graphics card which was able to provide the same performance as a desktop computer.
An issue with the graphics card for notebook computer is the fact that the Graphics Processing Unit is very different from model to model and because of this, the same graphics card model won’t produce the same performance in two different notebooks. It’s not like in the case of desktop computers where what you buy is what you get.
First you must know that the GPU can be split into two categories: integrated and dedicated, each category having its own pros and cons. An integrated GPU is one which is built into the mother board and because of this its performance is much reduced. An integrated GPU will also use the memory from the system, which means that the overall performance of the unit is reduced. This type of GPU is suited for the ones which use the notebooks for simple tasks such as web browsing or simple non-demanding programs. The benefit of such GPU is the fact that the battery life is longer and that it doesn’t make too much noise.
As you might have guessed, a dedicated GPU is not built into the motherboard and because of this it has its own memory. The dedicated GPU is suited for gamers and other users which perform high-demanding tasks on it. The battery life for notebooks with such GPU is reduced. What you need to know is that in most of the cases you can’t expect from a notebook to run games at maximum settings, because that is impossible. No matter how good the graphics card for notebook computer is, because of the device’s limitations it will not be able to run certain games at the higher settings.
One thing to remember is the fact that you won’t be able to upgrade your notebook which means that unless you change it completely you won’t be able to get better performance out of it. Because of this, if you are a gamer and you would like to run the games without problems, you should buy the best graphics card available as that would be a warranty that your notebook will be able to run the games for the years to come.
Tags: desktop computer, gpu, graphics cards for notebook computer, Notebook, notebook computer