Intel Graphics Cards - The Most Common Laptop Graphics CardIntel graphics cards are the most common laptop graphics cards. For uses that aren't graphics intensive they are the best graphics card choice.Before the release of the new core i processors in January 2010, more than 50% of the laptop computers sold had Intel Graphics Media Accelerators installed in them. These are GMA 4500MHD or 4700HD in newer Core 2 Duo, Dual Core Pentium and Celeron processor machines. Older machines will have the GMA X3100. It is still a little bit early to tell, but every indication is that the percentage of laptops with Intel integrated graphics will increase with the core i processor computers. Other than the top end processors which are still the older 45 nm. process chips, the core i processor come with the Graphics Media Accelerator HD Graphics chip built onto the same die as the central processor cores. The GMA used to be a card that was sold separately. It isn't any more. It is built in. The computer builders (and buyers) are paying for them whether they want them or not. This is not a real good video card but you can play older less demanding games at low settings. All these cards will output HDMI. Laptop graphics cards almost always do today. The card is about the same speed as the Nvidia GeForce 9400M or the ATI Radeon HD 4200. The second generation "Sandy Bridge" core i processors have the new Intel HD Graphics 2000 or HD Graphics 3000 graphics processor. The 2000 is a little better than Nvidia or AMD integrated graphics cards mentioned above. The 3000 is better still and actually good enough to play most older games and even some newer ones. The newest Celeron and Pentium processors have what is called Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge). This is derived from the Graphics Media Accelerator HD Graphics and is between it and the Intel HD Graphics 2000 in performance on games. Enhancements that allow the HD Graphics 2000 to perform many tasks like HD video encoding/decoding are lacking. Except for those tasks like video coding the graphics processors in the AMD Llano APUs are significantly better than these Intel graphics cards. The top end core i7 quad and extreme processor laptops will have discrete Nvidia graphics cards or ATI Radeon graphics cards. These are the top end laptop computers designed for high end gaming or processor intensive applications. Gamers or business power users will want these machines and the extra graphics speed. The price on these computers reflect the speed and power of machines. It isn't a great idea to get any other processors n a laptop for gaming. Even the faster core i5 processors will leave you exposed if you are doing serious gaming. However, the bulk of core i processor computers will have Intel graphics processors. return from Intel graphics cards to laptop video cards |