What should I look for in a video card?

Im looking at buying a new laptop, and I know what ill be looking for in most other components. Im just not sure about video cards. What would be a high quality card, average, and low quality? Im asking for numbers, not brands. |||Discrete...ATi HD3850

Integrated...ATi 3100



Both are better than the high-end nVidia cards.



Fof the ATi cards/integrated, the X1600 generation are mid-ranged, and the X1200 and earlier are low-end.



As for "numbers"...not sure what you mean. If you're referring to FRAPS (FRAmes Per Second) or something, that's not much help, since you can have a card that has an extremely high FPS (aka FRAPS), but renders nothing but crap! (Or the alternative, renders photo-realistic, but jerks along at 2-3 FPS.)

If you're referring to price...sorry, still no help. I've seen new laptops running for $1200 and up using 12 month old technology, and others running half that cost (and up) using newer tech.

If you're wanting it for gaming, still no real help... Check your games for what their minimum graphics and processor power are and buy just above that. (Note: some games can NOT run on a laptop, because they don't have the power...Assassin's Creed is one of these...it requires a minimum 2.6 dual core proc or some such... Then there is the fact that few games specifically support mobile chipsets.



Now...if you're just looking for a good laptop for running Vista (which is essentially the only way the can be sold anymore), Check the Vista Experience Score. If it is under 2, skip it. Look for 3.5 or higher.



Good Luck!|||Clock Speed, Architecture , Memory Speed , Memory Size , Memory Bandwidth , RAM-DAC are the main features to llok at when buying a VCard. have a look at them at www.myrightbuy.com and compare.