What graphics card for Windows 7 laptop?

Lunabu

Hi, I'm thinking of buying a new Windows 7 laptop in the near future. I fancy getting a Vaio but will probably end up getting another Medion (Aldi) laptop because they're great value for money.
I don't intent to spend more than about 800 or 900 euro on the new machine.
Question:
What kind of graphics card should the laptop have if I want to be able to play some newer games? I'm not a gamer, but I'd like to be able to play the likes of Age of Empires III or newer games, not necessarily the latest shooters, etc.
My last laptop was a Windows Vista Medion laptop MD96630 which a graphics card that allowed me to play those games.
I still have a Vaio VGN-N38E/W which is a base model and the graphics card is no good for games.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Lunabu

Nobody replied to my thread
Done a bit of looking around, so what do you think of this graphics card?
ATI Radeon hd4650 1GB. Is that any good for playing games?
I'm not in a rush, but I fancy a Sony Vaio laptop that has this type of card.
There's also the 512MB version of the card.
Any opinions/advice please?

Outkast_IRE

Generally i find the Vaios are overpriced if you want it for gaming just get the best specs you can afford be that 512mb or 1gb graphics and as much ram as you can with a good processer.........
Laptops for gaming is pissing your money away for similar money you would get a brilliant desktop rig but its your money .
Laptop gaming rigs will never compare to desktop rigs and i generally find them disappointing.

Overheal

youd be very well off with the 4650. I believe I have the desktop card of that in the family machine - I dont use it very often, but it runs fantastic. 512MB is steadily becoming the new minimum spec for most games. If its not that much more expensive for the 1gb of the same card, I figure why not.

Valid point about Gaming laptops: if its for pure gaming, theres better solutions out there, namely desktops. I juiced the money out of a birthday present though, and played the I Need it For College Card.

So it worked out. And I did wind up using it a bunch in college. So that helped. Its great if you need to access your personal space frequently in a lot of places. if you were commuting a lot, it might be worth it. I dont have to think about flying back and forth with a laptop. When I had to ship a desktop it cost me upwards of $400 :eek: But thats again, if you honestly are going to value the mobility - thats about 1/3 of the markup in laptops at the end of the day.

Voodu Child

Lunabu wrote: »

Nobody replied to my thread
Done a bit of looking around, so what do you think of this graphics card?
ATI Radeon hd4650 1GB. Is that any good for playing games?
I'm not in a rush, but I fancy a Sony Vaio laptop that has this type of card.
There's also the 512MB version of the card.
Any opinions/advice please?

HD4650 is a very good card, mid-range or upper mid-range as far as laptops go. Link

That is assuming it uses GDDR3 memory. There are slower versions of the card with DDR2 or DDR3 memory.

Overheal

Not that theres anything wrong with DDR2.

leninbenjamin

Overheal wrote: »

Not that theres anything wrong with DDR2.

noticeable enough difference when it comes to graphics applications. All that geometry and textures chews up memory like there's no tomorrow.

TerrorFirmer

Overheal wrote: »

Not that theres anything wrong with DDR2.

Well there is when it comes to gaming, you're comparing 800mhz vs 1400mhz effective...no competition. If you're getting a 4650, the 512MB model is fine, nothing really to be gained from the 1GB. In fact if you were comparing 1GB DDR2 to 512MB DDR3, the 512MB would sail ahead. A 512MB 4650 would still be a nice card though. I have a slower card in my laptop, the 9600GS DDR2, runs games like Left4Dead at 1366x768 high settings very well, as a comparison.

Lunabu

Many thanks, guys, that info really helps.
As I said, it's not a pure gaming machine I'm looking for, just a decent allrounder that I can play some games with as well.
Only reason for me choosing a laptop over a desktop is the mobility element.
Once I get the money together for the upgrade, I'll let you know what I've decided on and how I get on with it.

flyswatter

How would you rate the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570? I know I won't be able to play the latest games on it but how will games that are a couple of years old fare? Football Manager shouldn't be a problem anyway I know that.

TerrorFirmer

flyswatter wrote: »

How would you rate the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570? I know I won't be able to play the latest games on it but how will games that are a couple of years old fare? Football Manager shouldn't be a problem anyway I know that.

Decent. At average laptop resolution (1280x800, say), average performance would be native resolution at medium/some high general settings with advanced settings off. Give or take depending on how demanding the game is, i.e Call of Duty 4 is not as demanding as something like Crysis.

Football manager would run on literally anything.