Do You Need A Laptop Video Card For Your Dell?
The laptop and notebook segment records the largest expansion in the entire IT area. Within the last few years, the prices for laptops have decreased and they have become more and more packed with features and technology. There are several type of laptop users and there are models to fit everyone's needs. First, there are those who buy a laptop for its mobility features, as they need to have access to their files from anywhere they may be. Then there are people who need a laptop for their business and office needs and they require a laptop powerful enough for their activities, but most of all they need a reliable notebook. Then there are those who migrate from a desktop to a notebook and they want a bit of everything: sufficient horsepower, decent battery life, a decent laptop video card and many connectivity features. Then there are a few people who buy the latest hardware model and they want a very powerful notebook for gaming. They require an expensive model, with a lot of memory, a high-end sound system and a state of the art laptop video card. Notebook manufacturers are addressing all these categories with different models, to best suit their needs and requirements. Almost all modern laptops have enough processor speed for the everyday use. However, when it comes to laptop video cards, there are two main types of devices: laptops with an integrated video card and laptops with dedicated cards. While laptops come from many manufacturers, there are virtually three main laptop video card manufacturers in the world: Intel, Ati and nVidia. Intel only offers integrated laptop video cards in their notebook chipsets. Ati and nVidia offer both integrated and dedicated laptop video cards for every category of notebook users. Their notebook video cards come from their desktop models, but they feature certain energy saving technologies to offer the best ratio of performance versus battery life. If you need the most out of your laptop video card (for example when running a demanding computer game), the card will run at its full speed. When you are working (in the Office environment, for example), the laptop video card operates at reduced speed for longer battery life and reduced heat emissions. All laptop manufacturers (including some of the most prestigious notebook manufacturers, such as Dell, Alienware and Toshiba) offer models with wither an integrated or a dedicated laptop video card. If you choose an integrated video card, you should know that it will share its resources with the computer: the RAM memory and the PCI bus. They deliver slower speed compared to dedicated laptop video cards, but they are enough for the Office environment or for watching a movie. If you are interested in playing the latest video games on your notebook, you should choose a model with a dedicated video card. It offers greater speeds than an integrated laptop video card, it has its own video memory (it will not take out of the system's main RAM) and some models (certain gaming laptops coming from Dell, Alienware or Toshiba) offer upgrade possibilities (you can replace your laptop video card with another, faster model), a feature praised by many laptop users. |
