Guide to Laptop Video Cards and 3D Options

Laptops traditionally have not been required to have good 3D performance but recently there have been great strides in laptop video card 3D graphics processing. Even though this section relates mainly to people who like playing 3D games, it is also important to know what you're buying so you don't have to spend that extra $100 to $300 premium for a top of the line graphics processor in your laptop if you don't need it.

Below is a list of currently available 3D capable video cards or chips found in laptops.

Nvidia Geforce Go 6800

The Geforce Go 6800 shares the same core architecture as the desktop line of Geforce 6800 cards and is the current fastest mobile 3D graphics option available. Performance exceeds the mobility radeon 9800 by up to 40% to 50% or more as the screen resolution increases.

ATI Mobility Radeon 9800

The mobilty radeon 9800, despite its name, is based on the ATI X800 graphics processor which makes it more feature rich than the desktop 9800 series.

Performance is up to 90% faster (nearly twice as fast in some games!) than the mobility 9700 due to a wider memory interface (256 bit) and doubling of the number of the pixel and vertex pipes. These new features bring laptop gaming performance to near desktop radeon 9800 / Pro / XT levels.

It may also be called the M18 in some configurations.

ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 and Mobility Radeon 9700

Directx9 capable and the minimum that should be considered for laptop gaming in my opinion. These chips will offer fast 3D gaming on a laptop but performance is around the same level as the 9600 Pro line of desktop video cards.

The Mobility Radeon 9700 is basically identical to the Mobility Radeon 9600 but is manufactured to use the same amount of battery power while being anywhere from 10% to 30% faster.
The Mobility Radeon 9600 is sometimes also referred to as the M10 and 9700 as M11.

Nvidia Geforce FX Go5700

Nvidia's Geforce FX Go5700 is a big improvement over its predecessor the Go56xx line of chips. Overall performance of the Go5700 is about equal to the Mobility 9700 and slightly ahead of the Mobility 9600.

Nvidia Geforce FX Go5650 or Go5600

Nvidia's mid-range mobile graphics solution which supports DirectX9. Good performance but not nearly as fast as the ATI parts in 3D games.

ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 or 9000

Good performance but offers only DirectX8 support, games that use Directx9 will still run but without the specific graphical enhancements that Directx9 hardware can handle.

Geforce FX Go5200

More mainstream and Directx9 capable, they should be popping up in many new models. It is the cheaper low end "current" generation chip similar to the desktop variation of the Geforce FX 5200.

Geforce 4 4200 Go

Although this one is faster than the Mobility Radeon 9000, it can be very hard to find in a laptop computer. When it was released it wasn't featured in very many laptops and now manufacturers have moved on to the next generation of graphics chips. (Geforce FX Go series and Radeon Mobility 9xxx series)

Geforce 4 460 Go or 440 Go or 420 Go

Offers fairly good performance except in the latest or very demanding games. Getting a bit long in the tooth but still a good value.

ATI Mobility Radeon 7500

Fairly good performance, still quite common in many laptop computers because of cost and the great multimedia capabilities besides 3D acceleration.

There are many other types of video chips available, the ones listed are what to look out for because they offer great all around performance whether you play games, like to watch movies or edit video and photos. If you don't plan to play 3D games on your laptop then it shouldn't really matter what graphics chip you get with your laptop as most current models are more than adequate for all applications that don't require 3D acceleration.

Both ATI and Nvidia utilize power saving features for the graphics processor similar to the main CPU of the laptop. These power saving technologies are named PowerPlay by ATI and Powermizer by Nvidia, besides scaling the clock speed and voltage they can also turn off idle parts of the chip. Powermizer 4.0 can even adjust brightness of your screen based on user preferences and activities.

* DirectX is Microsoft's multimedia drivers for windows to allow developers direct access to the hardware.

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