HP Laptops and the intel GMA

[Lilgrant]

Hey, Ive been looking at some laptops lately, and noticed that almost every single one has the intel Graphics Media Accelerater for a graphics card. In the specs, it says "Graphics: Intel GMA Up to 1695mb of memory (shared)".
What exactly does this mean?

 

[speedyink]

It means don't expect to play newish games on them

 

[Lilgrant]

I realize that, but does the dreaded "(Shared)" mean it shares memory with the laptops RAM?

 

[Lilgrant]

Just to clear things up, these are the graphics card specs according to best buy.

Graphics
Discrete Video Memory: No
Expandable Video Memory: No
Graphics Chipset: Intel GMA 4500M (Shared)
Integrated Video Memory: No
Native Screen Resolution: 1366 x 768
Upgradable Video System: No
Video Memory: Up To 1695MB

Does this mean that I have to set how much graphics memory I want the laptop to have? If so, how would I do that?

 

[speedyink]

I realize that, but does the dreaded "(Shared)" mean it shares memory with the laptops RAM?

Yes, it is shared. And you don't control, the system does.

 

[fastdude]

Yes, it is shared. And you don't control, the system does.

Yes indeedy, it'll really decrease the amount of RAM your system can actually use

 

[DMGrier]

I found out the hard way that memory doesn't matter. It is the gpu it's self. Which intel graphic's card do not have performance gpu at all. Find one with a nvidia , they make some of the best gpu's for laptop's.

 

[linkin]

You can change the amount of shared memory in the BIOS.