intel gma 900 question

So, I'm buying another laptop. The onboard video, though is an integrated intel gma 900 chipset....the salesman assured me it was 100% geforce compatible, but I wanted to see if anyone else has/is successfully running SL on a system running one if these. If not, I'll have to upgrade to the next model. Thanks in advance!

If its not a GeForce then its NOT a GeForce. Intel is the worst graphics out there, an old Voodoo3 would out perform it. Look for one with a GeForce GO chipset or Radeon Mobility (perfably with 3rd party drivers as SL doesn't like ATI's). Don't accept any immitations.

<your_mileage_may_vary>
Hi Lisa!
I have a Dell Inspiron 2200 laptop which has the Intel Integrated video chipset, I believe its the same as the Intel GMA 900.. This model Dell is a CeleronM/370, with 512mb RAM and when I bought it last month, I figured I might as well 'try' SL on it.. You could have knocked me down with a feather when I started SL up, I got no errors, and went right it... Obviously it's gonna be much lower performance than a higher $$ laptop, but -in my case- it DOES work... Not to mention the WONDERFUL price I got the laptop for.. $495 to my doorstep from the Dell Outlet..

</your_mileage_may_vary>

TasPerth

I was using the Intel GMA 900 on my computer, til I got a GeForce 6800 PCI-Express, and it worked ok then but I had to turn all settings either off or down very low. From what I've read it depends on the computer setup you have whether it works well or not.

I have HP desktop with Intel GMA 900 128mb, the game has worked fine with SL since the day I got it, and errors I have been having recently are the same as other's with ATI and other grapic cards. (based on other posts regarding crashing/ freezing etc)

Fairly old thread this, but I think it fits better adding than creating a new one:

I'm considering getting a very light notebook and cast my eye on a Samsung Q30 plus, that also has the graphics adapter mentioned above (http://www.samsungcomputer.com/product/Q30+/Q30+_spec.htm). This is not for the main purpose of running SL, but it would be nice if it did the job, too.

Anybody got any noteworthy updates to what's been previously said, to the better or worse?

Thanks

What works today may not work with the next update. That has been LL's stance on non supported video cards like this. Since 1.17 update a lot of intel users were dropped out. It is way to iffy to bet on a non supported card for SL but if it works, count yourself lucky.

Yeah... no.

I've been trying to stay on for more than a couple of minutes, just to catch up on IMs and customers and stuff.

Not so much. Maybe one time in ten. The other nine? Complete computer crash. Looie Kablooie. Frozed. Borked. Ees no goot no more.

If you can, go for a laptop with a decent vidcard and actually enjoy SL, rather than risk the knuckle whitening rage these crashes cause.

they are, as long as your not going to run anything 3d on it

intel has a very limited 3d featureset, and whats not in there is emulated by your cpu

the 900 series chips are also really old, design wise, i had one on a 300mhz celeron a few years back, altho not that exact same chip

every update is going to be a total dice roll, will it work ? or will i be screwed
last month intel updated the drivers for the desktop chips and pretty much everyone using them was denied sl access

i wouldnt even give myself a headache, you can get a amd based laptop with a ati or nvidia card in it from every manufacture with little to no added cost

They are not 100% GeForce compatible unless perhaps you are comparing it to an ancient GeForce MX 400 or older card.

They might run SL, I dunno, but I do know they will not run many other games such as Elder Scrolls Oblivion (I used to do a lot of volunteer support work in their Tech Support section), as they lack certain features of dedicated graphic cards. Hardware Transform & Lighting is I believe one such feature they lack. They also piggyback off the main systems processor and system ram, giving them very poor overall performance in games.

I really would never buy a laptop with an intel chipset if you intend to do much gaming, as even the cheapest entry level Radeon/NVidia mobile graphics are immensely better. Intel chipsets are as far as I know, just fine for basic multimedia and business/home entertainment (movie playback, etc). But for gaming, they are flatout poor.

Anyway I would never ever ever believe a computer salesman ^_^ so you are doing a good thing doublechecking on gaming forums before buying.

yea thats becuase other than this months model number they dont know any more about PC's than your grandmother


seriously places like circuit shack and best USA hire their computer sales persons based on their knowledge of play-station and naked anime

2 recent instances come to mind

A: went to go buy headphones, with some real bass support, sales kid (who probally hadnt even graduated HS yet) comes up

i tell him what i want, mainly to make him feel needed and he points me to this pair of sony "SUPER BASS" headphones, and proceeds to tell me the ones in my hand had no bass at all

so i proceeded to ask him why the sony headphones only went down to 40hz and the awia ones went down to 12hz (lower = more bass)

becuase the package says "super bass" he replied (sigh)

B: looking for pc 3200 ram for my computer, kirak swift wannabe pops up and proceeds to sell me on ddr2 ram

i say thats great fine and dandy, but how do you expect me to jam this into my ddr 1 slots
(ddr 1 has 184 pins, ddr2 has 240 pins)

kirak says ... ummm you can get geeksquad to install it for you

i said great! i would love to see how they cram 240 connections into a 184 connection slot, please STFU and leave me alone now


soooo again dont believe anything a 7 buck an hour part time dude in a store branded polo shirt tells you, call up a ma-pa shop or hit the gaming pc forums (just plan on learning alot of terminology on the latter)