Am I being lied/mislead to about Vista Aero interface?

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A

AirForceElite

Senior member
Nov 8, 2004
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I was originally planning to get a laptop with good dedicated video card, such as 7900GS, but lets just say that because of budget cuts/priorities, I decided to stay with either of these 2 integrated cards: Nvidia 6150 (good but integrated) or Intel GMA950 (slowest...but cheapest)

Now, i have been told many times in stores and in different forums that GMA950 can handle Vista well enough. As long as I don't plan to play games (which I dont) GMA950 is good enough and it can handle Vista's eye candy very well.

So yesterday, I was reading Notebook Video Card Guide 2006 at http://www.notebookreview.com/default.a...=3056&guide=Graphics+Card+Guide+2006(I (I was trying to see if Nvidia 7200 was any better than GMA950)...and this is what I see on the website:

WINDOWS VISTA AND THE FUTURE

Everyone's talking about Windows Vista, and they've been for the past couple years. Everyone wants their machine to be fully compatible with it.

Honestly, having played with Windows Vista Beta 2, I feel I can comfortably say that it will indeed be worth the wait, provided you have hardware that can run it in all its glory. This means running the most demanding piece of Vista: Aero Glass.

Aero Glass, for those uninitiated, is a visual style for Vista that adds transparency and other features to the windows. It's VERY attractive in practice, and gives the whole interface a very modern look.

However, it demands a graphics processor with:

* Shader Model 2
* 64MB of Video Memory

So most of you probably think, "Oh, well the GMA 900/950 has those, so it can run it." You're mistaken. Aero Glass will only run on integrated parts at the level of the X200M (1100/1150) or better.

This makes buying a notebook a little bit trickier for some users, as I can't honestly suggest buying a notebook that won't run Aero Glass. Without it, you miss out on a major feature of Vista, and though the changes to it under the hood are much more relevant, it will feel largely like a glorified Windows XP.
Click to expand...

You see the underlined part? When I first read it, i had to re-read it 3 or 4 times just to make sure that I got it correctly. So does this actually mean that in order to run Aero Glass interface, I need either ATI 1150 or Nvidia 6150 AT LEAST? Weird, I was told that GMA950 can handle Vista very well, and as long as I dont want to play games, it should be enough.
So my Vista friends, what can you say about this? Who is right? The article or the people who tell otherwise?

You probably think I am making a big deal out of this, but it is really important for me to do my research before I buy a laptop. I want to buy a laptop that I want, not the one that sales clerk is trying to sell.
Thank you in advance


 
R

Roguestar

Diamond Member
Aug 29, 2006
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One of our members, StopSign, says that it runs fine on his integrated Intel GMA950.

 
N

Narse

Moderator<br>Computer Help
Moderator
Mar 14, 2000
3,826
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Aero runs fine on the GMA950, I have a HP laptop here at work I am testing vista on that has the GMA950
 
T

Tarrant64

Diamond Member
Sep 20, 2004
3,203
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There are several reports across other forums that GMA950 was supported in pervious version of Vista. However in the RTM version of Vista support for this was discontinued.

Why, I have no clue.
 
T

Tarrant64

Diamond Member
Sep 20, 2004
3,203
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Originally posted by: Narse
Aero runs fine on the GMA950, I have a HP laptop here at work I am testing vista on that has the GMA950
Click to expand...

Yet, here is someone using it. I am starting to wonder if it is driver specific.
 
T

Tarrant64

Diamond Member
Sep 20, 2004
3,203
0
76
Checking back, there are still some results coming up saying that the compatibility with Aero and GMA950 is questionable, but doable.

It is recommended you have at 1gb of memory if running that chipset though as it is the weakest of most chipsets out now. I will do some more digging around and see if I can get the article that mentioned Vista not supporting GMA950.
 
T

Tarrant64

Diamond Member
Sep 20, 2004
3,203
0
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Well here's proof showing that it 'did' work.

http://digitaldocmd.blogspot.com/2006/03/aero-glass-on-gma-950.html

Otherwise I am seeing a lot of "works fine" from people, although they say it's the minimum you can go, and it doesn't run very well. Let's not forget that Aero, and a lot of other GUI features in Vista relies now on video only, so the better the graphics card, the more you can get out of Aero. More RAM on a laptop helps a lot!
 
A

AirForceElite

Senior member
Nov 8, 2004
268
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Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
GMA950 + 1GB RAM = Aero Glass.

Regarding the 7200 vs GMA950 ... I thought you were shopping Go6150 vs GMA950?

- M4H
Click to expand...

i was, but just for a little bit more money, i could have Nvidia 7200/7300, which in my opinion is a good deal. at least with 7200/7300 i could runsome of the games on low settings, as opposed to not being able to play at all with integrated nvidia 6150/gma 950.

While we are on this topic, what exactly is Aero?
So far, I have seen Flip 3d function, and preview screenshots when hovering over Toolbar.
i have looked at wikipedia, but it only mentioned 3 functions that Aero Glass can do.
They are:

Alt-TAB preview:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/46/Vista_Flip_2d.png

Toolbar preview (a.k.a LIVE preview):
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cd/Livethumbnails.png

and Flip 3D:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/31/Vista_Flip_3d.png

Is that all that there is to Aero Glass?
 
T

Tarrant64

Diamond Member
Sep 20, 2004
3,203
0
76
Aero Glass also enables you to use a transparent interface. Your windows will have a "see through" effect ontop of other windows. It's actually pretty cool. I'm pretty sure the fade-in and fade-out effect of windows is party of Aero as well.

Basically OS X eye-candy built-into Windows, except needing more juice than a Mac to run properly.
 
M

MercenaryForHire

Lifer
Jan 31, 2002
40,819
2
0
Originally posted by: AirForceElite
i was, but just for a little bit more money, i could have Nvidia 7200/7300, which in my opinion is a good deal. at least with 7200/7300 i could runsome of the games on low settings, as opposed to not being able to play at all with integrated nvidia 6150/gma 950.
Click to expand...

Ah, I see. Go for the low-end 7x00, but don't expect a HUGE performance boost. :)

While we are on this topic, what exactly is Aero?
So far, I have seen Flip 3d function, and preview screenshots when hovering over Toolbar.
i have looked at wikipedia, but it only mentioned 3 functions that Aero Glass can do.
They are:

Alt-TAB preview:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/46/Vista_Flip_2d.png

Toolbar preview (a.k.a LIVE preview):
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cd/Livethumbnails.png

and Flip 3D:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/31/Vista_Flip_3d.png

Is that all that there is to Aero Glass?
Click to expand...

Smoother animations, transparency effects, fade-in fade-out ... more eyecandy, basically. :p

- M4H
 
T

Tarrant64

Diamond Member
Sep 20, 2004
3,203
0
76
Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Originally posted by: AirForceElite
i was, but just for a little bit more money, i could have Nvidia 7200/7300, which in my opinion is a good deal. at least with 7200/7300 i could runsome of the games on low settings, as opposed to not being able to play at all with integrated nvidia 6150/gma 950.
Click to expand...

Ah, I see. Go for the low-end 7x00, but don't expect a HUGE performance boost. :)

While we are on this topic, what exactly is Aero?
So far, I have seen Flip 3d function, and preview screenshots when hovering over Toolbar.
i have looked at wikipedia, but it only mentioned 3 functions that Aero Glass can do.
They are:

Alt-TAB preview:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/46/Vista_Flip_2d.png

Toolbar preview (a.k.a LIVE preview):
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cd/Livethumbnails.png

and Flip 3D:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/31/Vista_Flip_3d.png

Is that all that there is to Aero Glass?
Click to expand...

Smoother animations, transparency effects, fade-in fade-out ... more eyecandy, basically. :p

- M4H
Click to expand...


We concur.
 
Spike

Spike

Diamond Member
Aug 27, 2001
6,770
1
81
This thread gives me hope. I just picked up a IBM/Lenovo X60s for my wife with a 1.66 C2D, 1GB, GMA950 and I was hoping it could handle vista. Thanks to you guys I can now install with confidence :)
 
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